WEALTH

Ray Dalio, the billionaire founder of Bridgewater Associates, is set to launch a family office in Singapore to run his investments and philanthropy throughout the Asia Pacific region.

Leveraging his ties with Asia and Singapore, Ray considered that it was “high time” to open a family office there, the hedge fund manager’s spokesperson revealed in a statement which subsequently said that the Bridgewater founder “has had for the last three decades excellent relationships in Singapore and China…. He likes and admires both and he is excited by what is happening in the region.”

Dalio, with a net worth of more than $15 billion, is the latest uber-wealthy business leader to open a family office in Singapore. Previously, vacuum cleaner magnate James Dyson’s Weybourne Group Ltd. had increased hiring in 2019 while Shu Ping, one of the billionaires behind Haidilao International Holding Ltd. — the world’s largest chain of Chinese hotpot restaurants — opened Sunrise Capital Management in Singapore in 2019.

Janine Racanelli has been appointed as the chief executive officer of the Dalio Family Office, while Tom Waller will assume the role of the chief operating officer. The office also recently engaged Oliver Walters, the former head of risk business management for JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s wealth-management division, and added Bruce Zimmerman, the former CEO at the University of Texas Investment Management Co. as chief investment officer.

Family offices are firms set up to manage the personal finances of the world’s richest households, from personal investments and philanthropic activities to trust structures and every-day arrangements. The ones in Asia have outperformed their global peers owing to their more significant exposure to Chinese stocks and tech companies, according to UBS Group AG.

The wealth they control and the jobs they create are key reasons why Singapore’s government has been keen to attract more to the city state with tax incentives and the Global Investor Program, which offers the super-rich a pathway to permanent residency. About 200 single-family offices are estimated to be managing assets worth about $20 billion in Singapore, widely considered to be the financial hub of Asia.

The offices are also used to fund charitable works. Last month, Dalio had launched a $25 million grant to education and research provider Wealth Management Institute Ltd. to train policy makers and investment professionals in Singapore.

The Westport, Connecticut-based Bridgewater currently manages about $148 billion, making it the largest hedge fund manager in the world.