Swedish Match North America Receives Incentive for $3M Expansion

Source from:  Messenger-Inquirer  09/25/2015

Swedish Match North America is considering a $3 million-plus expansion project at its Owensboro plant, where new products will be developed, according to the company and details of the project released Thursday by the Kentucky Economic Development Finance Authority (KEDFA).

Meeting Thursday in Frankfort, KEDFA approved $100,000 in tax incentives for the project under the Kentucky Enterprise Investment Act. The incentive will support the purchase of construction materials and building fixtures.

Swedish Match, which has 360 employees at its Owensboro plant, makes snuff and chewing tobacco at 1121 Industrial Drive.

"The company plans to expand research and development at Owensboro facility for new product development," the KEDFA project description states.

Investment for the project, according to the KEDFA report, will be $2.68 million for building construction, $294,000 for other equipment and $87,000 for start-up costs for a total of $3,064,000.

The report said nothing about the number of jobs that will be created, or what new products are being considered. Further information about the project from KEDFA was not available.

Swedish Match spokeswoman Sandy Fowler Jones, at the company's Richmond, Virginia, headquarters, said very little information was available about the new project. She said only that the project was in the very preliminary stages, but that more information would be forthcoming as early as next week from plant manager Kristan Lindfors.

Madison Silvert, president and CEO of the Greater Owensboro Economic Development Corporation, said it was his understanding that Swedish Match has not made a final decision on the expansion. The approval of the KEIA incentive was "great news," Silvert said. "We certainly hope they will expand," he added.

Swedish Match's roots in Owensboro date back to 1973, when Pinkerton Tobacco opened its only North American smokeless tobacco manufacturing center here. In 1985, Svenska Tobaks AB, a predecessor of Swedish Match, bought Pinkerton.

Swedish Match launched the Timber Wolf Moist Snuff brand in 1994 and it continues to be made exclusively in Owensboro. As of two years ago, the company sold about 50 million cans of Timber Wolf each year.

The 450,000-square-foot Owensboro plant also produces the Longhorn and Red Man brands of moist snuff and Red Man, Southern Pride, J.D.'s Blend and Granger Select chewing tobacco. Enditem