Bridgewater Associates founder Ray Dalio, Blackstone senior adviser Helman Sitohang, and U.S. economist Jeffrey Sachs are joining as advisers to Indonesia’s new sovereign wealth fund, which is set to manage more than $900 billion in assets.
Indonesia’s state news agency Antara said that Daya Anagata Nusantara, or Danantara, Jakarta, unveiled its management structure and advisory board on March 24.
Dalio, founder of the about $160 billion hedge fund, was among businesspeople hosted on March 7 by Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto as he laid out goals for the new sovereign wealth fund. Dalio’s views and experience were sought to develop the new fund, according to a statement at the time.
Spokespeople for Bridgewater and Dalio did not respond to requests for comment.
Sitohang is a senior adviser at Blackstone, a spokesperson for the $1.1 trillion alternatives firm confirmed. Prior to Blackstone he was CEO for Asia-Pacific at Credit Suisse.
Dalio, Sitohang and Sachs— a university professor and director of the Center for Sustainable Development at Columbia University — are among five members of the advisory board.
The other advisers are F. Chapman Taylor, who was an equity portfolio manager at $2.7 trillion firm Capital Group. Taylor’s personal LinkedIn page says he retired last year. A spokesperson confirmed his retirement and Taylor could not immediately be reached for comment. The firm’s website says that, earlier in his career at Capital, Taylor was, among other things, a generalist for Indonesia.
The fifth member of the five-person advisory board is Thaksin Shinawatra, a businessman and former prime minister of Thailand.
The wealth fund also named former Presidents Joko Widodo and Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to its advisory council.
The appointments eased market concerns over the new sovereign wealth fund’s leadership, with Indonesian stocks trimming losses after the announcement, Bloomberg reported.
President Subianto’s administration began transferring ownership of state-owned companies to the fund — which reports directly to the president — which Bloomberg said also contributed to sharp losses in Indonesian stocks on March 24.
