Corporate belt tightening is a boon for HCL Technologies and, by association, Cary. The India-based company, which handles outsourced information-technology services such as help-desk support and software development, opened a Cary office in 2008 and announced plans in September to add 1,237 local jobs by 2018 to the 831 it has there, investing $9 million to build a four-story, 125,000-square-foot building. With North American headquarters in Sunnyvale, Calif., HCL has more than 8,000 employees in the U.S., which accounts for more than half its nearly $5.4 billion of annual revenue. Expanding in Cary was an easy decision, Senior Corporate Vice President Rajiv Sodhi says. “North Carolina continues to work hard to establish itself as one of the leading states to develop the IT skills and talent pool needed to grow our business.” HCL is the second major jobs announcement for Cary in two years, following the 1,300 positions planned by New York-based insurer MetLife. “When a firm looks to locate, especially a tech firm, they will think of Cary because there’s a critical mass there,” N.C. State University economist Michael Walden says. “People have voted with their feet.” HCL, India’s fourth-largest IT company, will receive $19.6 million in incentives if it meets hiring targets. Average annual pay will be $51,653, slightly above Wake County’s average of $49,410.
DURHAM — Argos Therapeutics will build a $56.6 million, 97,500- square-foot manufacturing plant and headquarters here, adding
236 jobs to its existing 90 by 2018. The new jobs will pay an average annual salary of more than $79,000, higher than Durham County’s $65,746. The drugmaker, which will get $9.5 million in state and local incentives if it meets hiring goals, will use part of a $25 million venture loan to help pay for construction.
RALEIGH — Highwoods Properties acquired 17-story One Bank of America Plaza downtown. Total price, including planned improvements to the 374,000-square-foot office building, will be about $92.3 million. The real-estate investment trust also sold 14 industrial and office buildings in Greensboro for $28.2 million.
RALEIGH — Red Hat will acquire FeedHenry, an Irish company that provides software to build mobile apps, for about $80 million. The transaction is expected to close this quarter. Red Hat, which develops and licenses open-source software, also recently closed a $700 million private offering. It will use the proceeds to repurchase shares of common stock and for general purposes, which may include future acquisitions.
RALEIGH — Drug developer Salix Pharmaceuticals scuttled its $2.7 billion merger with Lainate, Italy-based Cosmo Pharmaceuticals after the federal government toughened rules regarding corporate inversions — companies that reincorporate overseas to take advantage of lower tax rates. The companies had planned to move the headquarters to Ireland. Salix also received U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval for Relistor, a constipation treatment for patients taking opiates for pain relief.
RALEIGH — PRA Health Sciences filed for a public offering that could raise up to $375 million. The contract-research organization, owned by New York-based private-equity firm KKR, plans to use the proceeds to reduce debt. PRA employs 10,000 in more than 75 offices worldwide, including about 450 here.
