*

Goldman and T. Rowe Price ( TROW ) to offer alternative investments

for

retirement accounts

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New investments include private credit and equity,

targeting $9

trillion in 401(k) accounts

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Products tailored for different clients, with limits on

alternatives in portfolios

By Tatiana Bautzer and Saeed Azhar

NEW YORK, Sept 15 (Reuters) - Goldman Sachs ( GS ) and

asset manager T. Rowe Price ( TROW ), which announced a partnership

earlier this month, plan to offer new alternative investments

for retirement accounts by the end of the year, their executives

told Reuters.

The plan comes after an executive order by President Donald

Trump broadened access of 401(k) retirement accounts to

alternative investments such as private credit, private equity

and others. The move could give private asset managers access to

about $9 trillion under management in 401(k) accounts.

Goldman and T. Rowe recently struck a deal in which Goldman will

become a shareholder in the asset manager, taking a stake of up

to $1 billion. Both will partner to offer products to retail

investors. T. Rowe manages $1.6 trillion, of which around $1

trillion is retirement-related.

The alternatives will be tailored to different types of clients

at the end of the year through the first quarter, T. Rowe CEO

Rob Sharps told Reuters in an interview.

Some will be funds with a targeted retirement date, which are

popular among investors. The portfolios would have a small

portion invested in alternative assets and the rest in public

and liquid investments. The proportion of alternatives may be

reduced as the investor's retirement date approaches.

Other products, directed exclusively at wealthy clients, will be

alternative portfolios mixing private credit, equity, or equity

funds mixing private equity and stocks. They will begin to be

offered to Goldman and T. Rowe clients, but may be distributed

more widely.

"The idea is to be able to open the products to everybody,"

said Marc Nachmann, Goldman's head of wealth and asset

management.

After the approval of alternative investments in retirement

funds, analysts pointed to risks such as lack of liquidity and

transparent pricing.

"New structures can provide some element of liquidity and daily

pricing to give more comfort to individual investors," Sharps

said.

There will be limits to the proportion of portfolios that can be

allocated to alternatives, and managers will include

alternatives in funds with retirement dates decades away, with

the objective of getting higher returns.

"It's still very early days, today investors in alternatives are

mainly large institutions as endowments or high net worth

individuals," Nachmann said.

In the long term, alternative investments in retirement

accounts could rise to 10% to 20% of the total, Sharps said.

The initial discussions for the deal began a year ago, when

Sharps and Goldman President John Waldron talked about the

convergence in markets and growth of private assets. The

companies have a long relationship, and substantive deal talks

began in the early summer, Sharps said.