Gov. Ned Lamont: Sting of business exits from Connecticut softened by recent investments

Sep. 24--Connecticut is gaining ground in economic development, blunting previously announced corporate departures with recent decisions to keep some business in the state, Gov. Ned Lamont said Tuesday.

Speaking to Enfield town officials at an economic development breakfast at Asnuntuck Community College, Lamont said the loss of General Electric Co. to Boston from Fairfield in 2017 was a "body blow."

"That was a dark cloud over our state," he said. "Last one out, turn out the lights and we remember what a signal that sent."

When CVS Health Corp. bought Aetna Inc. last year in a $69 billion deal, Hartford and Connecticut officials braced for the loss of the health insurer that has been in the capital city since 1853. Lamont said his efforts to bring in IT giant Infosys were successful "and Aetna turned around the moving vans and they're staying," he said.

As part of a settlement with the Connecticut Insurance Department that approved the deal, CVS said last year it will keep Aetna in Hartford for at least 10 years. In addition, the number of employees at Aetna and its Connecticut subsidiaries will remain about 5,300 for at least four years after the deal closed.

Lamont reminded his audience that Alexion Pharmaceuticals Inc., which moved its headquarters to Boston two years ago, announced last week it would invest $10 million to expand research and development in New Haven.

The governor did not mention United Technologies Corp., which announced in June it will merge with defense giant Raytheon Co. and move its Farmington headquarters to Boston as a rebranded aerospace and defense conglomerate known as Raytheon Technologies Corp.

"Two years ago, there was something to lose optimism about," Lamont said. "Two years ago we couldn't get a budget done. The governor wasn't even in the building."

The budget was enacted Oct. 31, four months into the state's budget year. This year, the budget became law in June, giving town and education officials certainty about how much state money is flowing into local coffers, Lamont said.

He also said state agency commissioners he has appointed are streamlining government by speeding up permits and cutting red tape.

"You sort of broke my heart when you talked about how long the permitting process is," he told a property developer who spoke before the governor. "We're turning that around."

He cited his administrative services commissioner, Josh Geballe, a former executive at Thermo Fisher Scientific and IBM, as an example of his administration's turn to business to run executive branch agencies and procedures. Several previous commissioners have been mayors.

Stephen Singer can be reached at [email protected].

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