This 1971 Christmas card shows Nyala Farm — once part of the Bedford estate, later a working dairy farm.
Today the land between the Sherwood Island Connector and Greens Farms Road is the site of an office complex. Bridgewater Associates — the largest hedge fund in the world — is one of the tenants.
And if that doesn’t say something about the Westport of yesterday and today, I don’t know what does.
Posted in Friday Flashback, Local business, Places
Tagged Bridgewater Associates, Nyala Farm
Today’s Norwalk Hour reports that the frontrunner for Deputy Secretary of Defense in the Trump administration is David McCormick.
That’s “06880”-worthy because he’s the president of Bridgewater Associates — the Westport-based firm that just happens to be the largest hedge fund on earth.
Interesting. But even more intriguing is seeing if anyone makes a connection between McCormick and another Bridgewater guy: the former general counsel.
He too once lived in Westport. Guy by the name of James Comey.
For a hedge firm with a low profile, one current and one former Bridgewater employee have been in the news a lot lately.
Posted in Categories, Local business, People, Politics
Bridgewater Associates — the Westport-based largest hedge fund in the world — has responded vigorously to a New York Times story, which “06880” linked to yesterday. The firm says:
Although we continue to be reluctant to engage with the media, we again find ourselves in the position of being left with no choice but to respond to sensationalistic and inaccurate stories, both to make clear what is true and to do our part in fighting against the growing trend of media distortion. To let such significant mischaracterizations of our business stand would be unfair to our hard-working employees and valued clients who understand the reality of our culture and values.
While we all would hope that we could count on the Times for accurate and well-documented reporting, sadly, its article “Sex, Fear, and Video Surveillance at the World’s Largest Hedge Fund” doesn’t meet that standard. In this memo we will give you clear examples of the article’s distortions. We cannot comment on the specific case raised in the article due to restrictions we face as a result of ongoing legal processes and our desire to maintain the privacies of the people involved for fear that they too will be tried in the media through sensationalistic innuendos. Nonetheless, we can say that we are confident that our management handled the case consistently with the law and we look forward to its successful resolution through the legal process.
To understand the background of this story, you should know that the New York Times reporters never made a serious attempt to understand how we operate. Instead they intentionally strung together a series of misleading “facts” in ways they felt would create the most sensationalistic story. If you want to see an accurate portrayal of Bridgewater, we suggest that you read examinations of Bridgewater written by two independent organizational psychologists and a nationally-renowned management researcher. (See An Everyone Culture by Robert Kegan; Learn or Die by Edward Hess; and Originals by Adam Grant.)
Rather than being the “‘cauldron of fear and intimidation’” the New York Times portrayed us as, Bridgewater is exactly the opposite. Bridgewater is well known for giving employees the right to speak up, especially about problems, and to make sense of things for themselves. Everyone is encouraged to bring problems to the surface in whatever ways they deem to be most appropriate. To be more specific, our employees typically report their business problems and ideas in real time through a public “issue log” and a company-wide survey that is administered quarterly. More sensitive matters are reported through an anonymous “complaint line,” and all employees have access to an Employee Relations team charged with being a closed, confidential outlet outside of the management chain for handling issues of a personal nature.
The company’s response continues. For the full statement, click this link: Bridgewater Response.
Claims of sexual harassment, fear and intimidation are surfacing in Westport.
Specifically, they’re alleged to occur at Bridgewater Associates. The world’s largest hedge fund is headquartered at 2 sites — the Glendinning property on Weston Road and Nyala Farms, off I-95 exit 18 — but its reputation for secrecy is legendary.
The charges — reported today in the New York Times — were filed earlier this year with the Connecticut Commission on Human Rights, by a 34-year-old employee. The newspaper interviewed 7 former employees and people who have worked with Bridgewater, lifting a lid on the $154 billion firm.
Bridgewater has also been the focus of a National Labor Relations Board complaint, about confidentiality agreements that have led to interference and coercion.
The Times story includes information ranging from recordings of all meetings, to skinny-dipping and excessive drinking at an off-site retreat.
Click here for the full New York Times article.
The Bridgewater building on Weston Road.
