Health insurer Aetna has confirmed that it is in talks to move its headquarters out of Connecticut. But the company said it has no final destination yet. Nor has it said definitively what might happen to the thousands of employees currently based in the state.
After a day of intense speculation about its intentions, the company issued a brief statement:
We are in negotiations with several states regarding a headquarters relocation, with the goal of broadening our access to innovation and the talent that will fill knowledge economy-type positions. We remain committed to our Connecticut-based employees and the Hartford campus, and hope to have a final resolution by early summer.
Aetna has stoked rumors of a move out of the Nutmeg State since its recent merger talks with Humana. During those negotiations, CEO Mark Bertolini gave assurances that Humana's Louisville, Kentucky headquarters were safe, but refused to give a similar message to Hartford.
More recently, after the merger was nixed in a federal antitrust lawsuit, the company has been reported to be in talks with the city of Boston. That would have bolstered that city's reputation following GE's move to the Bay State.
But the most recent speculation has centered on an Aetna move to New York City, first reported in columnist Kevin Rennie's Daily Ructions blog. Rennie has not given a source for his story.
The report provoked reaction from both Hartford Mayor Luke Bronin and from Governor Dannel Malloy Wednesday.
Malloy said he and other state officials have been in talks with the company over many months concerning their long term strategy, but at the time he spoke he had not been notified by Aetna of any intention to change its footprint in Connecticut.
Malloy told reporters: "...it is my personal belief that some amount of change is coming, and that it will likely include a change in their headquarter designation, along with some number of executive positions."
Aetna currently employs some 5,800 people in and around Hartford.
Malloy said he believes the vast majority of these jobs will stay. Without naming the company, he likened the situation to that of Travelers, which has its corporate headquarters elsewhere, but the bulk of its property casualty employment in Connecticut.
And Malloy said the state continues to fight to keep the company.
"We have offered direct incentives for them to stay, up to and including matching anything put on the table from a competing state in order to keep Aetna’s headquarters and jobs here in Connecticut," he said. "We’ve also included specific proposals that would, among other things, strengthen the City of Hartford, bolster our workforce development around Aetna’s needs, improve transportation in the region in which they operate, and make our state an even better and more responsive marketplace for them and other insurers."
Meanwhile, Luke Bronin said in a statement that based on multiple conversations with company executives, "I think it is clear that Aetna decided a long time ago to relocate their corporate headquarters out of Connecticut. They have said that Aetna remains committed to its Connecticut workforce, and that the Hartford campus will continue to be a substantial employment base for thousands of Aetna employees."
First District Representative John Larson described Aetna as an "iconic" company.
"I'm heartened to hear that the bulk of their workforce is going to remain here, but those are decision that their CEO and their board have to determine in the best interests of their company," Larson told WNPR.
"Irrespective of the rationale, it hurts." he added.
