In a move sure to spark controversy, Gov. Dannel P. Malloy made hedge fund titan Bridgewater Associates the newest company in Connecticut”™s “First Five” program, with the company relocating to Stamford from Westport on the promise of creating at least 750 jobs at a new, $750 million headquarters to be built at Stamford”™s Harbor Point development.
As first reported by the Fairfield County Business Journal, Bridgewater had already secured a lease at Wilton Woods Corporate Center for some 225,000 square feet of space, sufficient for more than 1,000 people. Bridgewater currently has 1,225 employees in five separate buildings.
Area real estate brokers have long speculated on whether Bridgewater would consider establishing a headquarters in Stamford, with Building and Land Technology luring other major employers to its Harbor Point development and with Bridgewater founder Ray Dalio”™s son having been an employee of BLT. Before taking the Wilton lease, Bridgewater had secured some 50,000 square feet of space at BLT”™s Towers complex in Norwalk.
Some had speculated that Bridgewater might be interested in taking over UBS AG”™s Stamford trading floor and offices, should the investment bank choose to vacate the premises in favor of New York City. Connecticut last year awarded up to $20 million in new incentives for UBS to keep at least 2,000 employees in Stamford for another five years.
Instead, Bridgewater is opting for Harbor Point, where it is promising to create a “spectacularly beautiful forested campus,” in the words of co-CEO Greg Jensen.
Bridgewater is among the largest and most profitable hedge funds in the world with $130 billion in assets under management, making the prospect of incentives potentially controversial for Malloy. But the state got a taste earlier this year of the willingness of hedge funds to walk when ESL Investments abruptly moved its headquarters from Greenwich to the Miami area, and New York City also remains an attractive option for financial services companies.
Connecticut awarded Bridgewater a $25 million forgivable loan at a rate of 1 percent for a term of 10 years to be used for the construction of the new facility; a job training grant of up to $5 million; a grant of up to $5 million for the installation of alternative energy systems; and up to $80 million in Urban and Industrial Sites Reinvestment Tax Credits.
Malloy has promised vigorous oversight of companies participating in First Five and other state incentive programs, making the Bridgewater deal all the more remarkable given the hands-off regulatory environment in which hedge funds prefer to operate.
“For a long time, our state failed to compete for the kinds of good paying jobs with good benefits that will grow and sustain our economy,” Malloy, in a prepared statement. “The jobs we are announcing today have the potential to grow our economy in a profound way because the spin-off effect of these positions will drive growth in other sectors. To have a company of Bridgewater”™s stature make the business decision to invest $750 million in our state and significantly increase its workforce is not only an extraordinary economic ”˜win,”™ but signals to the rest of the world that Connecticut is strengthening its leadership position in the very competitive financial services sector.”
