Iowa State University Foundation's $1.5 billion long-term portfolio posted a net return of 10.9% for the fiscal year ended June 30.
The Ames-based foundation's portfolio of endowment assets posted a return well below its benchmark of 17.6% for the period, according to an investment report on its website.
The report cited lower private equity returns in comparison to public equity returns as the reason for missing the benchmark. For the year ended June 30, the Russell 3000 index returned 23.1%.
For the five and 10 years ended June 30, the long-term portfolio returned an annualized net 10.9% and 8%, respectively, exceeding their benchmark returns, according to the report. The report did not provide specific benchmark returns for the periods.
The long-term portfolio had returned a net 5.5% for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2023.
For the most recent fiscal year, the long-term portfolio finished just ahead of the median return of 10.7% among the 27 college and university foundations whose returns for the period have been tracked by Pensions & Investments as of Oct. 24.
The report did not provide returns for each asset class, but cited strong public equity returns and also said “real assets provided strong results in both energy and commodities (particularly gold and copper), while real estate continued to struggle, especially the office space sector.
Fixed income provided modest gains as short-term bond yields declined. Private markets continued to struggle in the current environment, significantly lagging surging public markets.”
As of June 30, the long-term pool's actual allocation was 51% public equities, 22% private equity, 11% diversifying equities, 10% fixed income and 6% real assets.
The public equities component includes global equities (23% of the overall portfolio), domestic equities (also 23%) and emerging markets equities (5%).
