The board of Atlanta’s economic development agency on Thursday approved using taxpayers’ money to entice two companies to relocate their headquarters to the city.
The Invest Atlanta board approved $1.5 million in local incentives for payment processor Worldpay US and $50,000 for the holding company that controls the Serta and Simmons mattress brands. The Atlanta City Council must also approve the funds, which would come from the city’s General Fund.
Sandy Springs-based Worldpay US currently has more than 600 workers in the region and plans to boost that to 1,266 as part of its expansion plans. In addition to a headquarters facility, city documents indicate the company plans to open a call center.
Earlier this year, Worldpay US CEO Tony Catalfano told the AJC that he had planned to put an important innovation arm of the company in Silicon Valley because of its mass of technology workers. But he said Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed and others in the metro business community convinced him the city offered a robust tech community, too.
Catalfano said then that he hoped to locate operations within the city of Atlanta, including possibly shifting the entire company as it grew.
Worldpay US is the American subsidiary of London-based Worldpay, a global credit and debit card processor.
Serta Simmons Bedding LLC plans to relocate to an office tower in Buckhead and create or relocate 110 jobs.
The Simmons brand is currently based in metro Atlanta, and its operations will not be affected. The Serta brand will remain located in metro Chicago, a spokesman has said.
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