University of Michigan's endowment sees 2.2% annual return

University of Michigan's $17.3 billion long-term endowment pool returned 2.2% for the fiscal year ended June 30, one of the highest among university endowments for the period, according to an Oct. 20 news release from the Ann Arbor-based university.

Benchmark information was not provided, but the news release cited the endowment pool's return exceeding the average return of -6.5% among college and university endowments for the period as found by Cambridge Associates.

For the 20 years ended June 30, the endowment pool posted an annualized return of 9.9%, and had returned in excess of 40% for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2021.

The most recent fiscal year results reflected a difficult market environment for the period, particularly in public equities and fixed income. For the year ended June 30, the Russell 3000 index and Bloomberg U.S. Aggregate Bond index returned -13.9% and -10.3%, respectively, in sharp contrast to returns of 44.2% and 4.6% for the year ended June 30, 2021.

However, among the 30 university endowments whose returns for the period have been tracked by Pensions & Investments through Wednesday, University of Michigan posted the second-highest return, well above the median return of -3.6%.

Asset class information was not provided. In the news release, Chief Investment Officer Erik Lundberg said, "Our investments in renewable fuel and sustainable energy contributed significantly to the positive performance last year, along with other investments that responded well to inflation."

University spokesman Don Jordan could not be immediately reached for further information.