Type | Nonprofit corporation |
---|---|
Industry | Asset management |
Founded | 1971[1] |
Headquarters | , U.S. |
Number of locations | 5 offices |
Area served | Worldwide |
Key people | Mark Anson (CEO) Robert Litterman (Chairman) |
AUM | US$28 billion (2021) |
Number of employees | 240 [2] |
Website | www |
Based in Connecticut, Commonfund is an American asset management firm founded in 1971 with a seed grant from the Ford Foundation. As a private nonprofit organization, the firm manages customized investment programs for endowments, foundations, public pension funds, and other mission-driven institutions. [1] The organization has additional offices in New York City, San Francisco, London, and Beijing.
Along with Yale University CIO David F. Swensen, Commonfund helped pioneer applying the "endowment model" of investing to institutional investor portfolios. As of 2021, Commonfund had approximately US$28 billion in assets under management. Commonfund is currently the second-largest manager of outsourced endowment assets in the U.S. (surpassed only by the Vanguard Group). [3]
Commonfund also operates CF Private Equity, which builds and manages private markets portfolios, and the Commonfund Institute, which provides the investment management field with investment research and professional development programs such as the Commonfund Benchmark Studies, the Commonfund Higher Education Price Index (HEPI), the Commonfund Forum, and the Investment Stewardship Academy. The company is active in the fields of responsible and impact investing as well. [4]
A hedge fund is a pooled investment fund that trades in relatively liquid assets and is able to make extensive use of more complex trading, portfolio-construction, and risk management techniques in an attempt to improve performance, such as short selling, leverage, and derivatives. Financial regulators generally restrict hedge fund marketing to institutional investors, high net worth individuals, and accredited investors.
Neuberger Berman Group LLC is a private, independent, employee-owned investment management firm. The firm manages equities, fixed income, private equity and hedge fund portfolios for global institutional investors, advisors and high-net-worth individuals.
An institutional investor is an entity which pools money to purchase securities, real property, and other investment assets or originate loans. Institutional investors include commercial banks, central banks, credit unions, government-linked companies, insurers, pension funds, sovereign wealth funds, charities, hedge funds, REITs, investment advisors, endowments, and mutual funds. Operating companies which invest excess capital in these types of assets may also be included in the term. Activist institutional investors may also influence corporate governance by exercising voting rights in their investments. In 2019, the world's top 500 asset managers collectively managed $104.4 trillion in Assets under Management (AuM).
Wilshire Associates, Inc. is an American independent investment management firm that offers consulting services and analytical products and manages fund of funds investment vehicles for a global client base. Wilshire manages capital for more than 600 institutional investors globally representing more than $8 trillion of capital. Wilshire is also known for the creation of the Wilshire 5000 stock index in 1974 and more recently the Wilshire 4500 stock index.
Bridgewater Associates, LP is an American investment management firm founded by Ray Dalio in 1975. The firm serves institutional clients including pension funds, endowments, foundations, foreign governments, and central banks.
David Frederick Swensen was an American investor, endowment fund manager, and philanthropist. He was the chief investment officer at Yale University from 1985 until his death in May 2021.
Wellington Management Company is a private, independent investment management firm with client assets under management totaling over US$1 trillion based in Boston, Massachusetts, United States.
An alternative investment, also known as an alternative asset or alternative investment fund (AIF), is an investment in any asset class excluding stocks, bonds, and cash. The term is a relatively loose one and includes tangible assets such as precious metals, collectibles and some financial assets such as real estate, commodities, private equity, distressed securities, hedge funds, exchange funds, carbon credits, venture capital, film production, financial derivatives, cryptocurrencies, non-fungible tokens, and Tax Receivable Agreements. Investments in real estate, forestry and shipping are also often termed "alternative" despite the ancient use of such real assets to enhance and preserve wealth. Alternative investments are to be contrasted with traditional investments.
Alberta Investment Management Corporation (AIMCo) is an Albertan Crown corporation and institutional investor established to manage several public funds and pensions headquartered in Edmonton, Alberta. AIMCo was established by an act of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta in 2008 under the government of Progressive Conservative Premier Ed Stelmach.
PGIM, Inc. (PGIM), formerly Prudential Investment Management, is the asset management arm of American life insurance company Prudential Financial.
Farallon Capital Management, L.L.C. is an American multi-strategy hedge fund headquartered in San Francisco, California. Founded by Tom Steyer in 1986, the firm employs approximately 230 professionals in eight countries around the world.
Pantheon is a private equity, infrastructure, real assets and debt investor that invests on behalf of over 660 investors, including public and private pension plans, insurance companies, endowments and foundations. Founded in 1982, Pantheon has developed an established reputation in primary, direct co-investment and secondary private asset solutions across all stages and geographies. The firm's investment solutions include customized separate account programs, regional & global primary fund programs, secondaries and co-investment programs. Pantheon manages traditional limited partnership fund vehicles as well as vehicles tailored to the specific requirements of the U.S. private wealth and defined contribution pension markets, and also to investors in UK-listed investment companies, the latter through Pantheon International.
Impact investing refers to investments "made into companies, organizations, and funds with the intention to generate a measurable, beneficial social or environmental impact alongside a financial return". At its core, impact investing is about an alignment of an investor's beliefs and values with the allocation of capital to address social and/or environmental issues.
Virtus Investment Partners, Inc. operates a multi-manager asset management business, comprising a number of individual affiliated managers, each having its own investment process and brand, and the services of unaffiliated sub advisers.
Lord, Abbett & Co. LLC is an independent, privately-held investment management company headquartered in Jersey City, New Jersey. The firm offers a variety of fixed−income and equity strategies to individual and institutional investors. Lord Abbett has a global presence with offices in London, Dublin, Paris, Tokyo, and Montevideo.
Gary P. Brinson is a former investor and money manager. He is the founder of Brinson Partners a Chicago-based asset management firm acquired in 1994 by Swiss Bank Corporation, the predecessor of UBS. Prior to retiring in 2000, Brinson would run the asset management division of Swiss Bank Corporation and later UBS Global Asset Management.
GCM Grosvenor is an American alternative asset management firm, with approximately $74 billion in assets under management and approximately 530 professionals as of 2023.
Investment outsourcing is the process whereby institutional investors and high-net-worth families engage a third party to manage all or a portion of their investment portfolio. This arrangement can include functions such as establishing the asset allocation, selecting investment managers, implementing portfolio decisions, providing on-going oversight, performing risk management and other areas of portfolio management.
Cambridge Associates is a privately held investment firm based in the United States. It provides investment portfolio management and advisory services to institutional investors, including foundations and endowments, pensions, private clients, and corporate and government entities.
OppenheimerFunds, Inc. was a global asset manager. As of February 28, 2019, the company managed over $260 billion in assets in over 13,000,000 investor accounts. In May 2019, the company was acquired by Invesco.