Baxter (NYSE:BAX) yesterday sought to quell rumors that it’s planning to move its headquarters to Boston, saying it will maintain its home base in Deerfield, Ill., even after the spinout of its pharmaceuticals business.
Speculation on the potential move was prompted yesterday by a Boston Business Journal report that Massachusetts officials were working on a secret plan dubbed "Project Tiger" to lure Baxter to the Bay State.
Baxter was said to be looking for 150,000 to 200,000 square feet in Cambridge, hoping to tap into the area’s confluence of major universities and a thriving life sciences cluster, anonymous sources told the newspaper.
The rumored move could bring "hundreds, if not thousands, of jobs" to the area, the sources told the Journal.
But a Baxter spokeswoman told the Chicago Sun-Times via email that the company has no plans to move its headquarters out of Illinois and stayed mum about any other plans, in Massachusetts or otherwise.
"As we stated in March, when we announced plans to create 2 separate, independent global healthcare companies, the corporate headquarters of both companies will be located in northern Illinois," Deborah Spak told the newspaper. "Given Baxter’s size and scope, as well as our many partnerships and collaborations, there are often rumors circulating. As a matter of course, we do not comment on rumors or speculation."