UC Loses Bid to Keep Returns Confidential

The University of California this week lost its final attempt to keep confidential its returns from private equity investments as the state Supreme Court declined to hear the school’s appeal of a lower court ruling.

The outcome means the university must comply with California’s Public Records Act and disclose returns from more than $800 million of investments in venture capital and buyout funds, which generate the highest returns out of all the school’s roughly $53 billion in pension and endowment investments.

The University of California is an investor with some of the oldest venture capital partnerships such as Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Sequoia Capital, Institutional Venture Partners, InterWest Partners and Mayfield. Kevin Compton of Kleiner was one of the venture capitalists who filed declarations supporting the university’s effort to block disclosure.