Brown University’s endowment cut a large slice of its position in a publicly traded private credit fund managed by Blue Owl Capital, according to a regulatory filing. The university’s $8 billion endowment reduced its holding in Blue Owl Capital Corp, the firm’s largest publicly traded private credit vehicle, to 1.5 million shares at the end of March 31. That compares with 3.2 million shares at the end of 2025, the 13-F filing showed.
The filing also indicates the university retained its entire stake of roughly 2.6 million shares in Blue Owl’s management company. The disclosure was reported in the 13-F, the quarterly filing that details institutional ownership of U.S. equities at the end of the prior quarter.
Context and market reaction
Publicly traded business development companies, or BDCs, such as Blue Owl’s OBDC are trading at steep discounts in the current environment as some investors grow more skeptical of valuations and as stress in the private credit industry has drawn greater attention. While institutional investors broadly continue to show strong appetite for private credit, retail investors and high-net-worth individuals have stepped back from the asset class amid a wave of negative coverage in recent months.
The filing comes after announcements from some large market participants about scaling back private credit activity. Insurance company AIG said it has pared back its private credit involvement given current market conditions.
OBDC, launched in 2016, is one of Blue Owl’s publicly traded business development companies. Its investor base includes both institutional and retail clients. BDCs provide investors with ownership exposure to a diversified pool of private credit assets.
Brown’s portfolio and recent performance
Brown’s endowment allocates across a range of asset classes, including public equity, real assets and private equity. In fiscal 2025, the endowment reported an investment return of 11.9%.
Note on disclosures
The 13-F filing is a backward-looking snapshot of stock holdings at the close of the prior quarter and is used by market participants to gauge institutional positioning and trends in equity allocations.