Former rock drill and construction machine manufacturer Ingersoll Rand (IR) has announced its intention to move its incorporation from Bermuda to Ireland.
Currently, the firm has a significant manufacturing base and around 700 staff in the city of Galway, owing to its acquisition of truck refrigeration firm Thermo King back in 1997. However, the move is also motivated for tax reasons.
Ireland has a corporate tax rate of 12.5%, much lower than the rest of Europe. The country also enjoys a long history of international investment and a good network of tax treaties with the United States, the European Union and several other countries where IR has operations.
IR, for its part was formed in 1871 when it made drills. Since this time it expanded, mostly by acquisitions and until 2007 boasted a catalogue of road building machines and compact equipment, which included the Bobcat line.
The road equipment was sold to Volvo CE and Bobcat to Doosan, leaving IR with a clutch of climate control companies, supplemented in 2008 with the purchase of Trane.
The company had changed incorporation from New Jersey to Bermuda as recently as 2001.