: Ray Dalio’s Bridgewater boosts its bets on China

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The world’s biggest hedge fund boosted its bet on Chinese companies in the fourth quarter.

The latest 13-F filing from Bridgewater Associates shows the firm boosted its stake in Alibaba
BABA,
-0.27%

by 29% in the fourth quarter, to take its holding in the Chinese internet services giant to the eighth highest spot in its portfolio.

Bridgewater also boosted its stake in Baidu
BIDU,
+0.09%

by 23%, and in Chinese electric vehicle maker Nio
NIO,
-1.29%

by 8% in the fourth quarter.

Bridgewater also indirectly owns a number of Chinese companies through its third-largest holding, Vanguard’s emerging-markets fund
VWO,
-0.75%
,
though the firm reduced its holding in that and two similar emerging-markets ETFs in the fourth quarter.

Investors have been tempted in by Chinese companies after a rough 2021 when the country ramped up regulatory scrutiny throughout the economy.

Alibaba shares have climbed 3% this year, Baidu has gained 8% while Nio has tumbled 25%.

Ray Dalio, the founder and co-chief investment officer of Bridgewater, has found himself in hot water over his views on China. He walked back comments in which he appeared to brush off human-rights abuses in the world’s second largest economy when he said it acts like a “strict parent.”