A) Donald Trump
B) Hillary Clinton
C) Barack Obama
D) The Chinese Olympic swim team
Answer:
Posted in Local business, Sports, Totally random
Bridgewater — the world’s largest hedge fund, which manages $150 billion in investments — just put its hand out for $22 million.
And the state of Connecticut ponied up.
The Westport-based firm — tucked away at 2 locations, the Glendinning property off Weston Road, and Nyala Farm on the Sherwood Island connector — has been granted $22 million in loans and guarantees from the State Bond Commission.
In return, Bridgewater promised to create 750 jobs by the end of 2021, while keeping 1,402 currently in the state.
Bridgewater’s Glendinning headquarters.
The hedge fund gets $5 million in training and energy assistance grants, and a $17 million low-interest loan. The loan will be forgiven if Bridgewater “keeps its promises for new and retained jobs in Connecticut,” NBC Connecticut says.
Bridgewater — founded and run by Ray Dalio of Greenwich, the richest man in the state — will spend $527 million to expand its facilities in Westport, Wilton and Norwalk.
So what does the “06880” community think of this news about our 06880 neighbor?
Click the poll below!
Posted in Economy, Local business, Politics
Bridgewater Associates is the world’s biggest hedge fund. It’s also one of Westport’s leading taxpayers.
But the firm keeps a very low profile. If not for the big buses zipping employees between their Glendinning headquarters complex on Weston Road and a 2nd office at Nyala Farms near I-95 Exit 18, no one would know they’re here.
However, a small blurb in this week’s Wall Street Journal raised concerns with an “06880” reader. The paper said that — after its plan to move to Stamford fell through — Bridgewater wants to renovate its Glendinning offices, and create an underground parking garage.
The project “could require the involvement of the Army Corps of Engineers,” the WSJ noted.
An aerial view of Bridgewater’s Glendinning headquarters. Note the parking spaces on both sides of the river.
“Scope of project sounds mind-blowing,” said the email I received. “How come nothing online?”
It’s not as massive as it sounds. In fact, Bridgewater — whose corporate culture has been called “cultish,” “bizarre” and “not for everyone” — has for nearly 20 years been a careful steward of the wooded, riverfront Glendinning property (and an excellent tenant in the hidden-away Nyala Farms complex too).
“This is a unique setting: a beautiful, bio-diverse area,” a company representative told Westport’s Planning & Zoning Commission at a pre-application hearing earlier this month.
Bridgewater hopes to increase the functionality of its “somewhat tired” buildings — though not increase their footprints — while maintaining the natural environment that may contribute, in some way, to the hedge fund’s successful management of $169 billion.
The buildings on the Glendinning site are half a century old.
Glendinning (named for the marketing firm that originally developed the property) sits at the confluence of the Saugatuck and Aspetuck Rivers. It’s in a 100-year floodplain.
To mitigate flooding — a problem in the past — Bridgewater wants to move 170 asphalt parking spaces underground. The new parking garage will be planted over, with bio-filtering greenery.
There will also be a new central green. As adjacent buildings are renovated, coverage will be reduced by 30 percent. Coverage on the adjacent Ford Road parcel may increase slightly.
Natural plantings will restore 1000 feet near the Saugatuck River’s edge. Bridgewater will work with Trout Unlimited to add a new fish ladder too.
A realigned driveway and new bridge will connect the complex with Ford Road. Bridgewater promises to buffer it well.
The river (and dam) on the Ford Road side of the property (left in this photo) will be protected and enhanced, in Bridgewater’s plan.
Bridgewater has already met with Westport’s planning, engineering and conservation departments, plus the fire marshal. They’ve talked with the Department of Environmental Protection.
They’ve also sat down with owners of nearby properties, on Weston and Ford Roads.
“This is the best stewardship of a unique natural resource,” a Bridgewater spokesman told the P&Z. Members had several questions, but seemed to appreciate the company’s commitment to green space.
The process is still in the early stages. Applications and reviews are needed by conservation, flood and erosion and architectural review boards, plus the DEP and FEMA. It could be 6 months to a year before the P&Z hears the application.
Bridgewater is a hedge fund, not an insurance company. But it sounds as if they’re borrowing a famous firm’s motto. You know: Like a good neighbor, they’re there.
