Bridgewater Associates, the world largest hedge fund manager, is working with Lyxor Asset Management Group on an alternative fund structured to attract investors in Europe.
Lyxor will manage the fund, giving institutional investors access to Bridgewater’s strategies through a European framework known as the undertakings for collective investment in transferable securities, or UCITS, according to a joint statement from the firms Thursday. Lyxor and Bridgewater called the UCITS structure “a new key milestone” in their fifteen-year relationship.
Bridgewater, based in Westport, Connecticut, manages more than $160 billion of assets for about 300 institutional investors globally. The new fund being developed with Lyxor creates new opportunities for the Paris-based firm’s clients in Europe, Asia and South America, according to the statement.
“Collaborating on a UCITS project represents a natural expansion of our partnership with Lyxor,” said Kyle Delaney, Bridgewater’s co-head of client service and marketing, in the statement. “We look forward to bringing our investment management expertise to a diversifying investor base through Lyxor’s platform and global distribution network.”
UCITS funds account for about 75 percent of all collective investments by small investors in Europe, according to the European Commission’s website. “While originally designed for retail investors, the largest share of investments into UCITS funds is currently coming from institutional investors like pension funds, insurers, private banks and sovereign wealth funds,” UCITS data provider LuxHedge said in a white paper in 2017.
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Founded by Ray Dalio in 1975, Bridgewater’s investors include public and corporate pension funds, university endowments, charitable foundations, and sovereign wealth funds, according to the hedge fund firm’s website.
A Lyxor spokesperson in Paris didn’t respond to an email seeking comment. A spokesperson for Bridgewater declined to comment beyond the announcement.
