DaVita, a Fortune 500 firm, Moving to Denver

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DaVita Inc., one of only 14 Fortune 500 companies in Los Angeles County, announced Wednesday that it plans to move its corporate headquarters from El Segundo to Denver to take advantage of cost savings and that city? more central U.S. location.

DaVita, which operates kidney dialysis clinics in 43 states, said that it will continue to have significant business operations in El Segundo but senior executives, including Chief Executive Kent Thiry, will move to a Denver facility yet to be announced. Only about 250 of its 32,000 employees are now in El Segundo.

Los Angeles-area employees would be offered voluntary relocation to Denver as needed over time, said spokesman Brad Chase, and new administrative jobs likely would be located there.

The company, which considered four states, expects to see cost savings over time due to the lower cost of doing business and lower cost of living in the Denver area, which is home to 11 other Fortune 500 companies. DaVita also has large business offices in Washington state, Florida and Tennessee, and Chase also pointed to geographic and time zone advantages to be located further east.

“We’re very pleased to announce our search is over and we’ve selected the Denver area to make our home,” Thiry said in a statement. “I want to thank (Colorado) Governor Ritter, (Denver) Mayor Hickenlooper and their staffs for making such a tremendous effort in helping us choose Colorado.”

DaVita operates more than 1,400 dialysis clinics. It was the 13 largest public company in Los Angeles County by market capitalization last year, and had 2008 revenue of $5.66 billion, but is small in terms of local employees.

The company will get financial incentives from the state related to total investments and new jobs created, the Denver Post reported. DaVita has roughly 800 employees in Colorado, about 250 of them in the Denver suburb of Lakewood, where it acquired competitor Gambro Healthcare in 2005.

DaVita shares were up 20 cents, or less than 1 percent, to $45.67 in midday trading on the New York Stock Exchange.

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