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Goldman Sachs Asset Management and was chief investment officer of the equity product line, including managing GS Capital Growth fund, for one and a half years. For nine consecutive years, Institutional Investor magazine named him the top portfolio strategist in its All-America Research Team survey.

At the end of 1991, he retired from Goldman Sachs to pursue a lifetime ambition—to manage money, including his own. It is clear that Goldman Sachs played an important part in Cooperman's life. His office, which overlooks the Brooklyn Bridge, contains many mementos from his Goldman Sachs days, including a whip. The Goldman Sachs sales force gave him the whip after accompanying him on a whirlwind schedule of out-of-town meetings with clients.

Cooperman explains his choice of the name "Omega," the Greek letter that means eternity. "This is my last venture. Likewise, I didn't want to put my name on the door. I wanted partners who felt like they were owners, not workers."

He started with approximately $500 million. A significant amount was Cooperman's own money and assets from retired Goldman Sachs partners. Over 20 of the initial investors had worked at Goldman. Today, Omega's assets total about $2.4 billion. About 12 percent of the capital in the funds today are the general partners'.

ACTIVIST U.S. STOCK PICKER

Unlike some of the other managers who take a coordinator or strategic role, Cooperman is active in the portfolio—he loves being an investor. Cooperman's reputation is, and always has been since his Goldman Sachs days, as a U.S. stock picker. His specialty is finding undervalued equities, those that have low multiple-to-growth ratios. He visits companies and is on a first-name basis with many chief executive officers and senior managers. He is actively involved with stock selection. At the time of our meeting, he was intensely involved and personally responsible for over a dozen stocks. He is ultimately responsible for all 90 to 100 stocks in the overall portfolio and has approved every one of them.

Cooperman is active and vocal with some of the companies he owns. He loves to go head-to-head with some companies where he