Downtown Miami is heating up – as any Soundbytes reader is sure to know. We already told you about Universa Investments making the move to Miami; now, Brazilian firm XP Securities is following suit.
One of the largest broker-dealer investment firms in Brazil, XP Securities announced it has relocated 15 employees from New York to downtown Miami, with plans to create 30 new jobs by the end of 2014, and have about 100 employees in the city by mid-2015. Based in Sao Paolo, the company has more than 80,000 clients in Brazil.
The move follows a campaign spearheaded by the Miami Downtown Development Authority to attract hedge funds and other financial firms to the area, by highlighting Miami’s unique assets: all the benefits of a cosmopolitan city, minus the income tax.
Alejandro Rebelo, a partner at the company, says the move is a natural one, crediting “the area’s attractive lifestyle, business and tax benefits, and access to Latin American nationals.” Moreover, Miami is home to a high concentration of Brazilian companies, residents and tourists, and the country is Florida’s top trading partner and second largest source of international visitors.
Chairman of the DDA, Commissioner Marc Sarnoff, commented on the move, stating that “Financial service firms like XP Securities and Universa are discovering they can avoid paying high income taxes in New York without sacrificing access to technology, Class A office space, and the quality of life of a large metropolitan city.”
The South Florida Business Journal is also reporting rumors that Brett Icahn, son of billionaire investor Carl Icahn, plans to open a hedge fund management company in Miami, although an official announcement has yet to be made.
Comments