A
A European paper/packaging
company is looking at a plant in Delaware.
Details on the plant that would be operated by AB Group Packaging Inc. have not been disclosed.
AB Group Packaging manufactures paper bags, plastic bags and flexible packaging for buyers across a broad range of market sectors, including online and express delivery retailers, according to the company’s website.
The company has sites in Ireland, Spain and the United Kingdom and has been in existence for three decades. The website also indicated the company exports goods to the United States.
A request for a financial package is expected to go before the Council on Development Finance (CDF) at a public hearing next Monday.
The meeting will also include an executive session that is closed to the public.
The council recommends funding requests to Alan Levin, the outgoing director of the Delaware Economic Development Office. He will be succeeded in July by deputy director Bernice Whaley.
Levin did confirm that a request will go before the council at the meeting. He said the cost of doing business outside the U.S. is prompting European and other manufacturers to take look at the U.S.
In 2013, Delaware lost a packaging manufacturing site in Harrington when the Delaware Color Box plant was closed by Georgia Pacific. Production was moved to other plants of the giant company. It is not known if that site is in AB’s plans.
Delaware has seen some success in attracting overseas companies to the state.
Uzin Utz AG, A 114-year old German company is building a grouting material plant in Dover.
Earlier this year, packaging company Zacros America Inc. announced that it will move its Hedwin Division, along with 154 manufacturing jobs, from Baltimore to a site in Glasgow. Zacos is part of a Japanese company.
Financial packages for companies have come under scrutiny from legislators, due to tight budgets and the belief that the practice amounts to “corporate welfare” in a period of diminished resources.
Economic development officials point to the relatively modest scope of the packages that typically gain back the state spending in a short period of time. This is often due to the personal income taxes paid by holding additional jobs that are created.
