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The Stanley Works/Black & Decker merger is Maryland's loss and New Britain's gain. Local hand-tool maker Stanley is buying power-tool company Black & Decker and moving its Towson, Md., headquarters and 250 executive jobs to the Hardware City.
Connecticut knows too well the heartbreak of losing jobs; we feel Maryland's pain. Black & Decker means as much to the Baltimore area as, well, Stanley does to New Britain. Stanley has moved plenty of its Connecticut jobs overseas.
But in a reversal of the usual "Connecticut's costs are too high" mantra from businesses, a Baltimore Sun columnist pointed out that Connecticut's personal and corporate income tax rates are lower than Maryland's.
Maryland hasn't lost all. Though it's mourning the departure of a Fortune 500 headquarters and charitable corporate citizen (it gives tools to Habitat for Humanity), Black & Decker is leaving 1,250 power-tool division jobs in Maryland. Not a bad consolation prize.
The merger dovetails two similar but not exactly overlapping companies and is a brilliant coup for the smaller but richer Stanley. Both tool companies were clobbered by the housing market collapse, but Stanley was cushioned by a side business in security systems, which apparently thrives in troubled times like these. (Another smart move, Stanley.) It will buy Black & Decker for $4.5 billion in an all-stock transaction.
There will be consolidations (a euphemism for layoffs) as the two companies hack away at $350 million in yearly expenses. But Stanley is staying and the other company is coming here. That's cause for celebration in this state.
What's your view? Make it known with a Letter to the Editor. Visit www.courant.com/letters and scroll down.
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