Бриджуотер Ассошиэйтс: Американдық инвестициялық фирма тарихы

U. S. based investment management firm

Bridgewater Associates, LP (informally known as "Bridgewater") is an American investment management firm founded by Ray Dalio in 1975. The firm serves institutional clients including pension funds, endowments, foundations, foreign governments, and central banks. As of 2022, Bridgewater has posted the second highest gains of any hedge fund since its inception in 1975. The firm began as an institutional investment advisory service, graduated to institutional investing, and pioneered the risk parity investment approach in 1996. In 1981, the company moved its headquarters from New York City to Westport, Connecticut, and currently employs 1,500 employees.

The firm's history includes the pioneering of industry strategies such as: currency overlay, the separation of alpha and beta strategies, According to Financial News, the company was the fastest growing asset manager from 2000 until 2005 when it stopped accepting new accounts. Its assets under management have increased by 25% each year during the 2001 2010 decade with employees at eleven times their year 2000 levels. The company's Daily Observations research is reportedly read by leaders of central banks and managers of pension funds around the world.

Bridgewater Associates was founded by Ray Dalio in 1975 from an office in his Manhattan apartment. At that time, the business consisted exclusively of advising corporate clients and the management of domestic and international currency and interest rate risks. The firm later changed its emphasis and began selling economic advice to governments and corporations such as Nabisco and McDonald's. Another client was Banks of Mid America and its treasury department director, Bob Prince, later joined Bridgewater Associates as co CIO. In 1981, the company moved its offices from New York City to Connecticut. The company's first account was funded by a US$5 million fixed income investment through Hilda Ochoa Brillembourg of World Bank in 1987. As a fixed income and currency adviser to institutional clients, the company gained a reputation as a currency trader and a developer of techniques for overlaying currencies. In 1990, it launched a hedge fund portfolio using monies from Kodak and Loews Corporation In 1995, company executives participated in the discussions at the U. S. Treasury and advised federal government on the development of inflation indexed bonds. Bridgewater launched its All Weather hedge fund and pioneered the risk parity approach to portfolio management in 1996. The firm's assets under management grew from US$5 billion in the mid 1990s to US$38 billion by the year 2003. In June 2000, the firm was ranked as the best performing global bond manager for that year and the prior five years by Pensions & Investments magazine. In 2002, the company was ranked by Nelson Information as the World's Best Money Manager in recognition of the 16.3% return on its International Fixed Income program. The firm received the Global Investor Awards for Excellence Global Bonds award in 2003. and 2 "best in class" awards from the PlanSponsor Operations Survey. In 2006, the company's flagship Pure Alpha fund began "returning money" to its clients in order to maintain its investment strategy and enforce its "capacity limit". The firm began moving all of its clients into alternative strategies (either its All Weather or Pure Alpha Major Markets funds), thereby eliminating the traditional investment approach from its portfolios. That year it was honored by PlanSponsor Magazine with the Lifetime Achievement Award and the Global Pensions magazine Currency Manager of the Year award and the Money Management Letters, Public Pension Fund Award for Excellence and the Alternatives Manager of the Year award.

By 2007, the firm's total assets under management grew to US$50 billion (from US$33 billion in the year 2000). Bridgewater's Pure Alpha fund "spared its investors" from most of the stock market's "meltdown" in 2008. Senator John McCain visited the firm and addressed company employees during his 2008 presidential campaign. Ray Dalio, the company's founder, began using the term "d process" in February 2009 to describe the deleveraging and deflationary process of the subprime mortgage industry as distinct from a recession. That year, the company was termed the largest hedge fund in the U. S. and it received the Alternative Investment News 7th Annual Hedge Fund Industry's Lifetime Achievement award and PlanSponsor's Hedge Fund Manager of the year award. When the U. S. gross domestic product faltered in 2010, the firm had significant gains on their investments in Treasury bonds and other securities, and in November founded the US$10 billion, Pure Alpha Major Markets fund which brought the company's total assets under management to more than US$100 billion. In 2011 the firm received several honors. It was ranked number one on Institutional Investor's "world's top 100 hedge funds" list. It received the Macro Focused Hedge Fund Firm of the Year award and the aiCIO Hedge Fund Industry Innovation Award. Absolute Return + Alpha (AR) ranked the company number one in its Hedge Fund Report Card and Billion Dollar Club categories. The Teacher Retirement System of Texas (TRS) invested $250 million in a stake in Bridgewater Associates Intermediate Holdings, LP. The firms total funds in the early part of 2012 was around US$ 120 billion. Between 2014 and 2016, the Regents of the University of California withdrew $550 million from Bridgewater Associates also due to concerns about Bridgewater's future leadership. In 2016, Connecticut approved $22 million in grants and loans, via a program initiated by Gov. Dannel P. Malloy, in exchange for job training, job creation, and building renovations, with the agreement that the firm retains the 1,402 jobs they already supported in Connecticut. The company also received $30 million in urban tax credits. In 2016 the firm managed about US$150 billion. In September 2017, Bridgewater announced plans to launch an investment fund in China with Chinese government's approval. In June 2018, it was announced to clients and employees that Bridgewater would change its corporate structure and become a partnership. By June 2018, the Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System, the Singapore's sovereign wealth fund and the International Monetary Fund had invested in Bridgewater Associates. In 2020, Bridgewater reported hefty losses due to COVID 19 related market volatility, with the flagship pure Alpha II fund losing 18.6% as of August 2020. During COVID 19 pandemic Bridgewater Associates bet against European companies. In January 2021 losses for 2020 amounted to $12.1 billion. In December 2021, after 11 months in the doldrums, Bridgewater posted a 7.8% return providing the firm at the close of the year with its best annual performance since 2018. In January 2022 Nir Bar Dea and Mark Bertolini were announced as co CEO. In the volatile bear market of the 1st half 2022 the firm's Pure Alpha II fund posted a 32% return. Bridgewater has long ranked No. 1 in assets under management (AUM) among hedge fund managers, but it might no longer hold that distinction. It had $123.5 billion in AUM, as of Jan. 31, 2023, according to Preqin, one of the leading providers of financial services data. That was No. 2, behind a total of $138.4 billion in hedge fund AUM, as of Sept. 30, 2022, for the London headquartered Man Group. In comparison, Bridgewater's AUM totaled about $162 billion, as of Sept. 30, 2019; approximately $141 billion, as of Sept. 30, 2020; and about $153 billion, as of Feb. 28, 2022, according to Preqin. At all of those points, it still ranked No.1 in hedge fund AUM.

