Forget Greece — Brevan Howard’s latest real-estate digs will be in an old-school hedge fund hot spot.
The $35 billion manager is adding an office in Greenwich, the leafy Connecticut suburb long known for its concentration of hedge funds, early next year, a person close to Brevan told Business Insider. It will be the European-based firm’s fourth American outpost, along with offices in New York, Austin, and Miami, the latter of which is set to open later this year.
The firm, which has personnel in London, Jersey, and Geneva, does not currently have an outpost in Athens. The Greek capital has been an industrywide topic of conversation after onetime Brevan cofounder Chris Rokos decided to move there personally and establish an office for his $22 billion macro fund.
Regardless of whether an office is near the Long Island Sound or the Aegean Sea, hedge funds have long used workplace locales to recruit and retain top investors. As the industry’s war for talent continues, and cities around the world compete to become the next financial hub, office openings have become a unique barometer for the industry’s competitiveness and geopolitical moves.
It’s rare to find a major American hedge fund without a presence in Connecticut, which boasts plenty of commuter communities that make up the broader Tri-State metro area. Hedge funds that count Greenwich as their headquarters include AQR and Verition, while Bridgewater is in nearby Westport, and Point72 and Viking Global are in Stamford.
Brevan’s soon-to-debut Miami office, meanwhile, follows several big-name funds that have added real estate in Florida, which has attracted wealthy individuals with no state income tax and year-round sunshine. Citadel relocated its headquarters to the Magic City in 2022, while Elliott is now based in West Palm Beach.
Internationally, Greece is the latest entrant in the competition to win over financial companies and their wealthy employees with tax breaks. Millennium and Verition are also considering opening offices in Athens, Bloomberg reported last week.
Other countries and territories, including Switzerland, Jersey, the United Arab Emirates, and Italy, have all tried to pry some of London’s established asset management industry off for themselves. Tax incentives, for corporations and individuals, as well as Abu Dhabi’s massive sovereign wealth funds, have given asset managers and their employees plenty of reasons to look east from Europe’s de facto financial capital.
Athens authorities were likely emboldened by the surge in hedge-fund pros who’ve relocated to the UAE’s twin cities — Dubai and Abu Dhabi — since the pandemic. While some ex-pats plan to stay in the country for only a few years, other finance workers told Business Insider the region was their new home.
Yet, despite these global incentives, New York, even with its high taxes and snowy winters, still has the highest concentration of funds and employees.
