November 14, 2024
Business

N.H. feels sting of Tyco’s retreat In wake of company’s move, state has lost jobs and charities donations

EXETER, N.H. – As the trial of two former Tyco International executives accused of looting $600 million from the company continues in New York, Tyco’s diminished presence in the state continues to be felt.

Some of Tyco’s buildings that once employed 250 executives in Exeter are still empty, more than 1,000 jobs Tyco provided are gone, and many charitable groups that relied on the company’s donations have struggled.

The jury weighing charges against two former Tyco International executives went back to work Monday after the judge rejected a defense request for a mistrial that was based on a furor over one juror apparently holding out for acquittal.

Jurors are deliberating a total of 32 counts against Tyco’s former chief executive L. Dennis Kozlowski, 57, and the company’s former chief financial officer, Mark Swartz, 43.

The company’s plans for New Hampshire remain hard to predict.

Since Edward Breen took over as Tyco’s chief executive officer in 2002, he has made several moves that changed Tyco’s presence, including relocating the company’s corporate headquarters from Exeter to West Windsor, N.J.

Tyco sold all three of its buildings in Exeter last year. Tyco officials maintain that Exeter still is the world headquarters of Tyco Engineered Products and Services, but no longer home of the company’s U.S. headquarters.

And during the past two years, Tyco shed more than 1,000 jobs at its Newington facility. Company officials say the plant is hanging on by a thread with short-term contracts.

Gwen Fisher, the company’s director of media relations, said even if Tyco can win some big contracts for the Newington plant, the company probably never will have as big a presence on the Seacoast.

“The reality is that Tyco is no longer headquartered in New Hampshire and that makes a big difference,” Fisher said.

But she emphasized the company still has about 250 people working in the Seacoast and that Tyco “is still a good company” despite the corporate scandal involving Kozlowski and Swartz.

When asked if the company would continue the level of corporate giving it maintained under Kozlowski’s leadership, Fisher said Tyco never will be quite as generous as it was during the late 1990s.

But “as long as we have a presence in the area, various groups can expect to still get some support,” Fisher said.

Kozlowski’s generosity was legendary. During the 1990s, he and Tyco donated millions of dollars to various groups, including Berwick Academy in South Berwick, Maine.

Kozlowski and Tyco donated $1.7 million to the school that his daughter attended to help build the $3 million “Kozlowski Athletic Center.”

Berwick Academy Headmaster Richard Ridgway and the school’s board of trustees already have felt the loss. The gym has since been renamed “The Athletic Center.”

Ridgway said the school has been told Tyco plans to give more to charities closer to its new home in New Jersey.

At the United Way of the Greater Seacoast in Portsmouth, Susan Dewhirst, director of marketing and communications, said the group also has experienced a dramatic drop in Tyco donations.

“In the past, it has been hundreds of thousands of dollars,” Dewhirst said. Though there still are donations from the company and its employees, she said they are nowhere near earlier levels.

Many small businesses also miss Tyco’s larger presence.

Craig Leach, owner of Billings Gate, a catering company, said he did tens of thousands of dollars of business catering many of Tyco’s posh corporate lunches, company Christmas parties and barbecues for charity golf tournaments.

“We’ve been able to survive it OK. You hate to lose a good customer that is so diversified in terms of what they do for you,” Leach said.

The corporate scandal has had one positive effect at the University of New Hampshire.

Last fall, the company paid a $5 million settlement to the state Bureau of Securities Regulation. The money will pay for programs at UNH’s Center for Public Responsibility and Corporate Citizenship.


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