Former chancellor of the exchequer Nigel Lawson has been named chairman of newly formed Oxford Investment Partners (OXIP).
OXIP, a business owned by three Oxford colleges designed to manage assets at charities and endowments, has initial assets of £100 million, with Balliol College, Christ Church College and St Catherine's College each contributing about a third of this sum.
The colleges own 60 per cent of the business, and the remaining 40 per cent is owned by its management team.
"In a shifting global investment landscape, it is vital that academic and charity institutions in the UK are equipped to take advantage of diversified sources of return," Mr Lawson said in a statement.
Endowments and charities are major holders of assets. In the United States, for example, university endowments comprise billions of dollars in assets.
OXIP aims to deliver real returns of more than 5 per cent over rolling five-year periods but with significantly less volatility than from equity markets.
Mr Lawson was British chancellor between 1983 and 1989 in the Conservative government of then-Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher.