Lansdowne sells stake in Goldman

EUROPE'S largest hedge fund has sold all of its $850 million (£517m) stake in New York-listed investment bank Goldman Sachs, mirroring a similar sale made in the run-up to the 2008 financial crisis.

Lansdowne Partners, which disposed of 4.9 million shares, or just under 1 per cent of Goldman, was seen by some commentators to be betting against the bank's profits prospects in the year ahead.