NH business community offers 'Open Invitation' to Mass. companies

(NECN: Lauren Collins, Manchester, NH) - Private companies in New Hampshire are backing a new state effort to lure Massachusetts-based businesses to the Granite State. It is called the "Open Invitation" and it was launched this morning. State business leaders in New Hampshire are unapologetic and excited about what they see as huge commercial prospects to the south. The state has long touted its low tax structure and high quality of life as ideal for doing business, and after seeing some success in attracting a handful of Bay State companies in recent years, is unleashing a full on courtship. Some 800 companies in Massachusetts will get this invitation over the next few weeks. Prospects who cross the border will get escorted in a limousine to lunch with a New Hampshire business recruiter, will get a tour of area commercial properties and will then be treated to either lift tickets to Cannon Mountain or a Manchester Monarchs hockey game, followed by a night at the Tara Radisson Hotel in Nashua. The treatment is all donated by the private sector in a gesture of good will, the implied sense of how businesses are treated in NH. Businesses based in Boston and points north are specifically targeted in this effort because if they were to move or expand north, many of their current employees could feasibly still make the commute. The state is currently in relocation talks with about 200 companies, the names of which are confidential. Half of those are based in Massachusetts.