Lehigh University more than doubles private equity allocation to 15%

The $1.1bn university endowment has upped its allocation to private equity by 150 percent in an effort to diversify its holdings.

The Lehigh University endowment has increased its allocation to private equity from 6 percent to 15 percent for “diversification purposes”, according to a university spokeswoman.

The endowment had only 3.8 percent of assets under management committed to private equity and venture capital as of 30 June 2007. At that time, 10.7 percent of capital was committed to hedge funds and 0.4 percent was committed to real estate.

The firm has committed capital to alternative asset management firms including BlackRock, The Blackstone Group and former Lehman Brothers asset management unit Neuberger Berman.

Lehigh’s endowment had $1.1 billion (€771 billion) in assets under management as of March 2008.