The world's largest sporting goods equipment company will put the headquarters of three major ski-equipment brands in Ogden.
Finland-based Amer Sports Corp. announced Monday it will consolidate the headquarters of its Suunto, Salomon and Atomic brands in downtown Ogden, where the operations eventually will employ about 230 people.
The announcement followed approval Monday of state incentives totaling more than $7.9 million to lure the operations to Utah. That will be added to an Ogden incentive package totaling nearly $4.2 million.
Amer's operations will be known as the Amer Winter & Outdoor Division of the Americas, handling the sales, marketing and distribution of the European-produced items in the United States.
"The biggest thing is that we're going to be a lot closer to our consumers," Mike Dowse, president and general manager of the division, told the Deseret Morning News via telephone from Sweden. "We have a saying that we want to 'own' the mountain, and you kind of have to be on the mountain to own it.
"We want to be closer to those consumers and be closer to trends. A lot of trends in the snowboard and ski industry the past four or five years started in the Rocky Mountains and moved to the West coast and East coast and then over to Europe."
Salomon, based in Portland, Ore., produces footwear and apparel. Atomic, based in Amherst, N.H., makes alpine skis. Suunto, based in Carlsbad, Calif., makes sports equipment, including wrist-top computers, diving instruments, compasses, altimeters and barometers.
Amer, based in Helsinki, Finland, has several other brands. The most notable is Wilson. The company has more than 6,600 employees, with nearly 39 percent involved in Salomon. Amer had about 2,600 employees in the United States, Canada and Mexico at the end of 2005.
The company's timetable for the moves depends on the building it selects and what construction or rehabilitation it needs. The goal is to move Suunto first, most likely in June or July 2007. The move of Salomon would follow within 30 days. Atomic's headquarters also likely would be in place by summer.
"If not, it may have to wait until January (2008)," Dowse said. "The ski season gets incredibly busy in September, October and November as the stores fill up and the season gets started. It may be better for us to get through that first. The goal is to do it as soon as we can where it makes sense."
Dowse said the division will have 130 employees in place in its first 12 months, with the full 230 in place by 2009. Between 30 percent and 40 percent are expected to be relocated from elsewhere, and the remainder will be hired locally. Also, nearly 200 sales representatives across the United States will report to the Ogden office.
The Ogden work force will include senior management, sales managers and sales directors, marketing directors, product managers, customer service reps, technicians and employees in the finance and human resources departments.
"There will be some overlap on the front end and the back end," Dowse said. "Before we officially move to Ogden, we'll probably set up a small operational room to oversee construction and rehab of whatever building we choose, to start hiring people and training them and maybe have them commute back and forth to our three current locations. And when we officially land in Ogden, we'll probably have people from our current locations fly back and forth to train people in Ogden."
Dowse said the company is considering two or three buildings for the division. "We haven't finalized one yet, but they're all in the historic part of downtown Ogden," he said.
Amer considered Portland and other Utah locations for the newly formed division, but Dowse said the work of Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. and Ogden Mayor Matthew Godfrey were major factors in Ogden landing the operations.
"Utah just made a ton of sense to us because it speaks to the winter sports industry, starting with the governor. He's really had this vision to make it the outdoor and winter sports headquarters, as far as a state. And the mayor has probably even crystallized that vision even more. His vision is for Ogden to be the mecca or hub of winter sports in the U.S."
Amer also liked the proposal for a gondola to connect downtown Ogden to Snowbasin. Dowse said the idea is "really appealing to us as well. It would be a real cool story to bring customers and industry colleagues into Ogden."
The new division is expected to partner with the Utah Office of Tourism, the Utah Sports Commission and others on marketing and to perhaps host events.
"At the end of day, we have the same interests," Dowse said. "We want more people snowboarding and more people skiing. We just want more people active, so it seems to make sense that we can work well together."
In addition to the Ogden incentive totaling nearly $4.2 million, the Governor's Office of Economic Development Board on Monday approved incentives of $7,935,000 for Amer. One portion is an Industrial Assistance Fund grant of up to $2.5 million. The company will receive $300,000 upon signing a building lease in Ogden and the start of build-outs; $300,000 for moving the Suunto headquarters; $400,000 for moving the Atomic headquarters; $500,000 for moving Salomon's headquarters; and $1 million for the first 200 jobs.
The company also will receive a tax rebate of up to $5,435,000 over 10 years.
The company must commit to keep operations in Utah at least 10 years, and the new employee salaries must average at least twice the Weber County median. GOED board documents indicate the average salary will be $67,983, which is 316 percent of the Weber County median.
The state can recover the IAF grant if the division headquarters is not open for business by Jan. 1, 2009, or if the new state revenue over the life of the project "is insufficient to justify the combined incentive grant-
ed."
GOED documents indicate the expected new state revenue from the Amer operations is nearly $26.5 million over 10 years. New state wages will be about $133 million over that time, and the capital investment is expected to be $3.25 million.
E-mail: bwallace@desnews.com