The University of California has reported that 60% of the investment firms the Oakland-based university partnered with in 2020 are Black- and/or women-owned, according to a progress report on the managers the Oakland-based university invests with.
The report, posted on the university's website, reveals that of the five investment managers UC partnered with last year, two were Black-owned, two were woman-owned (one of the firms also being Black-owned) and two were firms whose ownership demographics were less than 25% diverse.
UC also surveyed its 123 investment managers on their diversity metrics, and found that of the 118 that responded, 18 (15.3%) were more than 50% diverse-owned ("diverse" in this case including women, Latinx, Native American, Black, Asian/Pacific Islander, LGBTQ, veteran and disabled), while 28 (23.7%) were 25% to 50% diverse-owned, and 72 (61%) were less than 25% diverse-owned.
As of June 30, 2020, 5% of UC's $102 billion in total AUM was managed by managers that were more than 50% diverse-owned, while 11% was managed by those that were 25% to 50% diverse-owned.
"In 2020, UC Investments made significant progress in expanding and implementing our diversified returns program, which aims to increase our access to and inclusion of diverse talent when we invest, when we hire, and when we exercise our rights as a company shareholder," wrote Jagdeep Bachher, the university's chief investment officer, in a letter introducing the report.
Mr. Bachher added: "Among other things, we added several new diverse investment partners, put in place annual DEI goals for our leaders and collaborated with other institutional investors to advance diversity and inclusion at the companies in which we invest."
UC announced plans to invest at least an additional $2 billion with diverse investment managers over the next four years
The university's board of regents reported that the weighted average return for its endowment funds was 4% for the fiscal year 2020 ended June 30, bringing total assets of the endowment to $22.1 billion.
