World’s largest hedge fund is doing far better in China than elsewhere, as Dalio’s Bridgewater returns 22 per cent to investors

Ray Dalio’s Bridgewater Associates is doing far better in China than in the rest of the world.

The US$148 billion money manager raised about 900 million yuan (US$136 million) for its second China fund in September, doubling assets, according to people familiar with the matter. Investors were partly drawn to its All Weather China strategy fund that boasted an annualised return of about 22 per cent for the 22 months from inception to the end of July they said, declining to be identified discussing private matters.

While the size of the onshore business remains tiny, the latest fundraising lifted assets under management to about 1.7 billion yuan, ranking it among the biggest foreign hedge fund players in China. Bridgewater trails only Winton Group and UBS Group, which have launched at least eight funds in their much longer China presence, according to data compiled by Licai.com.

Bridgewater declined to comment in an emailed statement. The company launched its first China onshore yuan fund in 2018, but upgraded its quantitative strategy into an enhanced model called All Weather China Plus in 2019 by adding active management to improve returns, the people said.

China is becoming increasingly important to global money managers after the nation opened its 100 trillion yuan investment market wider. Billionaire Dalio has long been optimistic on China, seeing the need to have “a significant portion” of Bridgewater’s portfolio in Chinese assets for long-term diversification and short-term trading.