Fifth Street Financial Corp. will relocate to Greenwich thanks to a $5 million enticement from Connecticut taxpayers.
Fifth Street Financial is a business development company, essentially a publicly-traded private equity firm. It buys, loans money to and invests in other companies.
Leonard Tannenbaum, of Greenwich, is head of Fifth Street Financial and the company it pays to manage its investment portfolio, called Fifth Street Management.
According to filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Fifth Street Management received $45.8 million last year and $114.4 million over the past five years.
State aid will come in the form of a $4 million loan, with up to $3 million forgivable and two $500,000 grants, one for training and the other for renewable energy.
Tannenbaum is reportedly interested in running for office, probably for U.S. Senate as a Republican.
Recently, opponents have criticized a Republican candidate for U.S. Senate in Kentucky for taking state aid for a company he owns in Connecticut.
James Velgot, spokesman for Fifth Street, said Tannenbaum is a “thinker and a grower.”
“I don’t know about running for office,” Velgot said. “Nothing’s off the table.”
He said taking taxpayer assistance won’t affect Tannenbaum’s political future. “This is bipartisan,” Velgot said. “You have to make change.”