Bankruptcy Inevitable as 'Malloy Leaves CT a Wreck'

Aetna actively negotiating with other states to relocate its headquarters after more than 150 years in Connecticut's capital city.

via the Hartford Courant

Both Gov. Dannel P. Malloy and Hartford Mayor Luke Bronin both said they expect Aetna to move its corporate headquarters and top executives out of the city.

"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," the company said in a statement Wednesday. "We remain committed to our Connecticut-based employees and the Hartford campus, and hope to have a final resolution by early summer."

The company offered no additional details.

Although the insurer would likely move its headquarters elsewhere, Malloy said at an afternoon press conference he believes Aetna would keep the "vast majority" of its 5,800 employees in Connecticut with only "some number" of executive jobs being moved.

Malloy added that the company as "an offer in front of them" that includes financial incentives to keep Aetna in Hartford. The state would also match "anything put on the table" from another state regarding a headquarters relocation.

Hartford Mayor Luke Bronin said in a statement Wednesday afternoon that Aetna is aggressively looking to move its headquarters, adding that the move is a "hard blow" for the state and the Hartford area.

"Based on multiple conversations with Aetna's senior leadership, I think it is clear that Aetna decided a long time ago to relocate their corporate headquarters out of Connecticut," said Bronin, who was scheduled to hold a press briefing at 3:30 p.m. "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."

"But losing Aetna's flag is a hard blow for the state and for the greater Hartford region," Bronin continued. "As a state, we need to act boldly to change the things that need to change. Across the country, companies are locating in places where they can recruit top talent. We don't have to be New York or Boston to be competitive, but we have to recognize that strong, fiscally-sound, culturally-vibrant metropolitan areas are key to economic growth. Connecticut has the opportunity to be one of those places, but we need to marshal the full strength of our region and our State to invest in a strong, vibrant Capital City – not at the expense of our suburbs and small towns, but for the sake of Connecticut's economic future, because we're all tied together."

From Marketslant's September 12th, 2016 article profiling CT. Governor Malloy in which we accurately predict the state will be a wreck when he is done:

Who is Dan Malloy?(Wade > Malloy > Clinton)

Governor Dan Malloy and the Clintons have been political allies since his run for governor in 2010 when he received the endorsement of both former President Bill Clinton and Hillary. The former president campaigned for the governor during his reelection bid in 2014

Malloy returned the favor to Hillary Clinton as one of her earliest endorsements for president.-Source NBC CT

• Connecticut Governor Malloy is a Clinton Player

-Governor Malloy of Ct. is a large fundraiser for the Clintons- Fact

-Malloy foolishly let GE leave CT.- Fact

-He is part of the insurance problems in CT.- look it up

-Malloy pays extortion money to Bridgewater to stay afterwards- a rose by any other name

-Malloy [ edit WAS]  is a leading candidate for a powerful Cabinet position when Hillary is elected- prediction, deep background source, and you can look it up.

• There's speculation that Malloy is working for Clinton to try to earn a cabinet position or White House job.- Hartford Courant

• Clinton Won't Say Whether She's Considering Malloy for Cabinet- NBC CT

• Malloy’s name has been mentioned by Democratic sources as a possible Transportation Secretary and Attorney General candidate.

A Prediction:

-Malloy leaves CT a wreck- soon enough

First GE, Now Aetna

Aetna, a Hartford icon for 164 years, has been quietly searching for a new headquarters outside Hartford for the last year as concerns over the state's economic future have grown. Earlier this year Massachusetts officials said the company had been looking at real estate in Boston.

Aetna has about 5,800 workers in Connecticut, the heaviest concentration in its Hartford headquarters.

An Aetna departure would come a year after General Electric, in a much-publicized decision, shifted its headquarters from Fairfield to Boston, citing a highly educated and young workforce and the city's reputation as a technology and innovation hub.

GE and Aetna, along with other business leaders, have been critical of Connecticut's economic and tax climate and an overall failure to get state finances in order. Connecticut faces a $2 billion deficit in coming years.

Aetna is Hartford's fourth largest taxpayer, paying nearly $8 million last year, a third for personal property such as computers.

Political and business officials reacted with surprise to the report the company would move its headquarters to New York City. The Courant also reported earlier this year the insurer was looking to move part of the company to Boston, or perhaps its headquarters.

A source close to negotiations in Massachusetts said Aetna is still interested in as much as 400,000 square feet in Boston's Seaport District as the company seeks to transform and attract new tech workers. It is unlikely that Aetna would receive the sort of incentive package that GE got, the source said.

Malloy released letters Wednesday that were sent from him and the Department of Economic and Community Development to Aetna CEO Mark Bertolini this year.

