But in commodities investments, which include volatile oil and gas holdings such as Harken, Harvard showed a negative rate of return of 33.5 percent—the only category in which HMC’s internal benchmarks were not met—for a loss of nearly $200 million.
Meyer said that much of the commodities losses were in real estate investments, which The Crimson reported in 1991 were down between $80 and $100 million.
“We wrote off some commodities in real estate,” Meyer said, leaving half the losses attributable to other commodities investments.
Meyer declined to comment on specific holdings that caused the overall decline in commodities, saying that such details would put HMC at a competitive disadvantage.
“If we talk about investments, there are people out there who’ll set up against us,” he said.
—Staff writer Alexander J. Blenkinsopp can be reached at blenkins@fas.harvard.edu.