Harvard to outsource real estate investment to Bain Capital

(Reuters) - Harvard University's endowment will shift its real estate investment staff on Feb. 1 to private equity firm Bain Capital, which will establish a new property business.

The approximately 20 members of Harvard Management Co's real estate investment staff will form Bain Capital Real Estate, the Boston-based firm said in a statement on Friday.

"The team, which has invested more than $3.4 billion of equity in its direct real estate investment strategy since its inception, will manage HMC's direct real estate investment portfolio, and HMC will continue to invest in the team's future strategies," Bain said.

The firm's current businesses, which include credit and venture capital as well as private equity, have combined assets of about $85 billion under management.

For Harvard, this is the latest move by HMC Chief Executive Officer N.P. Narvekar to outsource investment of the endowment's money.

Since arriving last year, Narvekar has abandoned the school's long-time practice of managing a large chunk of its money internally, an unusual approach in the endowment world.

(Reporting by Joshua Franklin; Editing by Lisa Von Ahn)