Techtronic Industries — the maker of many tools and popular appliance brands — is moving its U.S. headquarters to Fort Lauderdale, which business development officials say is another corporate headquarters win for the region.
The Hong Kong-based company is behind brands such as Ryobi and Milwaukee power tools, as well as Hoover, Oreck and Dirt Devil vacuum cleaners.
The company, which employs more than 20,000 worldwide, has leased offices at 450 E. Las Olas Blvd. and plans to create 75 jobs, according to the Greater Fort Lauderdale Alliance, the county’s economic development group. Techtronic, which was previously based outside Baltimore, is moving some top executives to Fort Lauderdale and hiring for finance, human resources, audit, legal and other professional jobs.
Techtronic’s biggest customer is Home Depot. The company also makes and sells brands including Vax, AEG, Stiletto, HomeLite and Empire.
Kristine Zenkewicz, assistant general counsel for Techtronic Industries North America, said the Fort Lauderdale office will be a corporate one overseeing U. S. operations. The global company has more than 40 locations around the world including the U.S., Canada, Asia, Europe and South America.
“We thought Fort Lauderdale would be a fabulous place to host clients, investors and team members,” she said.
Techtronic is a “powerhouse group of companies,” said Bob Swindell, president and CEO of the Greater Fort Lauderdale Alliance.
He said attracting a corporate headquarters is “incredibly important” to Broward because it brings high-paying jobs and tends to invest in the community.
Swindell said Broward County was competing with Miami and New England to attract the headquarters. One factor was hangar space for the company’s corporate aircraft, which it secured at the Fort Lauderdale Executive Airport. The company’s top executives frequently travel overseas, he said.
The company is renovating and will be moving into the 15th floor of 450 E. Las Olas Blvd., the same building where the late entrepreneur H. Wayne Huizenga once had his office.
In November, state and local government incentive awards totaling $210,000 were approved for the company, if it meets job and investment requirements. In October, the Fort Lauderdale Commission agreed to provide tax refunds of $7,000 per job for at least 30 jobs with average annual salaries of $97,374, according to a memo from City Manager Lee Feldman.
The incentives were awarded to help ensure the company relocation wouldn’t be lost to New England, where Techtronic has its current U.S. headquarters, or Miami, according to the memo.
Techtronic was founded in 1985 by Horst Julius Pudwill and Roy Chi Ping Chung with the goal of building a portfolio of globally recognized brands, according to the company’s site. It opened its first factory in 1988 in Dongguan, China.
Based in Hong Kong, Techtronic reported 2018 revenue of more than $7 billion, up from $6 billion a year earlier. The CEO is Joseph Galli Jr., who is renting while he builds a home in the Fort Lauderdale area, according to Zenkewicz.
The company is listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. Techtronic’s stock also is traded in the U.S. over-the-counter market, where it has a 52-week stock price range of $22.52 to $38.72 a share.
Source: SunSentinel
