HedgeWeek, BY HUGH LEASK | 10/12/2020 – 1:30PM
Bridgewater Associates, Ray Dalio’s long-running hedge fund giant, has paired up with French institutional manager Lyxor Asset Management to launch a new multi-asset strategy next year, based around sustainable investing.
The new vehicle – which is designed for investors to achieve financial and sustainability targets – is built around Bridgewater’s ‘All-Weather’ multi-asset framework, and trades assets aligned to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.
Bridgewater, the world’s biggest hedge fund with more than USD130 billion in assets, will bring its systematic research process to analyse and select public market assets aligned to the UN SDGs. The fund will employ the hedge fund giant’s portfolio engineering used in its “All Weather” asset allocation framework.
Lyxor – which currently manages around EUR15 billion (USD18 billion) in ESG assets – will manage the UCITS strategy, which is set to launch in March 2021, with Bridgewater as sub-advisor.
Brian Kreiter, Bridgewater’s chief operating officer, said scalable, sustainable investing is a “strategic priority” for Bridgewater and its clients.
“Using the same research process that we have developed over the last forty years, we have built a systematic process to engineer both the sustainability and financial characteristics of portfolios,” Kreiter said.
Nathanael Benzaken, Lyxor’s chief client officer, said: “Our clients’ appetite for sustainable investing has grown significantly in recent years, with investors setting goals that combine financial and sustainability outcomes. Lyxor’s culture of innovation and recognized ability to design transparent investment frameworks has helped us achieve client goals in this area.
