The Teacher Retirement System of Texas has taken a $250 million equity stake in Westport-based Bridgewater Associates, one of the world’s largest hedge funds, The Wall Street Journal said today. 
The move by the approximately $100 billion pension fund comes as Bridgewater’s founder, Ray Dalio, seeks to reduce his ownership in the firm, the report said.
Dalio, who owns about 60 percent of Bridgewater, may reduce his stake to about 20 percent over the next 10 years, the newspaper quoted people familiar with the matter as saying.
Several top executives at Bridgewater have been buying stakes as part of this transition, the Journal said.
In a letter to clients today, Bridgewater said the sales are part of a “10-year plan to transition Bridgewater from being run by Ray, to being independent of Ray,” the newspaper said.
The firm added in the letter that Dalio has no plans to retire or change his involvement with the firm in any way, the report said.
A number of public pensions have been increasing their exposure to hedge funds and other so-called alternative investments recently. But the Texas Teachers deal represents an unusual move by a pension plan to take an equity stake directly in a hedge fund, the Journal said.
