Continuing a three-year-old trend, nine analysts from the Harvard Management Co. (HMC) announced earlier this month that they would leave HMC to start their own investment firm.

The members of the Select Equity Group, which manages nearly $5 billion in domestic equities for HMC, will leave this weekend to found Adage Capital Management.

Select Equity is widely considered to be one of HMC’s best team of investors in the 185-member firm, which handles all of the University’s endowment. Over the last decade, the portion of the portfolio overseen by Select Equity has outpaced the returns of the S&P 500 index by an average of 4 percent a year.

HMC President Jack E. Meyer said the split was “friendly,” and that the Select team will be sorely missed at the investment firm.

“I wish they wouldn’t leave,” he said. “It will be hard to replace that value added [to the endowment].”

Phil Gross and Robert Atchinson, the heads of the Select Equity team and two of HMC’s most senior analysts with 18 and 16 years experience at HMC respectively, will head up the new venture.

Gross, Atchinson and the other members of Select Equity are “terrific investors” and are considered “pioneers in the industry,” according to Jon Jacobson, a former HMC investor who left to found a hedge fund, Highfields Capital Mangement.

Members of the Select Equity Group referred inquiries about Adage to Chris M. Nahil, an associate at GPC/O’Neill consulting in Boston. Nahil declined further comment, saying Adage is still in the process of starting up.