Merit bringing subsidiary to Utah

Merit Medical Systems Inc. confirmed Wednesday that it will move personnel and equipment of its California-based Merit Sensor Systems Inc. subsidiary to the company's South Jordan headquarters.

The move is tied to a state economic development incentive approved in August that offered $3,300 for each new full-time position added in Utah from the Sensor division, which employs about 20 people.

Yet nearly nine months ago, the Sensor division announced in a press release that it was planning to move to a new 48,000-square-foot facility at the South Jordan headquarters. That building is expected to be completed by February, according to Fred Lampropoulos, Merit Medical's chairman and chief executive officer.

David Tietjen, vice president of sales and marketing for Merit Sensor, said employees at the California operations had known of the pending move for some time.

Mark Renda, director of strategic business analysis for the state's Division of Business and Economic Development, acknowledged Wednesday that the Board of Business and Economic Development, which approved the incentive, knew about Sensor's potential plan to relocate to Utah through the company's 2003 annual report.

"The representation to the board was that it was not a done deal that the jobs were coming here," Renda said. "The board felt that that was a competitive situation. . . . The board did query very intensely about whether or not there was a competition for jobs between not just U.S. states, but between Ireland and Utah."

Merit Medical employs 1,300 people worldwide, including sites in California, Texas and Ireland. Roughly 900 of its employees are based in Utah.

Lampropoulos said Wednesday that the company had talked for many months about the possibility of moving the Sensor division to Utah.

"It moves here when you open the doors," Lampropoulos said. "In the business world, things change so fast."

In fact, he added, incentives were being offered by a landlord in California to keep the company from relocating.

A second component of the state incentive includes $1,600 offered for each new full-time employee position created in Utah, exclusive of the relocation of Sensor division jobs or from expansion of existing product lines. The total package amounts to a $1 million incentive to create 600 high-paying jobs at the company's South Jordan location.

In December, Merit Medical broke ground on an expansion project totaling about 180,000 square feet. At that time, Lampropoulos said the new facility would add 300 to 500 jobs.

Despite the anticipated job growth by the company, Renda said, the board felt the incentive was needed.

"Because the board was convinced that there was in fact a competitive situation for the creation of jobs and the location where those jobs could be created," Renda said, "the board did this two-tiered incentive."

The incentive is conditioned upon the creation of the jobs within a five-year time frame. The new jobs must remain in place for a full year and pay at least 125 percent of Salt Lake County's median wage in order for the company to qualify for the incentive.

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E-mail: danderton@desnews.com