ADM wants to keep headquarters in Illinois, get tax benefit: CFO

Archer Daniels Midland Co wants to locate a new global headquarters in its current home state of Illinois, Ray Young, the agribusiness company's chief financial officer said on Tuesday.

ADM said last week it was scouting locations for a new corporate headquarters because the company has become more global. Its headquarters have been located in Decatur, Ill., about three hours south of Chicago, for the past 44 years.

To stay in the state, ADM is seeking access to an income tax incentive that would save it about $1.2 million a year for the next 15 to 20 years, company officials said at a legislative hearing in Chicago. The company dropped plans to seek a separate credit on utility taxes that would have saved it more money.

Lawmakers at the hearing grilled ADM over its pursuit of the income tax incentive, which would save the company roughly $20 million. ADM earns $1 billion to $2 billion a year, Young said.

"We have to be mindful of our costs," he said. "This has been a very, very cost conscious company."

ADM is one of four large players known as the "ABCD" companies that dominate the flow of agricultural goods around the world. The others are Bunge Ltd , Cargill Inc and Louis Dreyfus Corp .

ADM has said it plans to relocate about 100 existing jobs to its new headquarters and create a technology center at the location that will add about 100 new jobs over several years. Chicago is seen as the front runner for the new headquarters.

About 4,400 employees will continue to work in Decatur, which will become ADM's North American headquarters.

(Reporting by Tom Polansek. Editing by Andre Grenon)