University of Utah Growth Capital Partners Foundation has hired Cynosure Group to provide outsourced CIO services for the Salt Lake City-based university’s $1.8 billion endowment and associated assets.
The $8 billion Salt Lake City-based OCIO firm will work with the foundation to oversee daily administrative operations, a news release said.
“Cynosure has been able to achieve returns in excess of 14% per annum over the past five years for clients with portfolios similar to ours,” said David Anderson, chair and CEO of the foundation, in the news release. “We were also impressed by the creative structure they proposed regarding fees, which allows us to also partner with them in their investment business.”
Colleges, universities and foundations with mid-range-sized endowments are increasingly turning to OCIOs, with this being the first time the University of Utah outsourcing its investment office, the release noted.
The foundation was established in 2022 following the retirement of Jonathan Shear, who had served as CIO of the university’s investment office. The search for an OCIO began in 2024, during which the foundation reviewed nearly 50 firms.
For the fiscal year ended June 30, the endowment posted a net annualized return of 10%, beating the target benchmark return of 9.1%.
For the three, five and 10 years ended June 30, the endowment returned 2.7%, 7.2% and 5.9%, respectively.
The actual asset allocation of the endowment is 30% global public equity, 24% diversifying strategies, 12% private equity, 11% global fixed income, 10% cash investments, 8% real assets and 5% private credit.
The target asset allocation is 30% private equity, 25% global public equity, 18% diversifying strategies, 12% real assets, 10% global fixed income and 5% private credit.
