Computershare already employs 600 people in Melbourne but the new centre will create another 1200 jobs in order to serve the company's 7,500 clients around the world.
Victorian Premier Steve Bracks welcomed the announcement. "In terms of jobs numbers, this is the largest single investment ever secured by a Victorian government and is the biggest single information technology jobs win ever in Australia," he said.
"You have to go back to the 1970s with the first Holden engine plant, or the 1980s with the construction of the Alcoa Smelter, to find a single investment that is as significant as this one in terms of new jobs and impact on the State".
The announcement came on the same day that the Australian unemployment rate reached a four-month low, with the Victorian figure below the national average.
Bracks said an independent assessment by KPMG showed the centre will be worth AU$800 million to the state's economy over the next six years. "This is a massive vote of confidence in Victoria as a place for ICT investment and for Melbourne as a location for global headquarters," he said.
Computershare was established in Melbourne 25 years ago, but also has offices in Canada, the UK, US, Channel Islands, Hong Kong, Ireland, New Zealand, the Philippines, Germany and South Africa. It claims to be the only global share registry, and is a leading provider of financial market services and technology to the global securities industry.
1. It's Computershare, not Compushare.
2. The mail address of the author incorrect, it bounced. I tried to mail this correction to him.
The whole credability of this story would be questionable if I had not read it in the papers.