Wilmington, DL, June 30--Invista, the former DuPont Co. textiles and interiors business, said Tuesday night it will keep the headquarters for some of its operations in Delaware, saving 350 jobs, according to the News Journal.
The company's apparel and performance fibers businesses, along with part of the intermediates business, are expected to relocate in the fall to the Little Falls Centre office park off Centerville Road west of Wilmington. The new office is not far from the DuPont Co.'s Chestnut Run site near Greenville, where most of the Invista employees in New Castle County are located. Apparel includes Lycra, while performance fibers includes polyester, air bags and sewing thread.
The new office also will house portions of other Invista operations, including research and development, information technology, engineering, finance, purchasing, legal and supply-chain management.
"I think the fact that we competed globally to retain those two headquarters is a huge win for the state," said Julie Miro Winger, spokeswoman for the Delaware Economic Development Office. Delaware was competing with four countries and five other states for the headquarters, state officials said.
Judy McKinney-Cherry, director of the Delaware Economic Development Office, said in May the state offered an incentive package to keep the two Invista businesses in the state. Winger said Tuesday the state is unable to discuss the financial incentives because the package is still being finalized.
William Ghitis, a former DuPont executive who is president of Invista apparel, said in a statement that the location would keep the company close to the fashion capital of New York City.
"Essentially, we determined that Wilmington - of many sites considered - would give us a cost-competitive location in a stable, 'business-friendly' state," he said in the statement.
DuPont sold its textiles and interiors business to a subsidiary of Koch Industries Inc. of Wichita, Kan., at the end of April for $4.2 billion. At the time of the sale, there were about 600 Invista employees in the Wilmington area, primarily at Chestnut Run. The remaining 650 employees in Delaware are at the manufacturing plant in Seaford.
Invista will occupy the entire 83,000-square-foot building known as Three Little Falls Centre, said Leigh Johnstone of CB Richard Ellis, which represented the landlord, Tamms Investment Co.
