Bridgewater Associates to Receive $52 Million from State to Expand in Westport, Wilton and Norwalk

WESTPORT, CT - Bridgewater Associates, the world's largest hedge fund, will receive a $52 million economic assistance package from Connecticut to create jobs and expand its current locations in Westport, Wilton and Norwalk.

CT News Junkie reports the company, which manages investments totalling more than $150 billion, that the package includes various components:

• 10-year, $17 million loan - at an interest rate of 1 percent - to keep 1,402 jobs in the state and create 750 more during that period. If the company successfully retains the jobs and creates the new ones through the end of 2021 the loan will be forgiven.
• Up to $30 million in urban and industrial site reinvestment tax credits
• $2 million grant to help with training
• $3 million grant for green energy improvements

Bridgewater was in line to receive significantly more from the state - about $115 million - to move its headquarters from Westport to Stamford and build a new, $750 million waterfront complex. But political infighting reportedly scorched those plans, according to the Hartford Business Journal.

With essentially $22 million of the package coming in the forms of grants and forgiveness loans, Republican state legislators pounced on the plan, championed by Democratic Gov. Dannel Malloy, criticizing it for its largess, reports the Connecticut Post.

Malloy advocates bonding to pay for the package.

Last year alone, Bridgewater's founder, Ray Dalio of Greenwich, reportedly earned $1.4 billion from his company.

“With all that has transpired in the last two weeks with the state’s budget a mess, and unfinished school construction projections hanging, to make the world’s largest hedge fund a priority, I find it dubious,’’ said state House Republican Leader Themis Klarides in a statement. “Of course we want to keep highly skilled, well-paying jobs in Connecticut. But we all know that other vital projects will not be funded because we have to curtail our borrowing.’’

Bridgewater's size and assets under management dwarf those of other hedge funds.

And the company is poised to grow even bigger, as Westport, Wilton and Norwalk are not the only locations where the hedge fund behemoth is planning to expand, having just received approval to open an office in China.

Click here to read the full story on the CT News Junkie website.

Photo: Bridgewater Associates' Westport headquarters