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Jane Mendillo took over the Harvard endowment in 2008. (Harvard University) |
Chief executive Jane Mendillo has a big reason to return Harvard Management Co. to its investing roots and have it make more of its own decisions as it manages Harvard University’s $26 billion endowment: 86 percent of its hired fund managers lost money last year.
A bank-loan fund run by a unit of the buyout firm Bain Capital LLC and TPG-Axon Capital Management LP were among the 54 funds that lost money for Harvard’s endowment, while just nine posted gains, according to internal data obtained by Bloomberg News.
Several of the firms that lost money are run by former executives of Harvard Management, including Jack Meyer, a former CEO of the endowment manager.
Among the endowment’s biggest outside managers, Adage Capital lost 17 percent overseeing US equities, to $2.16 billion, according to the results. The Boston firm, started by former Harvard fund managers Robert Atchinson and Philip Gross, exceeded its index by 9.2 percentage points.
Baupost Group lost 8 percent, leaving the school’s stake at $1.85 billion. The Boston hedge-fund firm, run by Harvard Business School graduate Seth Klarman, outperformed its benchmark by 5.7 percent.
Harvard’s investments with Meyer’s Convexity Capital Management lost 27 percent, to $722 million. That’s 4.5 percentage points better than its benchmark, according to the report.
The firms declined to comment or did not return calls.
Mendillo is reducing the influence of independent firms that oversee two-thirds of the endowment, after last month reporting a record $10 billion loss for the year ended June 30.
Harvard does not disclose information about its external managers, said a university spokeswoman.
Of the 25 largest funds by assets, Bain’s Sankaty Advisors, TPG-Axon, and Cairo-based investment bank EFG-Hermes had the biggest losses, relative to benchmarks.
© Copyright 2009 Globe Newspaper Company.
