CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) -- Swedish appliance maker Electrolux will move its North American headquarters from Georgia and consolidate hundreds of white-collar jobs in North Carolina's largest city, the company and Gov. Beverly Perdue said Wednesday.
The move would bring about 740 jobs to Charlotte. In return, the company could receive tax breaks and direct grants worth up to $26 million from the state, and could receive more from local governments.
Electrolux is best known for making vacuum cleaners, washers and dryers, and kitchen appliances for home and commercial uses. It employs about 650 at a dishwasher manufacturing plant in Kinston, 180 miles east of Charlotte, and at a sales office in suburban Huntersville.
A company spokesman did not immediately return an e-mail Wednesday seeking comment about what Electrolux previously described as a consolidation of seven U.S. offices.
Electrolux employs about 315 people in its North American headquarters in Augusta, Ga., The Augusta Chronicle reported last month. A customer service call center with 100 full-time workers will stay in Augusta, the newspaper reported.
Other offices affected by the consolidation are an international sales office in Pittsburgh, the holding company office in Cleveland, financial support offices in Columbus, Ohio, and Springfield, Tenn., a design center in Anderson, S.C., and the Huntersville office, the newspaper reported.
Stockholm-based parent company Electrolux AB said in October it increased profits by 93 percent in the third quarter after raising prices on its products and slashing costs. The company said in October it would close a plant in Spain and two others in Iowa, cutting 1,300 jobs.
The company employed 8,000 in the U.S. in 2008 out of a worldwide work force of 55,000.
