(RALEIGH) -- Gov. Beverly Perdue announced Wednesday that Infinisource Holdings Inc., a nationally known benefits administrator focused on small to mid-market firms, will move its headquarters and start a new division in Charlotte. The company plans to create 162 jobs over the next five years with a $500,000 capital investment in Mecklenburg County. The project was made possible in part by a Job Development Investment Grant.

“Creating jobs is my top priority, and our top-ranked business climate that we have built over the years has convinced another major company, not just to do business in North Carolina, but to call it home,” Gov. Perdue said.

Infinisource, an August 2011 acquisition of Infinisource Holdings Inc. (an Accel-KKR portfolio company), has more than 200 employees between its offices in Ohio, Florida and its regional headquarters in Michigan.  Established in 1986, Infinisource is a leading benefits administration provider, serving more than 17,700 clients in the United States.

The company’s expansion and corporate headquarters relocation in North Carolina will enable the launch of a division dedicated to Human Capital Management SaaS technology, which will help  employers manage their payroll, HR, benefits administration, talent management, time & attendance,  and compliance from a single cloud deployed platform. In addition, Infinisource will consolidate other business elements – including sales, implementation, customer service, and, information technology– in Charlotte.

“We chose Charlotte not only because it is a great place to live and work, but also because it is an excellent place to find talent. The successful launch of our new Human Capital Management  division will require strong candidates, and we feel confident we can find what we need in North Carolina,” said Gary Trainor, CEO of Infinisource Holdings Inc.

While individual wages for the 162 jobs will vary by job function, the overall average for the new jobs will be $81,296 annually, plus benefits. The Mecklenburg County average is $51,584.

To help facilitate this expansion,the stateEconomic Investment Committee today voted to award a Job Development Investment Grant to Infinisource. JDIGs are awarded only to new and expanding businesses and industrial projects whose benefits exceed the costs to the state and which would not be undertaken in North Carolina without the grant.

Under the terms of the JDIG, the company is eligible to receive a grant equal to 55 percentof the state personal income withholding taxes derived from the creation of new jobs for each of the eight years in which the company meets annual performance targets.  Under the JDIG program there are no up-front cash grants paid to the company. If Infinisource meets the targets called for under the agreement, the JDIG could yield $1.913 million in maximum benefits for the company over the next eight years.

In addition, up to $638,000 could be added to the state’s Utility Fund for infrastructure improvements in economically distressed counties. When a JDIG is awarded in the state’s more economically prosperous counties such as Mecklenburg, 25 percent of the grant award is allocated to the Utility Fund to encourage economic development in less prosperous counties.

Other partners that assisted with this project include: the N.C. Department of Commerce, N.C. Community Colleges and the Charlotte Chamber.