BOSTON, Jan. 11 (Reuters) – Blackstone Group, the world’s largest hedge fund investor, joins Brown University’s former head of endowment as co-head of the Blackstone Commercial Asset Management (BAAM) unit ) aige.
The company has hired Joe Dowling to join John McCormick who has run the $ 78 billion hedge fund unit since early 2018, the company confirmed Monday.
The Wall Street Journal first reported the news.
Blackstone’s hedge fund unit supports new hedge funds, invests with hedge funds, buys bulk cash in them and offers insider-run hedge funds. All business has expanded since McCormick was promoted to head of the unit.
Performance was challenged, however. The hedge fund unit reported an 8.2% gain in 2019, according to numbers within Blackstone and for 2020, the gain is said to be 5.5%, said someone familiar with the numbers.
The average hedge fund gained 11.6% in 2020, according to Hedge Fund Research data.
Dowling joined Brown as chief investment officer in 2013 and was named chief executive officer of the Investment Office in 2018 when Jane Dietze began overseeing the investment process. Dowling’s connection to Brown runs deep as his father, an ophthalmologist, graduated from university and was a former trustee.
Brown’s $ 4.7 billion compensation returned 12.1% during the fiscal year that ended in June, beating the Wilshire Trust’s Global Comparison Service which earned 2.6%. Brown’s most recent return was the return of Harvard and Yale, far among the best actors in the Ivy League.
Last year, Dowling launched a blank check company with former Brown trustee Barry Sternlicht who is expected to acquire Cano Health.
Gideon Berger, who was in charge of the hedge fund unit ‘s financing business, has plans to leave the company in the coming months. (Reporting by Svea Herbst-Bayliss; Editing by David Gregorio)