投资不力，诺贝尔奖金大幅缩水

    1895年，炸药的发明者阿尔弗雷德•诺贝尔用个人遗产成立了一个基金，用于奖励世界上最伟大的天才。多年以来，诺贝尔基金会（Nobel Foundation）为数百个奖项提供了资金。而如今，诺贝尔的捐款却面临缩水。

    本周早些时候，负责颁发诺贝尔奖的诺贝尔基金会宣布削减现金奖励数额。由于基金会投资回报不足，目前，每一个诺贝尔奖项的奖金减少到约110万美元，而去年还高达140万美元。

    股市的表现今不如昔是导致奖金缩水的原因之一。与其他许多基金和公共退休金一样，诺贝尔基金会发现，如今的投资市场，利率已经创下历史新低，同时股票市场也在剧烈震荡。

    诺贝尔基金会执行董事拉尔斯•海克斯坦表示：“进入‘失落的十年’，股票投资仍占基金会投资的很大一部分。之所以这么做，是因为我们认为，既然要投资，就无法脱离市场，也就必须承担风险。”所谓“失落的十年”，是指投资者口中美国股市自本世纪初以来表现低迷的十年。

    然而，承担风险必然带来相应的回报，这种预期并未变成现实。截至12月31日，基金会共投入资金4.19亿美元。海克斯坦在位于瑞典的基金会办公室接受电话访谈时表示，过去十年，基金会的平均收益率为1.5%至2%。而要想支付奖金和相关运营开支，基金会的收益率至少应保持在3.5%至4%左右。很明显，如今基金会已经入不敷出。

    而在股票方面，近几年，基金会似乎更注重规避风险。2007年，诺贝尔基金会67%的资本用于股票投资（大多数为美国和欧洲公司），2011年投资比例减少到了47%。同一时期，用于固定收益类投资的资本基本保持不变，但在2011年，进入替代投资市场的资本比例却高达33%，比2007年的12%高出一倍以上。基金会投资的替代产品包括房地产、对冲基金和私募基金等。

    去年，诺贝尔奖获得者共有13人，从而使荣获诺贝尔奖或纪念阿尔弗雷德•诺贝尔的瑞典银行经济学奖（Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel）的个人和机构总数达到到853个（830名个人和23个机构）。

    未来，诺贝尔基金会必须采取措施提高收益率：与公共退休金和大型大学捐赠基金不同，诺贝尔基金会的投资决策均由内部首席投资官决定，而不是外部基金经理。不过，海克斯坦透露，近期基金会成立了一个由瑞典金融学家组成的委员会，帮助决定投资组合的再分配。

    他还表示，除上述措施外，基金会还计划精简投资对象，将投资对象从40个精简到20至25个，并计划投资收取手续费较低的基金。

    In 1895, Alfred Nobel, the late inventor of dynamite, left much of his fortune in a fund dedicated to recognizing the world's greatest geniuses. Over the years, his gift paid for hundreds of awards attached to the Nobel Prize. Yet his donation has worn thin.

    Earlier this week, the Nobel Foundation, which awards the Nobel Prize, announced it was reducing its cash prizes. Each one now will be worth about $1.1 million, down from last year's $1.4 million, a result of disappointing returns on investments.

    Stocks haven't been paying out like they used to. And like many endowments and public pensions, the foundation finds itself adjusting to a period of record-low interest rates and a volatile stock market.

    "We went into the lost decade with a fairly high share [invested] in equities," said Lars Heikensten, the Nobel Foundation's executive director, referencing what investors called the dismal showing of the U.S. stock market since the early 2000s. "That had its basis in the idea that since we were in it forever we would take risks."

    The assumption of decent returns and risk appetite has not paid off. As of December 31, the foundation had $419 million in invested capital. During the past 10 years, annual returns have averaged 1.5% to 2%, said Heikensten, speaking over telephone from the foundation's office in Sweden. That's markedly less than the at least 3.5% to 4% return the foundation needs to cover costs of the prizes and related operating expenses.

    When it comes to stocks, the foundation appears to have become more risk averse in recent years. Whereas 67% of the Nobel Foundation's capital in 2007 went toward equities (the bulk of which U.S. and European companies), that share fell to 47% in 2011.

    Capital toward fixed income investments including bonds have stayed roughly the same during the same period, while the share of capital going into so-called alternative investments including properties, as well as hedge funds and private equity funds, more than doubled to 33% in 2011, compared with 12% in 2007.

    Last year, the foundation named 13 Laureates, adding to the 853 (830 individuals and 23 organizatons) that have received a Nobel Prize or the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel.

    Going forward, the Nobel Foundation will be taking steps to improve its returns: Unlike public pensions and large university endowments, investment decisions are made in-house by the foundation's chief investment officer rather than an outside money manager. However, the foundation recently created a committee of Swedish financiers to help determine how to reallocate the portfolio, Heikensten said.

    Among other changes, the foundation also plans to streamline investments, bringing them down from about 40 to about 20 to 25, he added. It also plans to invest in funds that charge lower fees.