Massachusetts lured one corporate giant from Connecticut, but has come up short in its pursuit of a second.

Aetna, the Hartford-based health insurer that has been searching for a new city to call home, announced Thursday that it will relocate its corporate headquarters to New York City by the end of 2018.

Aetna will receive a $9.6 million financial assistance package from the New York City Economic Development Corporation, according to the city. The full suite of city and state tax breaks for the company is estimated at $24 million over 10 years, the New York Times reported.

Despite the move to New York City, Aetna’s Consumer Health & Services team will continue to operate out of Wellesley, the company said in its announcement Thursday.

The Hartford Courant reported in January that Aetna had been discussing the possibility of relocating to Massachusetts with Gov. Charlie Baker’s administration for the last six months, but the administration told the News Service the administration does “not comment on potential business development efforts.”

Last year, Baker and Boston Mayor Martin Walsh announced that General Electric, one of the nation’s largest corporations, would move about 800 jobs and its headquarters to Massachusetts from Connecticut by 2018.

Like GE, Aetna publicly threatened to leave Connecticut in 2015 after Gov. Dannel Malloy signed a state budget that included corporate tax increases blasted by the business community for creating an inhospitable environment.

New York Prevails Over MA In Competition For Aetna

by State House News Service time to read: 1 min
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