Ray Dalio’s Bridgewater, world’s biggest hedge fund liquidates a third of its China stock holdings but loads up on consumer plays
- Connecticut-based Bridgewater Associates’ retreat is biggest since it sold shares in major China tech firms including Alibaba and NetEase in last year’s second quarter
- It sold its entire stake in 13 US-listed Chinese companies, including online brokerage Futu Holdings, delivery platform Dada Nexus and online forum Zhihu
The Westport, Connecticut-based firm exited its stakes in 13 US-listed Chinese companies, including online brokerage firm Futu Holdings, JD.com-affiliate delivery platform Dada Nexus and online forum Zhihu in the three months ended June 30, according to its latest 13F filing on Saturday with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
The US$123 billion hedge fund, founded in 1975 by billionaire China bull Ray Dalio, also slashed its holdings in Tesla challenger Li Auto and Xpeng by 92 and 97 per cent, respectively. It also trimmed stakes in most other Chinese ADRs, including tutoring firm TAL Education, drug maker BeiGene and data centre operator GDS Holdings.
“US-China relations are getting so bad that there is reason to worry that anti-China sentiment could make doing business with China like doing business with Russia, which would lead US-China trade to collapse,” Dalio said in a LinkedIn post in April. “This would have similarly damaging economic consequences, though many times larger, severely hurting supply chains and trade.”
The retreat came as the so-called China reopening bets turned sour in the second quarter amid a sluggish post-Covid-19 recovery. The MSCI China Index, which tracks over 700 companies traded at home and abroad, slumped 5.6 per cent in the three months ended June, wiping out US$180 billion market value, in sharp contrast with the MSCI World Index, which advanced 12.2 per cent.