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Reuters
SHANGHAI
Bridgewater Associates, the world's largest hedge fund with around $150 billion in assets under management, has set up an investment management unit in Shanghai, according to a Chinese government website filing, signalling that the firm is looking to expand its bets on China.
The move comes as some hedge fund managers around the world including Jim Chanos and Kyle Bass have piled into short trades against Chinese assets, amid fears the country's overleveraged economy and ballooning bad bank loans are set to derail the world's second-largest economy.
Bridgewater's China unit was set up in Shanghai's Free Trade Zone on March 7, with registered capital of 50 million yuan ($7.67 million), the website of China's State Administration for Industry & Commerce (SAIC) showed.
The SAIC filing cites Ray Dalio, the billionaire founder of Bridgewater Associates, famous for anticipating the global financial crisis of 2008-2009, as the registered legal representative. Bridgewater operates a global macro investing style based on economic trends.
"The move stands in stark contrast to the belligerently loud claims among Ray Dalio's hedge fund contemporaries, all of whom are now crowded like sardines into the same China short trade," wrote analysts at Z-Ben Advisors, the Shanghai-based investment consultancy, in a client research note published on Monday and seen by Reuters.
