September 27, 2007 Yale Endowment Grows 28%, Topping $22 Billion By GERALDINE FABRIKANT
The Yale Endowment, which has led the academic world in investment performance over the last decade, posted a 28 percent return yesterday for the fiscal year ended June 30, bringing its total value to $22.5 billion.
The endowment, which has been run by David F. Swensen since 1988, outperformed all its competitors, according to preliminary data widely circulated among endowment offices.
The Yale Endowment has had a 17.8 percent average annual return over the last decade, beating Harvard, its nearest rival in size, by 2.8 percentage points. During that 10-year period, Princeton came closest to Yale, with a 16.2 percent return. ...
Many indexes also posted very strong results in the fiscal year. The Wilshire 5000 was up 19.6 percent, and the Standard & Poor's 500-stock index rose 18.36 percent, while the Morgan Stanley Emerging Markets index rose 41.76 percent.
Nevertheless, Mr. Swensen, who was an early leader in creating a strategy of investments diversified beyond stocks and bonds, outperformed rivals. He argued in his book "Pioneering Portfolio Management" that depending solely on stocks and bonds would not necessarily provide enough protection to a fund. His approach has led Yale's endowment into hedge funds, private equity funds and hard assets like timber and oil and gas, and made his performance one that is closely watched by Wall Street. ...
Carl