KV will add workers if it gets tax break

From the September 24, 2004 print edition of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch
By Eric Heisler of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch

KV Pharmaceutical Co. plans to invest $130 million and hire 300 more workers at three area operations if the St. Louis County Council agrees to a package of tax incentives next week, county officials said Thursday. KV, based in Brentwood, produces and markets various drugs.

The company, with about $280 million in sales last year, employs 1,000 workers. Its operations in Bridgeton, Maryland Heights and Earth City would expand under a proposed agreement with St. Louis County. As a result, KV would add 300 jobs paying an average of $60,000 a year, county officials said.

For its investment, KV would get a tax break worth up to $15 million over the next 10 years, or roughly half the property taxes the company otherwise would pay on the expansions.

Denny Coleman, president of the St. Louis County Economic Council, said the incentives ensure that the St. Louis area can hold on to a company in a highly sought-after industry. %u201CThis adds to the momentum the entire region has gained in life sciences,%u201D he said. %u201CThese are companies that are being heavily recruited to other states and countries, and we have to be competitive to make sure we keep them here and keep them growing.%u201D

Before reaching the tentative agreement with St. Louis County, KV had considered cutting area jobs and outsourcing the work overseas, county officials said.

KV has grown quickly over the last decade from a firm with just 300 area employees. Once a contract manufacturer for larger drug companies, it now makes its own brands. KV did not return phone calls seeking comment Thursday. But Steve Anderson, vice president of the economic council who worked on the deal, said the expansion was expected to take place within six months. At least in part, the move will accommodate the launch of new products, he said. %u201CI can tell you this: They wouldn%u2019t be doing the investment if it wasn%u2019t for%u201D the incentives, Anderson said. %u201CFrankly, KV could easily outsource some of their work (that%u2019s done) here.%u201D The new hires will be mostly scientists and researchers, Anderson said.

Since 2000, St. Louis County has offered a handful of companies tax breaks to locate or expand in the county, including Edward Jones and DST Systems Inc., which opened a $50 million data center in Bridgeton last year. The St. Louis area is one of many regions nationwide that have placed a priority on becoming a hub for life sciences companies. The news of KV%u2019s expansion comes just five months after Pfizer Inc., another pharmaceutical firm, announced it would open a $100 million research facility in Chesterfield.

Republished with the permission of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch
© 2004 St. Louis Post-Dispatch
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