Kyle Bass is “Against Selling” any of UT’s Gold

Last year the University of Texas Investment Management Co. took delivery of over more than 6,000 gold bars – worth nearly $1 billion at the time – based in part on advice from noted hedge fund manager Kyle Bass.

Yesterday, Mr. Bass stated at a meeting among the endowment’s fund directors that he is “against selling any of the gold,” according to a Bloomberg report.  Bass cited “the need for a hedge against mounting risks driven by government deficits in the U.S. and Europe,” the report noted.

Bloomberg went on to say that “The $19.1 billion in endowment funds overseen by the University of Texas Investment Management Co., or Utimco, lost almost 3.8 percent on invested assets in the four months through December, preliminary figures distributed today show.”  The report did not specify which positions contributed most to the fund’s decline, but with gold falling from $1,825 to $1,564 from September 1 – December 31, the yellow metal undoubtedly played a role.

Nevertheless, in recent years Bass has become one of the more highly-regarded fund managers in the investment world. His firm, Hayman Capital Management LP, has delivered stellar returns since the onset of the financial crisis in 2007.  Hayman has profited significnatly from short positions on securities tied to the subprime housing market and later the European sovereign debt crisis, as well as from long positions in gold.

In 2011, Bass was quoted as saying that “Central banks are printing more money than they ever have, so what’s the value of money in terms of purchases of goods and services.  I look at gold as just another currency that they can’t print any more of.”