Bridgewater, Dalio Donate $10 Million For China Virus Fight
Bridgewater, Dalio Donate $10 Million For China Virus Fight
(Bloomberg) -- Billionaire Ray Dalio’s family charity and his hedge fund Bridgewater Associates LP are donating $10 million to help support China’s coronavirus relief efforts.
The money will go to Peking University First Hospital, Union Hospital for Clinical Care and three medical teams led by academics in Wuhan, the world’s largest hedge fund said in an emailed statement Monday.
Dalio joins other high-profile executives and their companies donating to the relief efforts. Blackstone Group Inc.’s charitable foundation is giving $1 million to expand distribution of supplies and aid to more than 30 communities in China, while Citadel founder Ken Griffin’s hedge fund and securities firm have put up $7.5 million to help contain the deadly virus.
U.K.-based hedge fund firm Winton Group Ltd. committed 1 million yuan ($143,390), its largest donation in China; UBS Group AG pledged $1 million to frontline responders and New York-based asset manager Neuberger Berman Group has donated 200,000 yuan.
Bridgewater and Dalio have a long association with China. Bridgewater opened an office in Beijing in 2011 and five years later established Bridgewater (China) Investment Management in Shanghai. The group has since launched onshore and offshore products for Chinese and non-Chinese investors looking for exposure to the world’s second-largest economy.
Dalio first visited China in 1984. In 1995, he sent his then 11-year-old son Matt to live in Beijing and attend a local Chinese school. Five years later, Matt established the China Care Foundation, which raised almost $15 million for special-needs orphans. This philanthropic work led the Dalio family to set up the Dalio Foundation in 2003.
Among the three recipients, Peking University First Hospital has sent more than 500 doctors and supplies to Wuhan, the epicenter of the outbreak. Union Hospital is a leading regional hospital with the best pulmonologist specialists, Bridgewater said. The three medical teams in Wuhan are led by Zhong Nanshan, Li Lanjuan and Wang Chen, who have become the public faces of China’s battle to contain the outbreak.
To contact the reporters on this story: Katherine Burton in New York at kburton@bloomberg.net;Bei Hu in Hong Kong at bhu5@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Katrina Nicholas at knicholas2@bloomberg.net, Peter Vercoe
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