Goodbye, Dalio Times!
Bridgewater Associates, the world's largest hedge fund company, has established an operating board led by director Mike McGavick and mark Bertolini, former CEO of Aetna, Aetna, a significant change in terms of mechanism, through Dalio's delegation of authority to the operating board, which also marks a gradual transition of Bridgewater management from the era of founder Dalio.
The operating board, which is made up of the largest employee equity owner, independent outside directors, employee directors appointed by the partnership and the CHIEF Executive Officer, replaces an informal committee since Dalio stepped down as CEO in 2017.
The operating board is led by two independent directors, mark Bertolini, a former CEO of Aetna Insurance and a member of Bridgewater's internal board for 3 years, and Mike McGavick, former chief executive of insurer XL Group and a former candidate for the U.S. Senate, who became a director in June 2021.
In addition to the co-chairs, the Board includes Ray Dalio and his co-chief investment officers, Bob Prince and Greg Jensen, as well as three other independent directors: Sian Beilock, dean of Barnard College at Columbia University, Margo Cook, former president of Nuveen Consulting Services, and John, former CEO and chairman of Apax Partners, independent director and co-chairman of Bridgewater's internal board for the past 5 years Megrue。
In addition, there are three employee directors elected by the partners — Jim Haskel, senior portfolio strategist and editor of Bridgewater Daily Watch, Noah Yechiely, head of equity research, and Osman Nalbantoglu, co-head of Investment Engines, and David McCormick, CEO.
Dalio and his co-chief investment officers Prince and Jensen wrote in a letter to employees posted on the company's website on December 28 last year:
This marks the transition of Bridgewater's leadership and ownership from Dalio to a great and established team that has been effectively operating and overseeing Bridgewater.
The Operational Board needs to start a lot of work next. Finding a successor to McGavick is its top priority, as McGavick will return to the political scene and is currently raising money for a potential Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate in Pennsylvania.
Secondly, Qiaoshui's performance is also a top priority for the board of operations. Like many of its peers in the macro sector, Bridgewater's Pure Alpha II flagship fund has struggled over the past decade, with annualized returns of just 1.6 percent in the 10 years to November. The fund's strong performance in the past December, with a yield of 7.8% as of Wednesday, is expected to give it its best performance since 2018.
A wall street news earlier article also introduced Bridgewater's 13F report for the third quarter ended September 30 last year, and the overall shareholding value of Bridgewater rose by 17% to $18.3 billion, more than double the 8.2% increase of the S&P 500 index in the same period.
For founder Dalio, revamping the board and bringing in outsiders to lead the way is to fulfill the succession challenges he has been trying to solve since he founded Bridgewater in 1983. Previously, Bridgewater switched to partnerships to introduce outside agencies as investors and appointed McGavick as CEO.
Dalio, 72, has said he wants to start the "third phase" of his life. While he is still interested in managing money at Bridgewater, he no longer wants to be haunted by the responsibilities of managing a $150 billion company; McGavick's decision to explore his future political career complicates Bridgewater's management and handover efforts.
In an open letter to employees, Bridgewater plans to determine the conditions for a formal transfer of control to the new board of directors by Feb. 14 of this year. However, the letter did not mention plans to replace 56-year-old McGavick. The media speculated that either Dalio would temporarily play a more hands-on role, or Jensen would return to the CEO position.
In addition, the letter mentions that Dalio is still the sole director of Bridgewater's parent company and has voting rights.
The succession problem may slowly gain eyebrows in the new year, and Qiaoshui China has ushered in an outbreak in the past year.
On March 7, 2016, Bridgewater (China) Investment was formally established, and then completed the registration of private fund managers with the Asset Management Association of China on June 29, 2018, which also marked the official launch of Bridgewater Fund's private equity business in China.
In November last year, Qiaoshui's three-year entry into China finally broke out, and the "China Resources Trust · Creative Excellence XX Series Collective Fund Trust Plan" issued by China Resources Trust and invested by Bridgewater China as the investment consultant, raised a total of about 8 billion yuan in just one week.
This article is from Wall Street Insights, welcome to download the APP to see more
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