San Antonio—An Ohio investment firm that recently announced it would acquire an investment management arm of San Antonio-based USAA is now planning to move its headquarters to the Alamo City.
Victory Capital Management (NASDAQ: [[ticker:VCTR]]) said Thursday it plans to open its San Antonio headquarters in mid-2019. The company is currently located in Brooklyn, OH, which is outside of Cleveland. It has other offices around the country that won’t be affected.
As a part of the relocation, Victory may receive some incentives from the city of San Antonio and the government that manages the surrounding Bexar County. The San Antonio City Council is voting in a week on whether to offer Victory $500,000 for bringing around 350 new jobs to the city, including some of its top executives. David Brown, Victory’s chairman and CEO, is among them, according to the investment firm. Bexar County officials plan to discuss giving Victory another $250,000 at a Jan. 15 meeting.
Victory announced in November that it was buying USAA Asset Management for $850 million (plus potential future milestone-based payments). USAA was founded in 1922 by Army veterans who wanted to self-insure each other, but has since grown to offer military members and their families a range of financial services, from banking to investment. USAA Asset Management provides a range of institutional investing options, such as mutual fund and fixed income (typically debt securities like bonds and loans) investments.
Victory Capital broadly invests in similar asset classes for its clients, such as exchange traded funds, large and small publicly traded companies, and fixed income. Economic development officials and business leaders in San Antonio have long been discussing the need for greater access to capital in the city, in particular for young startups in the tech and life sciences industries. Victory wouldn’t necessarily be that answer—almost half of the company’s investments are in small- and mid-cap equities (stocks), while other investments go toward fixed income and money market accounts. In a news release, city officials argued that moving Victory to San Antonio makes the city more attractive to other companies that might consider relocating their headquarters, and it brings high-paying jobs.
Victory expects to close its acquisition of USAA Asset Management in the second quarter of this year, and says it will be able to continue to offer products and services under the USAA brand. Victory expects to have $144.4 billion in assets under management when the deal closes.
