Bridgewater founder Ray Dalio joins billionaires snapping up Singapore ‘shophouses’

Bridgewater Associates founder Ray Dalio’s family office has bought two multimillion-dollar “shophouses” in Singapore, as billionaires snap up the heritage properties in the city-state.

The Dalio Family Office, which announced it was moving into the Asian financial hub during the coronavirus pandemic, purchased two shophouses on Club Street in 2021 for roughly S$25.5mn (US$18.9mn), according to two people with direct knowledge of the deal.

Family offices — private wealth managers set up for rich individuals — have exploded in Singapore from a handful in 2018 to about 1,400 in 2023. They have invested in Singapore real estate, with shophouses a popular choice. The properties sometimes stand empty or are used as offices, residential buildings or business premises.

A development approval issued by the government at the end of 2023 for the site at 44 and 46 Club Street lists Tan Mae Shen, the Singapore managing director of the Dalio Family Office, as the developer.

Renovation of the properties is due to finish early next year, according to the application, and the company has started hiring on LinkedIn. The Dalio Family Office is also expanding in Abu Dhabi after the billionaire stepped away from his hedge fund.

A spokesperson for Dalio declined to comment. Rawlinson & Hunter, a London-based professional services firm named on the ownership documents, also declined to comment.

Singapore is home to nearly 60 per cent of family offices in the Asia-Pacific region, according to KPMG. The family office of Google co-founder Sergey Brin has also set up a branch in Singapore, alongside many rich Chinese families.

There are about 6,700 shophouses with conservation status in Singapore. The buildings, whose design was introduced by Chinese immigrants in the 1800s, doubled as the business premises and living accommodations of early merchants in the former colonial outpost.

Zhang Ying, the wife of Alibaba founder Jack Ma, in January paid about S$45mn for three adjoining shophouses on nearby Duxton Road, according to documents lodged with the government. Zhang is also a Singaporean citizen.

Sales of shophouses hit a record S$1.9bn in 2021 with the average price of a property rising from a range of S$5mn-S$8mn to S$15mn-S$20mn over the past decade, according to real estate consultancy Knight Frank.

The consultancy said the doubling of the property stamp duty for foreigners to 60 per cent last year on residential purchases fuelled interest in commercial shophouses among family offices, since the properties can serve as part of their assets and as an office.

However, both shophouse sales and the rate of openings of new family offices have slowed since last August’s S$3bn money laundering investigation in Singapore. Some of the accused and their alleged associates were linked to family offices and acquired shophouses with the funds.

In response to the investigation, the Monetary Authority of Singapore tightened checks for family offices at the end of last year, slowing sales of the heritage properties.

In December, 10 shophouses owned by two Chinese nationals with alleged ties to an accused person in the money laundering case were put on the market by DBS bank to recover repayments of its loans.

“Some, although not all, of those properties associated with the launderers are being sold and the market — especially foreign buyers — are waiting to see what price they fetch and to draw a line under the saga,” said one property agent who declined to be named.

“But it has tarnished the shophouse market by association, so I expect sales to be lower this year.”

Additional reporting by Ortenca Aliaj in London