Goldman Sachs Group Inc. is trying to avoid congressional scrutiny by detaching two commodities units

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. is avoiding congressional scrutiny by detaching two commodities units. One among two paid back it's investment in less than four years and remaining other is still on coa in Colombia


According to documents released by the U.S. Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, Goldman Sachs bought Metro International Trade Services LLC for $451 million in 2010. It's a  metals warehouse operator. In September 2013, the banks's board viewed a presentation that showed $465 million of gains from the investment. The profit excluded carry charges.

Head of Goldman Sachs’s global commodities principal investments group,Jacques Gabillon, said at a Senate hearing that the firm has received interest from potential buyers in Europe, Russia and China and it is still in the sales process for Metro International Trade Services LLC. The subcommittee chairman, Michigan Democrat Carl Levin, accused the bank of using Metro to improperly influence aluminum prices. Gabillon denied that the bank is involved in influencing aluminum prices.

As aluminum investor rose, Metro International Trade Services LLC increased its warehouses and  a plunge in demand for the metal after the financial crisis. Upto now the stake had returned $501 million in dividends. It had a carrying value of $396 million with debt.

There's still other profitable investment of Goldman Sachs. In 2003, the company purchased Cogentrix Energy Inc. for $457 million. Over the life of the investment it realized $1.75 billion of gains.


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There was not always profit for the company. As of the September 2013 presentation, Goldman Sachs paid $569 million for Colombian Natural Resources, which had produced total gains of $2 million as of the September 2013 presentation. CNR even estimated last year additional cost upto $220 million for port.

Goldman Sachs bet that the price of coal would fall. It produced $246 million of gains, according to the 2013 presentation. According to the report from senate the firm is considering selling its CNR stake.