Fordham University - Message Points

1. You prefer a tight, concentrated manager roster and will size up with high‑conviction managers instead of spreading smaller tickets across many firms.

A concentrated, best‑ideas, entrepreneurial manager can take a meaningful slot in a smaller roster and align with your conviction‑driven approach.

Evidence

“condensing the manager roster from 50 or so names to 30-40 – a sweet spot, she says, for the fund’s current size.” “We would much rather have one manager that we feel real conviction about and give them more money than hire three managers and give them only a third of that same dollar amount.”

2. You rely on external managers (including hedge funds) rather than managing equities in‑house.

As an external hedge fund with a long track record, we fit your outsourced model and can plug into your existing hedge fund sleeve.

Evidence

“We don’t buy and sell stocks, rather we use investment managers.” “Hedge funds 173,570 — — 173,570”

3. You seek absolute‑return, diversifying strategies that mitigate equity drawdowns and deliver low correlation.

A low‑correlation, risk‑managed global strategy can serve as a diversifier alongside your equity book and support downside mitigation.

Evidence

“The portfolio is tasked with mitigating potential downturn in equities and is a diversifying return source.” “The goal of absolute return strategies is to provide, in aggregate, a return that is consistently positive and uncorrelated with other asset classes.”

4. You are actively exploring more event‑driven and macro opportunities to capture big‑picture dislocations.

A high‑conviction global fund that monetizes event‑driven/macro catalysts can align with this stated interest while complementing existing exposures.

Evidence

“Kapadia is keen to explore more event-driven and macro opportunities to take advantage of big picture economic developments, but less so for long/short where the fund already has significant European and US exposures.”

5. You can accept longer lockups and illiquidity when compensated with higher return potential.

An entrepreneurial, owner‑managed fund with aligned terms or a measured lockup can match your ability to take longevity risk and harvest illiquidity premia.

Evidence

“We’re blessed with the ability to take longevity risk, so we should use it to our advantage and be willing to lock up our capital for the chance of earning more return,” “The idea is that as an investor, you are given a premium for not being able to pull out of an investment, like you would when you sell a stock.”

6. You allocate globally and include emerging markets in your opportunity set.

A global mandate with EM capability can provide differentiated alpha and non‑US exposures you already underwrite.

Evidence

“Non-public equity funds invest in long-only equity in the United States, international developed markets, and emerging markets.” “Global equities — 12,088 12,088”

7. You value deep, transparent, long‑term manager relationships with direct PM access and consistency of mandate.

An owner‑managed, high‑conviction firm can offer direct PM dialogue, transparency, and a stable process that ‘stays in its lane.’

Evidence

““We want to get married to these managers, like we want to really feel like we have a relationship,”” “Transparency and communication are also critical, and she says investor relations staff hindering access to portfolio managers or simply not returning calls are instant red flags.” “It’s important to the fund that the manager stays in its lane, and there are no sudden changes in investment strategy.”

8. You focus on meeting a 7.5%+ return hurdle and prioritize backing ‘smart people’ (alpha) over broad asset‑allocation bets.

A high‑conviction, benchmark‑agnostic strategy with a durable track record of alpha speaks directly to your hurdle‑rate mindset.

Evidence

“our endowment needs to earn a 7.5 percent return hurdle in order to meet the spend rate and grow the endowment.” “We are more concerned about comparing ourselves to our internal hurdle rate than comparing ourselves to the performance of other endowments.” “I buy his philosophy. If you talk to him about Yale’s excellent returns, he’ll say it comes from finding smart people, it’s less about asset allocation.”