How NYU Works
NYU Endowment
“The story of NYU’s endowment management over the past two decades vividly illustrates the dangers of implementing poorly founded investment strategies.”
—David Swensen, Chief Investment Officer, Yale University
Returns
In 2005 NYU's endowment reached $1.55 billion dollars with a 6.8% annual return according to the annual endowment study from the National Association of College and University Business Officers. While the 6.8% return beat the S&P 500 by 0.5%, it placed NYU's return rate fiftieth out of the 56 schools with endowments over $1 billion.
Rank |
School |
Return |
1 |
University of Toronto |
24.4% |
2 |
Stanford |
23.0% |
3 |
Yale |
19.4% |
4 |
University of Michigan |
18.4% |
5 |
Notre Dame |
17.9% |
6 |
Cornell |
16.6% |
7 |
Amherst |
16.2% |
8 |
Columbia |
15.5% |
|
|
|
49 |
Grinnell |
7.6% |
50 |
NYU |
6.8% |
51 |
Washington University |
6.7% |
52 |
Johns Hopkins |
5.9% |
53 |
Case Western |
5.2% |
54 |
University of Cincinnati |
4.5% |
55 |
Baylor |
3.7% |
56 |
Emory |
-3.5% |
David Swensen, who wrote the book on endowment investing, said "Had the institution's [NYU's investment] results simply mirrored college and university medians [from 1982 to 1998], NYU's endowment in 1998 would have been nearly $1 billion larger than the actual level of $1.3 billion. (Click here for more.)
The Investments
While NYU didn't give specifics about their investments in the 2005 National Association of College and University Business Officers, they did provide information in 2003. In 2003, their investment managers included:
Equity (Stocks):
Alliance Bernstein (both foreign and domestic)
Capital Guardian (both foreign and domestic)
Gardner, Russo & Gardner (both foreign and domestic)
John Levin and Co.
Pzena
W.P. Stewart
Fixed Income (Bonds):
Fischer, Francis, Trees & Watts
JP Morgan
Morgan Stanley
Oaktree
Alternative Assets (mostly hedge funds)
Advent Convertible Arbitrage
Andor
Arbitex
Ariel Fund
BBT
CBM
Canyon
Chilton
Clinton Multistrategy
Davidson Kempner
Elliot International
Goldman Sachs
HBK
Harbert Distressed
Highfields
Lazard Global
Marathon Master
Marathon Special Opp.
New Castle
OCM Emerging Markets
Oaktree
Obsidian
Ochs-Ziff
Tudor Raptor
Ulysses Partners
Viking
Odyssey Partners
More information about specific hedge funds can be on the Securities and Exchange Commission's hedge fund advisors website: http://www.adviserinfo.sec.gov/IAPD/Content/Search/iapd_OrgSearch.aspx
For a version of this article with notes, see the PDF. |
