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Carmel poised to gain HQ of new public company

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Carmel is poised to land the U.S. corporate headquarters of a soon-to-be public company that already boasts $2 billion in annual revenue and employs 1,300 in the Indianapolis area.

Ireland-based Ingersoll-Rand PLC announced this week that it plans to spin off its commercial and residential security unit, which is based in Carmel, into a independently operated public company.

The spinoff will be incorporated in Ireland, but an Ingersoll spokeswoman said Thursday that the U.S. headquarters will be based in Carmel at the division’s current location on Pennsylvania Street.

“The new security company is anticipated to be an Irish PLC with its North American corporate offices in Carmel, Indiana,” the spokeswoman said via e-mail.

The company has yet to be named, and Ingersoll said it expects the process to be completed within 12 months.

Though the operations already exist there, the announcement is quite a coup for Carmel, which is on the verge of landing a large public company without much effort from economic development officials.

The 450-employee headcount in Carmel and the $2 billion in annual revenue it generates could grow. Ingersoll said the company is expected to have the “financial flexibility to take advantage of future growth opportunities.”

Ingersoll declined to be more specific about those growth plans.

City officials from Carmel did not return phone calls seeking comment Friday morning.

Ingersoll, whose U.S. headquarters are in Davidson, N.C., said it chose to separate the security division in Carmel to focus on its industrial, transport refrigeration and heating, ventilation and air-conditioning businesses.

The Carmel operations will continue to provide electronic and mechanical security products for commercial and residential customers.

“Given the distinct strengths and strategies of the two proposed companies, the board believes that this structure will enable investors to value our different businesses separately, creating value for both companies and their shareholders,” Ingersoll Chairman and CEO Michael W. Lamach said in a prepared statement.

Ingersoll’s Von Duprin manufacturing plant on the east side of Indianapolis has made panic-door closures and bars since 1908 following the invention of the panic exit device by local hardware salesman Carl Prinzler and engineer Henry DuPont.

The product was marketed by Vonnegut Hardware Co. under the name Von Duprin, a contraction of Vonnegut, DuPont and Prinzler.

The security division in Carmel is located at the former Pennsylvania Street campus of Conseco Inc., now CNO Financial.

Besides Von Duprin, the new company’s portfolio of brands will include Schlage, LCN, Interflex, CISA, Briton, Bricard, BOCOM Systems, Dexter, Kryptonite, Falcon and Fusion Hardware Group.

Ingersoll Rand operates more than 100 manufacturing plants in the United States, Europe, Asia, Latin America and Canada.

Worldwide, the Ingersoll security division has 7,000 employees.


 

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  • New jobs
    The article did not say it, but of course there will be new jobs. There will be jobs such as investor relations, sec reporting,a VP of tax, and many others that a public company typically has.
  • Good for the Area
    Yes, it's true, this split doesn't immediately add employment, but maybe it gains some recognition for the 1,300 employees who go largely unnoticed. Having a headquarters created and stay here is certainly better than the alternative, which seems to happen all too often. The folks at Von Duprin INVENTED the panic exit device and are probably the world's largest supplier of these devices which we all use everyday and probably don't even notice. There are more companies in Indianapolis besides Eli Lilly, Exact Target and Simon (all great companies, by the way) so it's nice to hear good news about a long time Indianapolis native.
  • About time!
    IR has been siphoning off profits from the hardware division for years. This will allow investment in products & acquisitions instead of paying down debt from the Trane deal. The only thing Carmel will gain is the "prestige" of being the pseudo-HQ of a $2B company. City keeps property & employee income taxes, but corporate taxes will continue to go to Ireland. If manufacturing expands Indy could get investment (plant is on east side). Only if it isn't acquired 6 months later by Assa Abloy...
  • Confused...
    I agree with the prior comment. I read this article twice and it does not seem there is any new jobs or a new company coming, but then again this article seems poorly written.
  • Story Says Nothing Important
    Unless I missed something, Ingersoll is intending to segregate part of its current operation and to give it a new name, that of an Irish corporation, but still operate at its current facility. No new jobs are being created. What exactly did Carmel "land"? Renaming a division of an existing company is not comparable to enticing a new business to locate in a community.
  • Drat
    Should have been downtown. Headquarters belong in central cities, not the suburbs.

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  1. Saw the Indy Men's Chorus "Music of Gilbert & Sullivan" at the Indiana Historical Society on Sunday evening.

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