The China operations of US hedge funds Bridgewater Associates and Two Sigma Investments saw a big surge in assets last year as they weathered market turbulence to outperform their local rivals, according to a report by the Financial Times.
The report cites people close to the companies as confirming that AUM at Bridgewater China Investment Management, the local arm of the world’s largest hedge fund, quadrupled to more than RMB40bn ($5.6bn) at the end of last year from two years ago, while Two Sigma China saw its assets almost double over the same period.
While local asset managers struggled to generate positive returns in one of the world’s worst performing markets, both firms reported double-digit gains.
Bridgewater’s flagship All Weather Strategy China Private Investment Fund, which is aimed at wealthy individuals and has a minimum investment of RMB5m ($700,000), yielded 10.2% last year, while quant firm Two Sigma’s three China funds reported an annual return of over 16%.
The benchmark CSI 300 index meanwhile, fell 11.7% in 2023 as the world’s second largest economy struggled to bounce back following the lifting of prolonged Covid restrictions and the real estate crash.
Public records cited by the Financial Times show China’s 771 locally owned multi-strategy hedge funds generated an average return of just 2.8% last year.
