(Bloomberg) — Ray Dalio’s family office and Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahyan’s artificial intelligence firm G42 have abandoned plans to set up an asset management venture together in Abu Dhabi, according to people familiar with the matter.
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The plans fell through in part due to questions on whether Dalio — the founder of Bridgewater Associates — might use the hedge fund’s intellectual property in any tie-up, said the people, who requested anonymity as the matter is private.
The 75-year-old had signed a non-compete agreement upon departing the world’s largest hedge fund, Bloomberg News reported in July. His plans with Sheikh Tahnoon, one of Bridgewater’s top clients, put that contract under the microscope.
Representatives for G42, the Dalio Family Office and Bridgewater declined to comment. Dalio and Bridgewater have previously said there have been no discussions or conflicts between the two on those topics.
The billionaire’s family office and G42 have left open the possibility of salvaging their initial plans down the road, one of the people said. The two have a longstanding relationship and the DFO has a stake in the AI firm, according to some of the people.
Details of that holding haven’t been formally disclosed. The firms have previously partnered on projects, including one aimed at protecting Indonesia’s marine ecosystem.
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G42 is the Middle East’s most prominent AI firm, with backers including US private equity giant Silver Lake and Abu Dhabi’s $302 billion wealth fund Mubadala Investment Co. It also recently lined up a $1.5 billion investment from Microsoft Corp. after agreeing to end any cooperation with China.
It’s overseen by Sheikh Tahnoon, who’s also the national security adviser of the United Arab Emirates. The royal traveled to the US last week with his brother, UAE President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed, and was involved in talks to promote AI cooperation between the two nations.
Dalio, who built Bridgewater into a $160 billion behemoth, has been the face of Abu Dhabi’s recent success in drawing hedge fund luminaries. He set up a branch of his personal investment firm in the emirate last year, part of a broader collaboration with Sheikh Tahnoon’s $1.5 trillion empire.
His ties to the emirate and its wealth funds go back decades. The $993 billion Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, now chaired by the royal, was one of Bridgewater’s top backers when Dalio started the firm half a century ago.
Even though talks over a launch of the DFO-G42 partnership stalled this year, several employees have moved between the firms. They include Ali Hegazi, who joined Dalio’s family office as director of investment research and strategy following stints at G42 and ADIA, Bloomberg has reported.
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