Hedge fund Citadel to maneuver headquarters to Miami from Chicago By Reuters

© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: Miami’s cityscape and a port are mirrored within the sunroof of a automotive in Miami, Florida, U.S., June 21, 2019. REUTERS/Carlo Allegri/File Picture

By Svea Herbst-Bayliss

BOSTON (Reuters) – Citadel, the $51 billion hedge fund based by billionaire investor Ken Griffin, is transferring its international headquarters to Miami from Chicago, turning into the newest funding agency to shift workplaces to Florida within the wake of the pandemic.

Griffin is the wealthiest resident in Illinois with an estimated internet value of $25 billion. The choice to relocate the hedge fund and Citadel Securities, the digital buying and selling agency, was motivated by Florida’s business-friendly local weather and tax benefits, and considerations about rising crime charges in Chicago, folks acquainted with his pondering stated.

“I’m excited to have lately moved to Miami with my household and look ahead to quickly increasing Citadel in a metropolis so wealthy in range and abounding with power,” Griffin wrote to staff saying the deliberate transfer in a word seen by Reuters. “Miami is a vibrant, rising metropolis that embodies the American Dream.”

The agency follows within the footsteps of outstanding hedge fund managers Carl Icahn and Paul Singer whose corporations moved to Florida from New York as staff longed for higher climate and entry to outside actions, an enormous draw in the course of the pandemic. Florida additionally doesn’t accumulate state earnings tax.

Citadel is likely one of the world’s most profitable hedge funds and has been headquartered in Chicago for greater than three a long time. The agency employs 1,000 folks at it headquarters, 10% lower than two years in the past, a statistic that Citadel executives say underscores how powerful it’s to recruit prime expertise to Illinois. About 4,000 folks work on the agency in 17 workplaces around the globe.

Citadel executives have expressed considerations about crime in Chicago, noting a Citadel worker was stabbed a block from the workplace whereas strolling to work, that somebody tried to carjack Griffin’s car, and that protests have occurred exterior of the Chicago headquarters.

The agency’s transfer will deal one other blow to Chicago’s enterprise group after Boeing (NYSE:) lately stated it will transfer its headquarters to Arlington, Virginia and Caterpillar (NYSE:) introduced plans to relocate to Irving, Texas. And it’ll probably put a dent in philanthropic giving after Griffin, who was born in Florida, donated greater than $600 million to native academic, cultural, medical and civic organizations.

In the beginning of the pandemic, Citadel established a beachhead on the 4 Seasons Palm Seaside lodge to make sure fluid buying and selling as COVID-19 locked down many companies.