Goldman weighing new infrastructure fund

NEW YORK, Oct 3 (Reuters) : Goldman Sachs Group Inc  is considering raising a new infrastructure fund, according to three people familiar with the matter, even as US regulations threaten to reduce its profits from such endeavors.
The bank's plans are tentative and in the early stages, and there is currently no fundraising process or target size for the fund, the sources cautioned. Goldman Sachs declined to comment.
When Goldman last raised an infrastructure fund in 2010, it met with lukewarm demand. Like that fund, the one being envisaged would have a global focus with a mandate to buy a variety of infrastructure assets, such as airports, power grids and toll roads.
In recent years investors such as pensions and insurers have grown increasingly keen on infrastructure funds, as they look for assets that are safer than stocks but offer better returns than low-yielding bonds.
Under a federal regulation known as the "Volcker Rule," part of the 2010 Dodd-Frank financial reform act, a bank cannot own more than 3 per cent of an infrastructure fund or any other private equity-type fund. The regulation is meant to limit banks' bets on risky assets.  
Before the Volcker rule, Goldman would typically invest around 10 per cent of the capital in an infrastructure fund it set up and 30 to 35 per cent of its private equity funds.