(To see Glendinning’s full presentation at the P&Z meeting earlier this month, click here; then click “Agenda.”)
In some ways, Westporters are not too bright.
We can’t keep deer from eating our bushes. We can’t park our cars between 2 white lines. We can’t read the words “10 Items or Less.”
But compared to the rest of the country — well, all but 8 other towns — we are very smart people.
That’s not me talking. It’s that insightful, well-researched and heretofore-unknown website, NerdWallet.
The other day, they set out to find the “most educated places in America.” So they examined percentages of population that earned high school, bachelor’s, master’s, and professional or doctoral degrees.
That’s it. Not the most rigorous analysis, but who are we to argue with NerdWallet?
Based on those criteria, Westport is the 9th most educated place in America.
NerdWallet writer Nico — who could benefit from a writing course in the Westport public schools, and whose research skills seem limited to the 1st page of a Google search — says:
Westport’s nearness to New York City makes it a natural fit for many people working in finance, science and technology. It has a strong economy of its own, lead [sic] by major employers like Bridgewater Associates, Canaan Partners, BNY Mellon, Terex and dLife. Several non-profits are headquartered in Westport, including Save the Children and the Smith Richardson Foundation.
- When Bridgewater Associates leaves Westport, will we be less educated?
Fairfield University is just a short distance away, and it is known for producing both a MacArthur and Guggenheim fellow, and 62 Fulbright scholars in the last 20 years. Fairfield University also provides local educational support through the Office of Service Learning, including faculty and course development, and community partnership development. 74.7% of Westport’s population holds a bachelor’s or graduate degree, and just 2.4% of the population did not complete high school.
I imagine the percentages in that final sentence refer to “adult” population. If just 2.4% of all 25,000 Westporters did not complete high school, that would be 500 people — or the population of, say, 1 of our 5 elementary schools.
But let’s not quibble. We’re #9! We trail only (from #1 down) Bethesda, MD; Palo Alto, CA; Wellesley, MA; Brookline, MA; Potomac, MD; Needham, MA; Cupertino, CA, and Upper Arlington, OH (?!).
In fact, that makes us #1 in Connecticut.
Time to celebrate. See you at the Mensa meeting!
(To read the entire NerdWallet story, click here.)
Posted in Education, Local business, Totally random
Tagged Bridgewater Associates, NerdWallet, Save the Children, Terex
Back in the day, Westport was the marketing capital of the world.
That was then. Hedge funds are now.
Though Bridgewater Associates gets most of the press, Main Street is home (metaphorically) to other firms that a few years ago would have been on Wall Street.
At the end of last year, Reuters reported on one:
Andy Hall, one of the world’s largest commodity hedge fund managers, has returned his Astenbeck fund to profit just before year end, helped by what he described as new winning positions in crude oil and corn.
Until last month, the Westport, Connecticut-based Astenbeck, which has about $4.8 billion under management, appeared headed for a second year of losses after an unexpected slump in crude prices in October tripped up its long positions in oil. …
Its fortunes reversed with November’s performance, when it recouped almost everything it lost the previous month after a rebound in crude prices put its bullish bets on oil back on track.
I’m not sure how many Westporters — those not in the industry, anyway — have heard of Astenbeck.
They share the Nyala Farm office complex with Bridgewater. Unlike that bigger hedge fund, though — whose main headquarters are in the woods off Weston Road — Astenbeck has not gotten a sweetheart deal to move to Stamford.
The Nyala Farms office complex, near I-95 Exit 18. It’s one of the hedge fund centers of the world.
Yesterday, Astenbeck CEO Hall was back in the news. Bloomberg reported:
Andrew J. Hall, the former Citigroup Inc. oil trader whose pay package of about $100 million ensnared him in the fight over compensation at bailed- out banks in 2009, is selling handmade lavender soap and grass- fed Angus beef from a farm in Reading, Vermont.
There’s more to the story, of course. Bloomberg says:
He has torn down at least half a dozen homes in the 666-person central Vermont town and opened an appointment-only art museum there last year. His holdings, including Newhall Farm, are valued at more than $13.8 million, the records show.
