NC yanks incentives for Charlotte-area firms that had pledged $200M investment, 900 jobs

A pharmaceutical company and life insurance firm will not receive any more North Carolina tax incentives for their promised expansions and job creations in the Charlotte region.

BestCo in Mooresville and Equitable Financial Life Insurance Co. in Charlotte each failed to meet the requirements to receive Job Development Investment Grant payments, Economic Investment Committee officials said during Tuesday’s regular monthly meeting.

To receive the state tax incentives, performance verification by the state departments of Commerce and Revenue confirms that the company has met its incremental job creation and investment targets.

BestCo’s incentives were pulled because the company did not submit its required annual performance report, David Rhoades, spokesman for NC Department of Commerce told The Charlotte Observer on Tuesday. “If they miss the deadlines, they are subject to termination,” Rhoades said. State records indicate no public dollars were distributed to BestCo under this 2022 grant.

Equitable sent a letter asking to withdraw from the program, Rhoades said.

Equitable retained 618 positions and employed 401 new eligible positions at its Charlotte regional headquarters facility last year, Equitable Chief Operating Officer Jeffrey Hurd said in the Jan. 17 letter to the state Economic Investment Committee. As of 2023, the state had awarded the company more than $1.6 million through payroll tax benefits for achieving initial hiring targets.

The company could not meet its additional job growth of 495 new positions “due to larger strategic changes in our business and industry as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic,” Hurd said.

Last year, the state committee canceled over $2 million in tax incentives for tech firm Cognizant Technology Solutions, which failed to meet its promised creation of 300 jobs in Charlotte.

BestCo officials did not respond to requests for comment from The Charlotte Observer.

About BestCo

In 2022, BestCo — a manufacturer of over-the-counter pharmaceutical, vitamin and supplement products — said it would invest $177 million and create 394 jobs expanding its Iredell County facility. For its investment, BestCo was to receive over $2 million in state tax incentives over 12 years.

The company already occupied a 215,000-square-foot manufacturing building at 208 Manufacturers Blvd., and planned to build an additional 230,000-square-foot distribution facility on the adjacent lot, according to Iredell Economic Development Corp.

Pharmaceutical company plans $177 million expansion, nearly 400 new jobs near Charlotte

The company’s products include Lozenges, Soft Chews, pan-coated SuperChew and the industry’s first drug-compliant chewable gel gummy, SuperGel. BestCo had invested nearly $50 million and planned to add 141 jobs in a 2019 expansion. At that time, the company had 500 employees.

BestCo was founded in 1976 as Beacon Sweets in Newark, New Jersey, as a confectioner.

About AXA Equitable Financial

In 2017, Equitable Financial Life Insurance Co. said it would invest $18 million to expand operations in Mecklenburg County. The company promised to add 550 new jobs over five years.

For its investment, the company was eligible to receive up to $11.8 million in reimbursements over 10 years.

Insurance company to add 550 jobs in Charlotte, doubling local presence

At the time, the firm already had about 575 workers at its Charlotte operations center, customer service, new business, sales, marketing, training, human resources, underwriting, finance and technology. The Charlotte expansion included jobs in IT, finance, legal, accounting, customer service and human resources to support the company’s growth.

Since 2017, Equitable has invested over $35 million and has grown to more than 1,000 employees in Charlotte, according to the letter.

“Equitable remains committed to the Charlotte market,” the company said in statement to the Observer Wednesday.

Equitable, known as Equitable Holdings Inc., is a New York City-based insurance and financial services company founded in 1859.

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