Amer coming to Ogden

The world's largest sporting goods equipment company will put the headquarters of three major ski-equipment brands in Ogden.

Finland-based Amer Sports Corp. announced Monday it will consolidate the headquarters of its Suunto, Salomon and Atomic brands in downtown Ogden, where the operations eventually will employ about 230 people.

The announcement followed approval Monday of state incentives totaling more than $7.9 million to lure the operations to Utah. That will be added to an Ogden incentive package totaling nearly $4.2 million.

Amer's operations will be known as the Amer Winter & Outdoor Division of the Americas, handling the sales, marketing and distribution of the European-produced items in the United States.

"The biggest thing is that we're going to be a lot closer to our consumers," Mike Dowse, president and general manager of the division, told the Deseret Morning News via telephone from Sweden. "We have a saying that we want to 'own' the mountain, and you kind of have to be on the mountain to own it.

"We want to be closer to those consumers and be closer to trends. A lot of trends in the snowboard and ski industry the past four or five years started in the Rocky Mountains and moved to the West coast and East coast and then over to Europe."

Salomon, based in Portland, Ore., produces footwear and apparel. Atomic, based in Amherst, N.H., makes alpine skis. Suunto, based in Carlsbad, Calif., makes sports equipment, including wrist-top computers, diving instruments, compasses, altimeters and barometers.

Amer, based in Helsinki, Finland, has several other brands. The most notable is Wilson. The company has more than 6,600 employees, with nearly 39 percent involved in Salomon. Amer had about 2,600 employees in the United States, Canada and Mexico at the end of 2005. The company's timetable for the moves depends on the building it selects and what construction or rehabilitation it needs. The goal is to move Suunto first, most likely in June or July 2007. The move of Salomon would follow within 30 days. Atomic's headquarters also likely would be in place by summer.

"If not, it may have to wait until January (2008)," Dowse said. "The ski season gets incredibly busy in September, October and November as the stores fill up and the season gets started. It may be better for us to get through that first. The goal is to do it as soon as we can where it makes sense."

Dowse said the division will have 130 employees in place in its first 12 months, with the full 230 in place by 2009. Between 30 percent and 40 percent are expected to be relocated from elsewhere, and the remainder will be hired locally. Also, nearly 200 sales representatives across the United States will report to the Ogden office.