UNIVERSITY NEWS Fees to manage MT Foundation investments in Grand Cayman hedge fund accounts not disclosed

[SpaceRaider]

I have a couple of comments, something about this reminds me of John Grisham's novel, "The Firm", and the fact that nearly half of MT's endowment funds equals 26.8 million is embarassing as hell.

excerpt:

"Nearly half of MTSU Foundation’s endowment funds, about $26.8 million, are invested by its asset manager in two Cayman Islands hedge funds, both bringing better returns than standard investments.

But the university foundation, which oversees gifts made to the university, declines to say how much it pays Gerber Taylor of Memphis, the firm that has handled its investments for 25 years...."



from the Murfreesboro Post:

Fees to manage MT investments in Grand Cayman hedge fund accounts not disclosed

 

[mtfblue]

So what happened to the centennial money?

 

[MTFNBY5]

Several problems with The Foundation:

We have too small a percentage of alumni who give.

Most MT alumni have careers which are not as financially prosperous as many colleges and universities

Because of a lack of a "sphere of influence" local businesses don't support MT to the extent which could be expected

And most importantly, MT apparently has an administration (along with the trustees of The Foundation) who believes investing for the long-term is not important, moneys raised should be used as it is raised for capital needs, and the amount of the foundation's endowment is irrelevant in comparison to other schools. Therefore, even with the heavily hyped Centennial Campaign (which apparently didn't reach its somewhat modest goal) the endowment has not changed significantly, perhaps even gone down. I could be wrong but IIRC the endowment has remained between 70 and 100 M for decades.

I have begun to do my small part to increase the endowment by writing on my annual donation: "principal to be invested in perpetuity".

Based on this report I will start to add: ". . . in an investment vehicle based in the United States"

Good Grief: After reading the article more carefully it's worse than I though. Only a little over $63 million in the endowment; This after the recent market upsurge, the recent Centennial Campaign, and the passage of time from when I'm sure we had around $75 million. Who the hell is in charge in Cope? Something just "ain't right"; it has been a long time since my finance courses but something smells funny.

 

[MTOleBlue]

Yikes.

 

[JohnDavidBlue]

I don’t agree with the “mt alumni are not financially prosperous”

Predating me, this university has an identity crisis.

 

[MTLynn]

What's really sad about MT's investment with a hedge fund is that it is likely high fee's and the return isn't as good as the S & P 500

Why Buffett's Million-Dollar Bet Against Hedge Funds Was a Slam Dunk

 

[RaiderDawg78]

Why does Frank Drebin’s, “nothing to see here” from the Naked Gun come to mind...

 

[SpaceRaider]

Why does Frank Drebin’s, “nothing to see here” from the Naked Gun come to mind...

 

[Raiderclyde]

Good grief! Who’s really minding the store these days over at Cope? Thought our Centennial campaign would have put us well over $100 Million by now with good returns in 2015-2017. $63 Million won’t hardly build a major university building or much of a stadium these days. Where is the endowment money going; apparently we’re spending our inheritance down while universities like Rice measures their endowments in the multiple billions!!

 

[SpaceRaider]

Good grief! Who’s really minding the store these days over at Cope? Thought our Centennial campaign would have put us well over $100 Million by now with good returns in 2015-2017. $63 Million won’t hardly build a major university building or much of a stadium these days. Where is the endowment money going; apparently we’re spending our inheritance down while universities like Rice measures their endowments in the multiple billions!!

There should not be one dime spent by the university or the foundation or the Board of Trustees, that is not open to public scrutiny. The fact that it is not something open to public scrutiny leads to suspicion as to why not. Could be the fees be extravagant and out of line? If so why? And are key decision makers perhaps benefiting from making decisions not in the interests of the university or the foundation? I'm not saying people are getting kickbacks or being rewarded in some way for sending the investments out of the country, but we can not be sure that the stewardship of Foundation money is free of corruption either. Daylight is the best disinfectant.

 

[MT01]

There should not be one dime spent by the university or the foundation or the Board of Trustees, that is not open to public scrutiny. The fact that it is not something open to public scrutiny leads to suspicion as to why not. Could be the fees be extravagant and out of line? If so why? And are key decision makers perhaps benefiting from making decisions not in the interests of the university or the foundation? I'm not saying people are getting kickbacks or being rewarded in some way for sending the investments out of the country, but we can not be sure that the stewardship of Foundation money is free of corruption either. Daylight is the best disinfectant.

You're not saying it, but I will. The arrangement lacks legitimacy. Whereas it would not from the U.S. it would be very easy to funnel money from a Cayman account to say an account in the Bahamas.

 

[FranklinRaider315]

SMH.

 

[FranklinRaider315]

You're not saying it, but I will. The arrangement lacks legitimacy. Whereas it would not from the U.S. it would be very easy to funnel money from a Cayman account to say an account in the Bahamas.

No one questioned the practices of Bob McLean until it was too late. This whole thing smells.