State Wants Equity Stake in MATRIC
Charleston Daily Mail
October 16, 2008
http://dailymail.com/News/statenews/200810160236
by George Hohmann
Daily Mail Business Editor
CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- The state is negotiating to take a $2 million ownership stake in the Mid-Atlantic Technology, Research & Innovation Center, known as MATRIC, West Virginia Commerce Secretary Kelley Goes said.
Goes was among the speakers at a gala annual reception MATRIC held Wednesday evening at the Clay Center.
MATRIC was established in 2004 as a nonprofit research institute to harness the brainpower that Union Carbide Corp. brought to the Kanawha Valley over the decades.
After Dow Chemical announced a major downsizing in December, Gov. Joe Manchin pledged $2 million in state money to help MATRIC in its quest to employ as many ex-Dow researchers as possible. The Legislature approved the appropriation.
Goes said the state has determined that it wants to inject the money into MATRIC in the form of an equity investment. The West Virginia Jobs Investment Trust - the state's venture capital firm - is currently negotiating with MATRIC over the terms, she said.
A $2 million investment is the maximum allowed by law. The idea of investing is consistent with Manchin's pledge to loan or invest in promising enterprises but to not give state money away.
Goes said the hope is that MATRIC will not only succeed in creating jobs, it might eventually pay dividends or the state could eventually sell its stake and the Jobs Investment Trust could recycle the money into more job-creating projects.
MATRIC has already attracted other public money. The Business and Industrial Development Corp., also known as BIDCO, was the catalyst for creating MATRIC. The successor to BIDCO, the Charleston Area Alliance, extended a $500,000 line of credit to MATRIC several years ago. Earlier this year, MATRIC asked that the credit line be turned into an equity stake. The Alliance is studying the request.
MATRIC also has a $500,000 commitment from the city of South Charleston and a $500,000 commitment from the Kanawha County Commission.
In addition to Goes' announcement during the reception:
Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., announced that MATRIC is partnering with Butler International Inc., a technology services firm, to create an engineering design organization - the International Design Center - at the South Charleston Technology Park. The development is expected to create more than 150 jobs that will pay in the range of $100,000 a year, Rockefeller said.
Rep. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., announced $2 million in Defense Department funding to establish the "Project National Shield Integration Center." The center, which will help protect the nation against terrorist attacks, is expected to create dozens of jobs.
Keith Pauley, MATRIC's president and chief executive officer, said the organization has won $22.5 million of competitively bid contracts in its four years of existence and has grown to a staff of 83.
"This is the beginning of something exciting," he said.
Contact writer George Hohmann at busin...@dailymail.com or 304-348-4836.
