Catenaa, Thursday, September 04, 2025- T. Rowe Price Group stock climbed by over 10% on Thursday after Goldman Sachs Group said it would invest about $1 billion in the asset manager and team up to sell private-market products to retail investors.
The unusual arrangement means Goldman will use its balance sheet to hold equity in T. Rowe, whose stock has tumbled more than 50% from its 2021 peak.
The companies will collaborate on a range of investments for retirement savers and wealthy investors, they said in an emailed statement.
Goldman will make “a series of open-market purchases” to amass up to 3.5% of T. Rowe’s stock, potentially making the Wall Street bank one of its five biggest shareholders, according to the statement.
The tie-up is the latest sign that the biggest financial firms are competing hard to win over wealthy Americans and those with 401(k) plans on the merits of private equity, credit, and infrastructure strategies.
The equity investment “was important to our leadership team and our board because I do think it signals a long-term commitment and creates alignment,” T. Rowe Chief Executive Officer Rob Sharps said in an interview.
The partnership comes at a critical juncture for the asset management industry, with traditional players pushing into alternative assets that have been dominated for years by the leading private equity firms.
They’re searching for new revenue sources, while the private-markets leaders want to lean on the sales teams and relationships of the traditional firms to attract retail investors, while institutional fundraising has slowed.
T. Rowe has been in a rut since 2022, when stock and bond markets plunged, slamming performance and prompting clients to pull billions of dollars from the firm’s stock and bond funds.
Investors have continued to shift money to low-cost index funds and ETFs, leaving T. Rowe exposed because of its primary focus on actively managed public investments.
