The New Jersey Economic Development Authority approved four Grow New Jersey tax incentive awards totaling nearly $50 million over 10 years at its Thursday meeting.
In addition, the state agency approved the first investment under its NJ CoVest Fund, created to fill the funding gap between product development and commercial expansion.
These four companies received Grow NJ awards:
Kontos Foods Inc., a maker of bread products, was offered an incentive of $29.7 million divided over 10 years to expand its location in Paterson, rather than moving to Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, and merely retaining a smaller presence in New Jersey. Retaining Kontos Foods would retain 166 jobs in the state and add 46 more, while giving New Jersey a net benefit of $3.9 million over 30 years.
Kuehne + Nagel Inc., a unit of the Kuehne + Nagel Group based in Switzerland, is a logistics and logistics solutions company. It was offered an incentive of $14.2 million over 10 years to keep its North American headquarters and Northeast branch office in Jersey City, as opposed to moving its headquarters to Atlanta while shifting the branch office to Newark. Keeping K+N in Jersey City would retain 227 jobs in the state, while adding 50. (The 116 employees of the branch office would remain in New Jersey, regardless.) The state would also receive a net economic benefit of $64 million over 20 years.
Tumi Inc., a luggage and accessories company acquired last year by Samsonite, was offered an incentive of $2.9 million over 10 years to move its headquarters from South Plainfield to Edison, rather than moving the headquarters out of state to Samsonite’s U.S. headquarters in Mansfield, Massachusetts. The intrastate move would keep 110 jobs in New Jersey and provide it with a net benefit of $22.1 million over 20 years.
Bauer Media Group USA LLC, a publisher of magazines and other media, was offered an incentive of $2.2 million divided over 10 years to remain in Englewood Cliffs, rather than moving to Pearl River, New York. Retaining Bauer would keep 165 jobs in the state and provide a net benefit to New Jersey of $49 million over 20 years.
In the CoVest Fund investment, Somerset-based Reflik Inc., a crowdsourced recruiting firm, was approved to receive up to $250,000 in convertible notes, at 3 percent fixed interest and a 10-year maturity. No payment is due for seven years. The funding will enable Reflik to extend its network and customer base, as well as grow its sales force from two to six people over 18 months.