"I'd like to propose we meet to discuss Aetna's future in the state," Malloy wrote in a letter dated March 6. "I am fully aware of the concerns you have raised about doing business in Connecticut, and I'd like to work with you to address those that we can. Perhaps working together, we may be able to reduce the uncertainty we face and unlock unrealized potential."

"My administration is committed to putting the state on firm and stable financial footing to ensure a predictable economic climate, attractive to business," Malloy continued.

Malloy said there was no "direct response" to the letter, but another was sent May 15.

"I know you are frustrated with the fiscal problems and leadership of our state," Malloy wrote. "I am frustrated also. As a huge Connecticut employer and a pillar of the insurance industry, it must be infuriating to feel like you must fight your home state policymakers who seem blind to the future while you diligently lead Aetna's transportation from a fee for service health insurer to a value based health care leader. The lack of respect afforded Aetna as an important and innovative economic engine of Connecticut bewilders me. Please know I respect and value Aetna."

DECD's separate May 15 letter includes details of an incentive package for Aetna in an effort to keep the company in Hartford. It included continued state aid to Hartford in an effort to reduce the tax rate, improved neighborhood safety and continued downtown improvements. The state was also offering "direct financial incentives," although they were not detailed in the letter.

Business Leaders Worried

Business leaders expressed both surprise and concern over the possibility of the company relocating its headquarters.

"You can't overstate the importance of a headquarters at a company the size of Aetna and the reputation that Aetna has not only within the health insurance world, but within the corporate world generally," said R. Nelson "Oz" Griebel, head of the MetroHartford Alliance, a business group. "They're a very, very important employer and obviously if they decide to move their headquarters to New York or elsewhere, the next goal would be to ensure that the vast majority of the employees who are here today stay here."

"You also worry about things regarding what their long-term views on their real estate would be and the impact that could have on the city's grand list, " Griebel said. "They're a very, very important company for multiple reasons, and your hope is they will ultimately decide to keep the headquarters here and if not, that a large number of their employment base will remain here in Hartford."

As the rumors continued to swirl Wednesday, the lunchtime crowd on Farmington Avenue didn't seem fazed.

Aetna workers showed either disbelief or indifference to the news reports about their company's potential move to New York.

"Rumors are rumors; we don't comment on those," one worker, Avi, said between drags on his smoke break. "We'll worry about it when we see something happening."

Other employees of the insurance giant, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, tried to debunk talks of the move. One pointed out that Bertolini said at a corporate meeting last week that the company was staying put.

Another worker dismissed the talk as just that.

"It's business as usual for me," he said. "They say this every year. Weren't we supposed to move to Boston last year? How'd that work out?"

One woman who works for the company said she first heard the news Wednesday morning during her commute, when Mayor Luke Bronin discussed the rumors on WTIC-AM.

"You never know what's true," she added. "But then again, we'll probably be the last to know what's happening."

'Aetna is Our City'

House Majority Leader Matt Ritter, a lifelong Hartford resident, said he had not received any confirmation that the insurance giant is moving.

"We've met with a lot of their top staff, and no one ever said to us this is happening,'' Ritter said at the Capitol Tuesday night. "We hope it's not more than that – a rumor. Let's just wait and see what happens.''

"Aetna is a wonderful institution,'' he said. "It means a lot to Hartford. It means a lot to the state.''

Ritter noted that Aetna recently made a major commitment to the city with two other insurance giants – Travelers and The Hartford – to provide a combined total of $50 million over five years from the three major companies.

"That says to me a company that wants to invest in Hartford and we want to continue to make that their decision," Ritter said.

"And when you drive on [Interstate] 84, you see this beautiful building and that sign and it's just – that's Hartford," he added. "That is our city."

Wednesday morning, Ritter and House Speaker Joe Aresimowicz said they have invited Aetna executives to meet in the past, but it has yet to happen.

Yvonne Matthews, the head of the Asylum Hill Neighborhood Revitalization Zone, took the news of the potential departure hard Wednesday. Her group serves as the mouthpiece for the neighborhood where the insurance giant is housed.

The neighborhood relies on Aetna in countless ways, including for public safety through its on-site security, for revitalization, through the hand the company played in helping the Mark Twain branch of the city's public library move into West Middle School, a focal point in the neighborhood.

"I don't think people really understand what they do for us, but they do a lot," Matthews said. "They are one of the pillars in the neighborhood."

She implored the executives, regardless of the validity of Tuesday's rumors, to keep their roots in the capital city.

"It would be a great loss to our city, and we would feel it the most," Matthews said. "Please, whatever we can do, let us know. What can we do to keep you planted here?"

Courant staff writers Christopher Keating, Daniela Altimari, Stephen Singer, Russell Blair, Ken Gosselin, Vinny Vella, Dan Haar and Jenna Carlesso contributed to this story.