Courting Freightliner: Truckmaker keeps all options, including HQ move, on the table
Portland Business Journal - by Matthew Kish Business Journal staff writer
Freightliner LLC expects a site it's developing near Charlotte, N.C., will eventually become a headquarters location, according to public documents made available to the Business Journal this week.
A Freightliner spokeswoman said no decision has been made about the company's headquarters.
"[O]ur site negotiations have included contingencies in the event that Daimler Trucks chooses to base more of our North American activities [in the Charlotte area] at some time in the future," said spokeswoman Amy Sills in an e-mail. "[A]ny such decisions would be contingent on the evolution of our relationship with our affiliated companies, and on market dynamics."
Freightliner is owned by Germany-based Daimler AG.
The Portland-based company announced Nov. 1 it will move 341 sales and marketing jobs next summer, roughly one-tenth of its local work force, to a site 15 miles south of Charlotte in Ft. Mill, S.C.
At the time, Chief Executive Chris Patterson did not make a definitive statement about the future of the company's Swan Island headquarters, which employs 2,540 white-collar workers and another 970 manufacturing workers.
He acknowledged the company would not get the best incentive package unless it moved additional jobs.
Roughly two months before the announcement, the company filed an application with North Carolina's Department of Commerce seeking tax breaks for moving jobs to the East Coast.
In response to a public records request, North Carolina provided a copy of the application, and more than 220 pages of additional documents, to the Business Journal this week.
The application asks whether the new Freightliner site will qualify as a "central office (national or regional headquarters)."
Freightliner answered yes, but did not elaborate on its plans for the project beyond the 300-plus sales and marketing jobs.
South Carolina's Department of Commerce denied a similar records request, saying its recruitment effort is ongoing and therefore not public record.
"What [Freightliner has] told me is they've evaluated things and they're looking at options, but that they don't currently have any plans to move the headquarters," said Multnomah County Commissioner Jeff Cogen. "This doesn't seem at odds with that."
The Charlotte Business Journal, an affiliated publication, reported in November that Freightliner plans to invest $400 million to develop a 300- to 400- acre site in Ft. Mill, S.C.
The documents reviewed by the Business Journal contain two additional references to the company's headquarters.
A letter from a Mooresville, N.C., official thanks Freightliner for the opportunity to discuss "the possible relocation" of the company's headquarters.
The other reference is a note about a North Carolina tax credit available to a handful of operations, including headquarters sites and manufacturing facilities.
Moving operations to the East Coast allows Freightliner to consolidate operations and be closer to the majority of its customers. Freightliner operates four facilities in North Carolina. Combined, they employ more than 8,300.
The documents reviewed by the Business Journal, which include e-mail exchanges between various public officials, show North Carolina rolled out the red carpet in an effort to woo Freightliner, even flying Patterson between potential sites on a state airplane.
A PowerPoint presentation North Carolina officials gave to Freightliner executives spelled out a series of possible incentives, including grants, tax credits, work force development programs and permitting assistance. It does not estimate the value of the package.
South Carolina's package is likely greater than what North Carolina offered.
The state has a corporate headquarters tax credit equal to 20 percent of the cost of a new headquarters facility. An additional 20 percent is available if the headquarters is used for research and development.
That means if Freightliner invests $400 million in a new headquarters there, as reported by the Charlotte Business Journal, the company would reap at least $160 million in tax credits.
The incentives far outweigh any benefits the company would receive by staying in Oregon, which gives the majority of its corporate tax breaks to companies bringing new jobs to the community.
mkish@bizjournals.com | 503-219-3414
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