UC Investments Committee approves shift from hedge funds to public equities and sets 5% endowment payout

The Investments Committee of the Regents of the University of California on July 15 approved changes to asset-allocation targets across the system's endowment, pension and working-capital pools, moving funds out of hedge funds into public equities and formally adopting a 5% payout for endowment pools. The vote followed a presentation by committee staff explaining that the proposed adjustments reflect five years of implementation and recent shifts in the interest-rate and market environment. Committee staff said the general endowment allocation would change modestly by eliminating a roughly 10% allocation previously labeled as absolute-return/hedge funds and reallocating that weight to public equities. In staff's presentation, the general endowment was described prior to the change as roughly 40% public equities, 8% fixed income, 50% private assets and 2% cash; the committee was asked to…