Goldman Nears First Close of Loan Fund With $4 Billion Firepower

Goldman Sachs Group Inc.’s asset management arm is nearing the first close of a new senior loan fund with as much as $4 billion of commitments from investors, according to people familiar with the matter.

The new fund, which provides loans to companies that would be repaid before other debt in the event of a bankruptcy, has an initial target as high as $10 billion, said the people, who asked not to be named as the process was private. A spokesperson for Goldman Sachs declined to comment.

As banks pulled back from lending through this year’s market turbulence, private ...