Some townspeople think Hall’s work is “wonderful.” Others said they were “less sure, citing razed homes, the lower tax rate Hall pays on some of his land and a dispute with a next-door neighbor over power lines.”
Interesting. The truth — as it usually does — probably lies somewhere in the middle.
If you’ve got a Westport hedge-fund-that-usually-flies-under-the-radar story, click “Comments” to share.
Posted in Local business, People
Tagged Andrew Hall, Astenbeck Capital, Bridgewater Associates
The Daily Beast recently published a long piece on Bridgewater Associates — the Westport-based hedge fund that, if all goes according to plan, it will take its 1300 employees and considerable tax dollars to Stamford a few years down the pike.
The story — pegged to this year’s recruiting season at Ivy League schools — called Bridgewater a hot company for “many of the smart young finance things who used to flood to positions at name-brand banks in lower Manhattan.”
The “alternative alternative asset-management company”
isn’t for ex-jocks or day traders. Rather, it tends to attract—and look for—self-styled intellectuals and deep thinkers who like constructing arguments as much as they enjoy constructing portfolios. It’s “the thinking Yalie’s destination,” as one recent Yale graduate put it.
Bridgewater’s Glendinning Place headquarters — off Weston Road — “more closely resembles The Master than Wall Street,” the Daily Beast said. “The trading day is like a long encounter session in which people learn about themselves, and then trade their way to prosperity.”
Bridgewater headquarters.
But landing a job there is no day at the beach.
The interviews themselves have become legendary. “Really weird” and “very confrontational” were two phrases used by students to describe the on-campus interview. A candidate is likely to be put in a room with about seven people. Instead of being grilled about stock trades or economic issues, students will be asked to debate controversial topics like Roe v. Wade or gun control for an hour.
When Beast writer Daniel Gross approached founder Raymond Dalio for an interview, he said, “I know you don’t do a lot of interviews because—”
(Dalio) completed the sentence: “Because we’re weird?” (I was actually going to say because Bridgewater is privately held and isn’t engaged in the constant grind of fundraising—but yes, Bridgewater does have a reputation for being weird.)
Gross didn’t get the interview. Nonetheless, he knows a bit about Bridgewater. He lives in Westport. Comparing it to Stamford, Gross calls it
a more distant, but lovely, suburb… filled with 40-something and 50-something professionals, rather than 20-something finance newbies. The company’s headquarters are tucked in a wooded area in the northern part of town. Unless you knew it was there, you wouldn’t know it was there. Many of the young hires share rental apartments in the area during the week and live in Manhattan. The company runs buses back and forth from New York every day.
Bridgewater, from the air.
But, Gross says, “it’s not simply the location or even the money that makes Bridgewater trendy.” No; it’s that the firm “isn’t really part of the crisis-era financial system. Bridgewater wasn’t involved in the bailouts, took no Troubled Asset Relief Program money, didn’t securitize mortgages, doesn’t borrow from the Fed, and hasn’t been implicated in any insider-trading scandals.
Ivy League kids still want to make money and are still drawn to the financial-services industry. Last December I guest-taught in a session of an undergraduate course on finance and economics at Yale, and virtually all the students in the class expressed an interest in working in finance. But they didn’t want to be seen as embracing the negative aspects of finance.
For years, Goldman had the greatest cachet and mystique among this crowd. No longer. If you’re 22, notes Kevin Roose, “all your friends are skeptical of the banking industry.”
“If you tell someone you do finance, they’ll say ‘You sold your soul,’” says a Harvard undergraduate. “There’s been a big surge in interest in startups, computer science, and entrepreneurship. They call it the Zuckerberg effect.”
With its intensely intellectual work climate, flat hierarchy, and lack of attachments to the tainted sectors of the financial complex, Bridgewater offers bright young things a way to work on Wall Street without really being part of it. Which is nice work if you can get it.
True? False? Do you work there? Did you interview there?
Is Bridgewater “weird,” or the wave of the industry’s future?
Click “Comments” to weigh in.
For some reason, I bet these comments will be even more anonymous than usual.
Posted in Economy, Local business, People
Tagged Bridgewater Associates, Daniel Gross, The Daily Beast
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