Canadian company’s first US-based manufacturing facility to be built in Texas

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(The Center Square) – Another company is expanding manufacturing operations in Texas on the taxpayer’s dime – this time, a Canadian-based plastics company.

Lefko USA Inc., a subsidiary of Canadian Centrik Capital, has chosen New Braunfels, Texas, as its first U.S.-based location to build a new manufacturing facility. The company specializes in custom blow molding for medium to large plastic parts serving the industry sectors of recreation, powersports, medical, industrial, and trucking. 

It says it's investing $15 million in capital in the project and will create 149 new jobs. It received nearly $1 million in a taxpayer-funded Texas Enterprise Fund (TEF) grant and was offered a $19,000 Veteran Created Job Bonus to pick Texas as its first location.

Lefko CEO Eric Blondeau said in a statement, “Texas’ commitment to advanced manufacturing and its central location give us the competitive advantage we need to serve both national and global markets. The collaboration with New Braunfels city leaders and the State of Texas made the difference in our final choice, and we look forward to a long and successful future here.”

Gov. Greg Abbott said Lefko’s decision to establish its first U.S.-based advanced manufacturing facility in New Braunfels “will create good-paying jobs for hardworking Texans. Thanks to our skilled and growing workforce, easy access to domestic and international markets, and the best business climate in America, ‘Made in Texas’ has never been a more powerful global brand.”

Local officials also praised the use of taxpayer funds to seal the deal with a foreign owned company, citing the need for job creation and economic growth in an area that is becoming less rural. New Braunfels Mayor Neal Linnartz said Lefko’s “investment here not only speaks volumes about the competitiveness of our community, but more importantly, it means real jobs and new opportunities for New Braunfels families.”

New Braunfels EDC Board President Shane Hines said, “Lefko’s decision to launch their first U.S. operation outside of Canada right here in New Braunfels is a tremendous win for our community.”

The announcement comes after another multi-billion-dollar company received millions of dollars in a TEF grant through a newly created Texas Jobs, Energy, Technology, and Innovation (JETI) program. Pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly and Company announced it;s expanding operations in Texas after receiving a $5.5 million TEF grant, The Center Square reported. It plans to construct a roughly one-million-square-foot manufacturing facility in north Houston in Harris County to produce next-generation small molecule synthetic medicines. 

Lilly says it’s investing more than $6.5 billion in the project, making it the largest investment in API manufacturing in Texas history.

To do so, it’s benefiting from reduced property taxes over a 10-year period. The JETI program offers property tax breaks, including a “school district maintenance and operations (M&O) tax appraised value limitation of 50%, based on qualifying job and capital investment minimums.” 

Another TEF grant awarded this year was $3.7 million to the multi-billion-dollar company, Collins Aerospace, an RTX Business. It announced its expanding its aerospace manufacturing and research development operations in Richardson. RTX, the world's largest aerospace and defense company, is based in is based in Arlington, Virginia. Collins Aerospace is based in Charlotte, North Carolina. 

Collins claims it’s making a $57 million capital investment in the expansion it says will create more than 570 new jobs, The Center Square reported.

Awarded through the Texas Economic Development & Tourism office, the Texas Enterprise Fund grant “may be awarded to a business relocation or expansion project for which one Texas site is in competition with out-of-state locations to create new, good-paying jobs in the community and attract significant new capital investment to the state,” the office says.