UTIMCO reports increased performance for 2016

AUSTIN—Endowments benefiting institutions in The University of Texas System and Texas A&M University System posted a 3.94 percent return for the fiscal year ending Aug. 31.

In a report to the UT System Board of Regents today, Mark Warner, interim CEO and Chief Investment Officer for the University of Texas Investment Management Company (UTIMCO), highlighted the 3.94 percent return for the Permanent University Fund, as well as a 4.03 percent return for the General Endowment Fund. The General Endowment Fund includes the Long Term Fund and the Permanent Health Fund.

Investment returns for the Permanent University Fund (PUF) at UTIMCO, the entity that manages endowments for the two largest public higher education systems in the state, generated $650.7 million during the previous fiscal year.

“For the year ended Aug. 31, 2016, the investment returns could be attributed to strong results from our private equity and real estate investments as well as our emerging markets public equity investments,” Warner said. “The UTIMCO team is diligent in its stewardship of these assets which greatly benefit two of the strongest higher education systems in the nation.”

The annualized seven-year investment return for the Permanent University Fund was 8.3 percent. Over that period, UTIMCO generated $7.4 billion dollars in investment return and distributed $4.7 billion to the UT and Texas A&M systems. The value add over the PUF’s policy portfolio benchmark for the seven-year period was $1.6 billion.

The state’s PUF gives Texas a unique competitive advantage over other states by financing new academic and health care facilities without burdening taxpayers, students, patients or their families. The PUF, along with the investments made by UTIMCO, has also helped UT and A&M institutions attract world-class faculty members and researchers to Texas.

The $17.9 billion PUF was established in 1876 for the benefit of the University of Texas and Texas A&M systems. Over its lifetime, it has received $10.7 billion in contributions from oil and gas royalty revenue, has made $13.5 billion in distributions for spending by the two university systems, and has benefited from $20.7 billion of investment returns generated by UTIMCO staff.