When former colleagues in international tax law at PricewaterhouseCoopers launched Worldwide Trade Partners L.L.C. in 2005, they expected to be “the international tax guys for small companies,” founding partner Michael Minihan said recently at the company”™s headquarters at 1 N. Broadway in downtown White Plains.
That founding premise before long was outgrown. The company, which now operates as WTP Advisors, saw the client base for its tax and business advisory services evolve to include major corporations in the tristate area. With a private client list about equally divided between the manufacturing and financial services sectors, WTP Advisors has become the alternative to the Big Four accounting firms for corporations.
Revenue growth, acquisitions
WTP”™s revenue in 2010 was approximately $11.8 million. Its partners expect revenue this year of $16 million to $17 million, said spokeswoman Carol Vieira.
At the start of 2011, the 6-year-old firm expanded its business advisory services with the acquisition of Sala Associates L.L.C., an operations consultant for hedge funds and investment banks in Ridgefield, Conn. Louis J. Sala, a former senior executive at Wall Street investment banking and brokerage firms who founded Sala Associates in 2007 and also served as chief operating officer of Bear Stearns Asset Management through the failed investment bank”™s acquisition by JP Morgan, has joined WTP”™s White Plains office as CEO of its new WTP Capital Markets.
The new division offers office infrastructure services for hedge funds in startup and transitional phases, thus freeing hedge fund managers to focus on trading, Minihan said in the company”™s acquisition announcement. The capital markets division also will work with investment banks to reduce costs by streamlining technology and operational systems.
WTP Advisors has some 45 employees in White Plains, said Minihan, and has opened domestic offices in Minneapolis, Minn., Cleveland and Cincinnati, Ohio, Chicago, Ill., and Denver, Colo.
Adopting a global focus in its practice, WTP also has opened offices in London, England, and in Chongqing, the capital city of China”™s Sichuan Province to which the U.S firm was attracted, said Minihan, by the talent pool at a major university there.
Tapping government programs
Looking to develop “a cross-flow of work” on a global scale, Minihan said WTP Advisors has started an international affiliate program that includes or soon will include tax advisory firms in Canada, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain, Ireland, Australia and Japan.
Foreign companies served by those affiliates could benefit from the advisory and negotiating services of the global business incentives division also launched this year by the White Plains firm. It is led by Paul Lo, who in January joined WTP as a director after more than 20 years as a consultant in business incentives negotiations and real estate advisory services.
For foreign companies, “Paul gives them a great opening into the U.S. marketplace,” Minihan said.
Lo said WTP also wants to recruit existing clients to use the new consulting service as a means to tap government incentive programs that often are missed opportunities. “In the beginning, it”™s more just letting our clients know it”™s available to them,” he said. “Credit incentives is a value add for our clients. It”™s a very easy thing for a client to get his head around.”
For companies looking to invest in property and develop human capital, numerous government programs are available both in the U.S. and internationally, said Lo. They include low-interest financing options, tax credits and abatements ”“ such as those offered by industrial development agencies in New York ”“ financial grants and free or low-cost real property.
“Incentives is just something that”™s not really marketed by the governments,” said Lo. About half of the incentives available to private businesses are overlooked or unclaimed, he said.
”˜An uptick in incentive practices”™
While deficit-burdened states such as California and New York have reduced their incentive programs, said Lo, “Other states are aggressively pushing for the employee base” and offering credits and subsidies for employee training programs at both new and established businesses within their borders. Texas, for example, has sought to capitalize on deficit-plagued California”™s decline as a pro-business state with an employee training credit program that has a $50 million two-year budget, he said.
Overseas, Southeast Asian countries are “very aggressive” with financial incentives in their push to develop skilled manufacturing jobs, said Lo. Australia offers generous employee training subsidies to companies starting operations there ”“ up to $6,000 for each employee, he said. “That”™s a big obstacle that many companies face, out-of-pocket startup costs,” he said.
For a company choosing a location for its operations, “Incentives are not the driver of the ultimate decision, but they are an enhancement,” said Lo. “They are hardly ever the driver.”
Despite recessions, government deficits and economic slowdowns, “I don”™t see incentives going away,” said Minihan. “Incentives have been available in some fashion ever since the tax codes were written.”
In the U.S., “As the economy is coming out of the lull, the political change is going to be toward pro-business politicians in the next election cycle,” he said. “I think you”™ll see an uptick in incentive practices by governments who are willing to spend money to make money.”
