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Albemarle Corporation Relocates Headquarters To Charlotte, North Carolina

08/25/2015
A company that develops, manufactures and markets specialty chemicals for a broad array of industrial buyers, Albemarle Corporation will move its corporate headquarters to Charlotte, North Carolina. The company plans to invest $12.9 million and create 120 new jobs in Mecklenburg County by 2016.

“As we look at the ever-increasing demands for communication, collaboration and mobility for our employees and our customers, Charlotte is the best strategic location to base the new Albemarle,” said Luke Kissam, Albemarle’s President/CEO.

“We are looking forward to expanding our presence in North Carolina, and becoming an even more significant partner in the communities where we live and operate in the state. Albemarle employees are known not only for the innovative products they deliver on the job, but even more so for the countless hours and millions of dollars they donate to enhance our communities through the Albemarle Foundation. Albemarle and North Carolina will be great partners,” he added.

Since its January 2015 acquisition of Rockwood Holdings, Inc., Albemarle has employed 137 full time employees and contractors at its Rockwood Lithium facility in Kings Mountain, North Carolina. The company’s headquarters move will not affect those positions. Jobs at Albemarle’s Charlotte headquarters will include executive leadership, business leadership for the Performance Chemicals global business unit and functional team leadership positions, such as Human Resources, Finance, Legal and Corporate Affairs.

An award from the state’s Job Development Investment Grant program to Albemarle Corporation helped make the project possible, as voted by the state Economic Investment Committee. Receipt of the award is based on proof of job creation and other performance requirements. JDIGs are awarded only to new and expanding businesses and industrial projects whose benefits exceed the costs to the state and would not be undertaken in North Carolina without the reimbursement.

Under the terms of the company’s JDIG, Albemarle Corporation is eligible to receive up to twelve annual reimbursements equal to 22 percent of the state personal income tax withholdings from the eligible new jobs created since the date of the initial award. Receipt of each annual reimbursement is based on state-certified proof that the company has fulfilled incremental job creation requirements. Over 12 years, the JDIG could yield aggregate benefits to Albemarle Corporation of more than $2 million upon the creation of 120 jobs.

“North Carolina is the ideal location for headquarters operations of globally-connected businesses like Albemarle Corporation,” said Governor Pat McCrory. “Today’s announcement means that we can add another prominent name to the state’s growing list of elite companies basing their headquarters here.”

“This is the fourth time in five months we’ve announced a corporate headquarters relocation in North Carolina,” said North Carolina Commerce Secretary John E. Skvarla III. Dimensional Fund Advisors and Lidl announced in July plans to relocate regional headquarters to Mecklenburg and Alamance counties, respectively. In April, CBC Americas launched plans for its corporate headquarters in Wake County."

In each instance, our international accessibility, ability to attract and retain high-caliber talent, appealing communities and enviable quality of life made the difference,” Sec. Skvarla added.

In addition to the N.C. Commerce and EDPNC, other organizations and entities supporting the project include North Carolina Community College System, NCWorks, the city of Charlotte, the Charlotte Chamber of Commerce, Charlotte Regional Partnership and Mecklenburg County.

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