According to Ray Dalio, Bridgewater Associates is a "global macro firm". It uses "quantitative" investment methods to identify new investments while avoiding unrealistic historical models. Its goal is to structure portfolios with uncorrelated investment returns based on risk allocations rather than asset allocations. Additionally, the company is reported to accept funds from only institutional clients such as pension funds, foundations, endowments, and central banks rather than private investors. A 2023 New York Times investigative report, based on a book by the paper's finance journalist Rob Copeland, raised questions about whether the firm uses a sophisticated investing system. The report indicated that the fund's investments are primarily based on Ray Dalio's personal picks and that investment choices are driven by information derived from Dalio's associations with prominent government actors.

According to Bloomberg, Bridgewater uses an investing system that combines traditional diversification with "wager[s] on or against markets around the world" and attempts to invest in instruments and markets that do not "move in lock step" with each other.

Bridgewater Associates launched its flagship fund, Pure Alpha, in 1989. The fund is described as a "diversified alpha source" that invests across a group of asset classes. It includes 30 or 40 simultaneous trading positions in bonds, currencies, stock indexes and commodities to avoid affecting prices by concentrating funds in a single area. After placing some of the company's excess cash into the Pure Alpha hedge fund to increase its "investing discretion". However, an investment in Pure Alpha has returned 4.5% annualized since 2005 and underperformed major indices.

A second fund, called All Weather, was launched in 1996 and highlighted low fees, global inflation linked bonds and global fixed income investments. The fund began as the founder's personal trust fund and was subsequently opened to clients. The All Weather fund contains more than $46 billion and is one of the largest funds in the U. S. as of 2011. In April 2009, after the collapse of Lehman Brothers, the fund moved into "safe portfolio" mode which included nominal and inflation linked bonds and gold instead of equities, emerging market debt, and commodities. The fund is reported to contain 40% inflation linked bonds, 30% Treasury bills, 20% Treasury bonds and 10% gold. In June 2018, Bridgewater was granted permission to develop and market domestic investment products to qualified investors in mainland China. In October 2018, Bridgewater launched its first Chinese investment product, Bridgewater All Weather China Private Fund Number 1, which by January 2024 grew to $5.5bn.

Under the guidance of then co CEO Jensen, the firm created the Pure Alpha Major Markets in 2011 with $2.4 billion from existing clients. In the summer of 2011 the fund was opened to a group of outside investors who had made a total advance commitment of $7.5 billion. At that time, it was reported to be the largest hedge fund launch. The fund was established to provide an investment vehicle similar to the company's Pure Alpha fund but with enhanced liquidity by focusing on the major markets such as European bonds.

The company's "Daily Observations" is a private communication and is the flagship product and service offered by the company. The daily notes synthesize Bridgewater's decades of following the markets and offer an alternative perspective on trends that are top of mind for all investors around the world. It has been characterized as comprehensive, with some editions being up to 43 pages in length. It is reportedly read, on a subscription basis, by clients, leaders of central banks and managers of pension funds around the world and said to be "one of the most widely forwarded pieces of market analysis" in the industry. It is the centerpiece of the company's outreach program and as of 2009 it was read by members of the U. S. Treasury, and the Executive Office of the Obama Administration.

In 1981, the company moved its headquarters 50 miles north of New York City to Wilton, Connecticut, and in the late 1990s it moved to a larger office space on a corporate campus in Westport, Connecticut.

Bridgewater Associates grew from 100 employees in 2003 to 1,500 employees in 2017. The company is reported to be one of the few hedge fund managers that hire its analysts and employees right out of college and from the annual pool of graduates from elite universities. Employees are transported daily in a "fancy" bus that ferries them from Manhattan to the company's Westport offices. According to an article in Bloomberg, "about a quarter of all new hires" leave within the first two years. Dalio, the founder, relinquished his chief executive officer (CEO) title in July 2011 to take on the role of "mentor". The company's administration consists of three co CEOs; Greg Jensen, Eileen Murray, former Controller at Morgan Stanley, and David McCormick; the former undersecretary of the Treasury Department. The company also has three co CIOs (chief investment officers); Dalio, Bob Prince and Greg Jensen (who is also co CEO). Britt Harris, formerly of Verizon Investment Management, joined Bridgewater as co CEO in November 2004 but left six months later. According to Dalio, the cultural fit was a problem, but Harris "is a superstar, with an absolutely fabulous character". From 2010 until early 2013, Bridgewater's general counsel was James Comey, former United States Deputy Attorney General and Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation from 2013 to 2017. In 2016, Bridgewater had removed Greg Jensen as co CEO and hired Jon Rubinstein instead. In December 2019, Bridgewater Associates announced that Eileen Murray plans to step down as co chief executive in March 2020, making David McCormick the sole CEO.