The University of Kentucky's Portfolio

This week, we’ll take a look at the University of Kentucky’s portfolio, managed for the past decade by Chief Investment Officer Todd D. Shupp, with support from Cambridge Associates.

According to September investment committee minutes, the endowment returned 9.7% in FY25, placing it in the middle of the pack of among peers that have reported so far.

Kentucky regularly discloses new manager commitments and redemptions in its investment committee minutes. Highlights from the past year include:

June 2025

• Invested $15 million in Bayview MSR Fund

• Invested €20 million in Verdane Freya XII

February 2025

• Invested $12 million in Blue Owl Digital Infrastructure Fund III

• Invested $15 million in Lime Rock New Energy Partners II

• Invested $12 million in Cordillera Investment Fund IV

December 2024

• Invested $15 million in Summit Partners Growth Equity Fund XII

• Invested $45 million in Wellington Global Research Equity Extended Fund

September 2024

• Invested $15 million in Blue Delta Capital Fund IV

• Invested $20 million in GoldenTree Select Offshore Fund

• Full redemption from Palmer Square Ultra-Short Duration Investment Grade Fund

Kentucky’s team noted in 2024 that while much of the public equity portfolio remains passively managed (shown below), active managers are used to provide small-cap and non-U.S. exposure, areas they view as offering stronger opportunities for alpha in less efficient markets.

In last Friday’s customer newsletter, we shared a detailed list of managers in Kentucky’s portfolio. If you’d like to learn more about using OWL to track and analyze allocator portfolios, reach out!

Junto Capital

Among Kentucky’s diversifying strategies managers is Junto Capital, founded in 2014 by James Parsons after his departure from Viking Global. Parsons had served as a portfolio manager and member of Viking’s management committee before leaving over differences with Andreas Halvorsen.

Since launch, Junto’s AUM has grown to $9.6 billion:

According to disclosures, Junto typically runs with a relatively low net exposure of 20-40% and gross exposure of 120-180%. According to OWL data, Junto runs a diversified portfolio on the long side, with ~70 disclosed positions, primarily in the US. UTIMCO was a day one investor with Junto (January 2014) and disclosed annualized returns of 8.2% as of 12/31/24. Other notable investors include Mass General Brigham, the Guggenheim Foundation, and a number of other smaller foundations.

Parsons and his wife, Carrie Quinn (a physician), are both Notre Dame alumni. In 2015, they donated $20 million to endow the Notre Dame Institute for Global Investing and in 2010, they donated $5 million to support the university’s Center for Rare and Neglected Diseases. Parsons also serves on the Board of Trustees at Notre Dame.

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About Old Well Labs

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