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No one orders Carlyle frescoes in New York or Los Angeles.
But that’s what they were mixing it up poolside at the famous Fontainebleau Miami Beach the other night, a sure sign that the hedge fund set is back in town.
The Tequila and Grapefruit Spritz was named after the Carlyle Group, Inc., one of the conference’s sponsors held at the hotel.
And like many things in South Florida these days, there was a very sweet element to it: the smell of money.
Miami looked as if half of America’s financial institutions had flown into a kind of Coachella for money-minded people, colloquially known as Hedge Fund Week. Each January, at the height of Florida’s winter season, a series of conferences and parties roll through the area.
“Who’s going to close the deal this week? Make some noise!” the DJ at LIV, a bustling mega-nightclub in Fontainebleau, shouted into his microphone late Wednesday night. The crowd in suits went wild.
Now, more than ever, New York’s old Wall Street is expanding into what Miami promoters breathlessly call Wall Street South. Even skeptics wonder if there’s more to this than just the hype. The pandemic has drawn wealthy financiers here for low taxes and good weather. For now, they’re staying put.
Where money goes, politicians follow. Money and influence are flowing around Miami as President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump prepare for a rematch in November. The city’s annual hedge fund conference also has a new feel to it this election season. This is no longer just a money manager conference. It’s like a gathering of kingmakers.
And this may not be a one-off. Florida has surpassed California and Texas to become the nation’s largest source of donations to Republican presidential campaigns, raising $30 million for Republican candidates in 2023.
“They’re all going to raise money here,” Nitin Motwani, a derivatives trader turned apartment developer, said of the presidential candidates.
they are already here.
While Wall Street was partying on the waterfront in Fontainebleau, Mr. Biden raised $6.2 million at a fundraiser a few miles away. Hedge fund billionaire Henry Laufer, who co-founded the Medallion Fund with Jim Simmons at Renaissance Technologies, co-chaired the event. Ninety miles north in Jupiter, Florida, a group of lawyers raised another $1 million for the president, not far from Trump’s home and private club, Mar-a-Lago.
“Miami is a place where everyone comes out,” said Chris Koji, a prominent Democratic fundraiser and attorney.
Money is flowing in all directions. Some of the major Republican donors who had previously resisted Trump are starting to lean toward him. Scott Bessent, former chief investment officer at Soros Fund Management, initially supported Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, an early Wall Street pick. Mr. Bessent switched to Mr. Trump late last year, donating $250,000 to the former president’s super PAC, according to federal campaign filings.
“Over the summer, I became convinced that Donald Trump could win,” Bessent said.
Some have pinned their hopes on Nikki Haley since DeSantis resigned and endorsed Trump.
On the same day that Biden headed to Miami, real estate billionaire Barry Sternlicht argued that the United States needs a third option in November. “We are people who don’t like the direction this country is going, and we don’t like the two options we have at the moment,” he said on the sidelines of the Fontainebleau conference.
A few miles south, Ken Griffin, the founder of Citadel and a Miami transplant, said he had supported Haley’s campaign and later disclosed a $5 million donation, but that he has no interest in her long-term challenge. He did not say he would contribute further. (Other business figures who supported Haley included Henry Kravis, Stanley Druckenmiller, and Kenneth Langone).
It’s often said at parties and conferences that financial professionals tend to be “socially liberal but fiscally conservative.” Of course, they said the same thing in 2016, which led to President Trump’s inauguration and the shift of the Supreme Court to the hard right.
The big question for the 2024 election, which both Democrats and Republicans argue could decide the future of American democracy, is how the donor class will balance itself now.
No one wanted to talk politics aboard the Seafair, a sleek $40 million yacht sailing the azure waters of Biscayne Bay.
Occasion: Another hedge fund cocktail party. This event is sponsored by Universal Investments, whose advisor is Nassim Taleb, famous for his work on “Fooled by Randomness.” Universa founder Mark Spitznagel moved his company from Santa Monica, Calif., to Miami several years before it became a hot topic on Wall Street South.
Sitting near an open bar, Chief Operating Officer Brandon Yarkin insisted that politics never played a role in Universa’s strategy to profit from sudden black swan events. “We don’t talk politics,” Yakin said as the Miami skyline twinkled in the distance.
Taleb avoided the topic entirely. “No, no, I’m not going to talk about that,” he concluded.
Francesca Federico, co-founder and president of Boston’s Twelve Points Wealth Management, one of the 200 or so guests, said she was socially liberal but fiscally conservative. repeated. As for who will win in November, he said, “Bonds are still bonds and stocks are still stocks.”
Also aboard the 222-foot Seafair was Miami Mayor Francis Suarez, who since 2020 has relentlessly promoted the idea that Miami could one day rival New York as the nation’s financial center. It is attracting attention.
That helped him land a job at a prestigious law firm and other lucrative side jobs, but he launched an unsuccessful presidential campaign and is under multiple investigations. On Wednesday, the Florida Democratic Party called on him to resign.
Suarez told the crowd that South Wall Street was no dream. It’s a reality.
Motwani, a developer and Miami’s other major benefactor, said Wall Street South is a state of mind for him. “We’re firing on all cylinders,” Motwani said while listening to Buena Vista Social Club’s Salsa Dan.
Back in Fontainebleau, one of this week’s gatherings, Global Alts 2024, was being held inside the crowded LIV nightclub.
For two days, conference attendees sat quietly as Michael Novogratz, Peter Thiel, Jared Kushner, Shaquille O’Neal and others debated where and how to make money. Now hundreds of them flooded the dance floor.
Sipping gin and tonics, Johnnie Walker Black Label, and mediocre white wine, revelers moved to the beats created by DJ and the night’s headliner, hit early 2000s rapper Jay Rule. I did. Later, Ja Rule (real name Jeffrey Atkins) takes off his T-shirt to reveal his toned six-pack as he laments his age (he’s approaching 50).
“Let’s hear it for Global Alts 2024!” he shouted.
The smoke generator was activated by the pump. Confetti rained down. South Wall Street continued to dance.
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