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Chiquita one step closer to moving HQ out of Charlotte

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Chiquita is one step closer to a billion dollar merger that will take its headquarters out of uptown Charlotte.

Monday, the waiting period for an antitrust review of the deal ran out. That satisfies one condition of the deal.

Chiquita said in March it wants to merge with an Irish company and move its headquarters out of uptown. The Charlotte office would stay in uptown, along with a majority of the jobs.

Last month Channel 9 found out Charlotte leaders are looking at whether Chiquita should return incentive money it received to move into uptown.

The company was expected to receive more than $20 million in incentives. In return, it promised to create 400 jobs.

Chiquita's CEO told Channel 9 that the company is in talks with the city and county about what to do about the incentives.

There are still other regulatory clearances that have to happen before the deal can go through, and shareholders from both companies would still have to vote on the merger.

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