U.S.-based global power tools, appliances and security-systems manufacturer Stanley Black & Decker just decided to make Medellin its new Americas-region financial services unit for commercial customers -- creating 200 new jobs here over the next 12 months.

According to Medellin’s business-development agency (Agencia de Cooperación e Inversión de Medellín y el Área Metropolitana, ACI), Stanley Black & Decker (SBD) now has some 50,000 global employees with annual sales now topping US$12 billion.

According to ACI, the company chose Medellin for the new financial-services offices “because of its solid business environment and its capacity to provide high-quality commercial services,” as well as the joint recruitment-and-collaboration efforts of ACI, Medellin’s high-tech “Ruta N” commercial landing space and Colombia’s “Procolombia” investment promotion agency.

SBD financial director Jamie Ritter added that “Medellin is a growing city, focused upon innovation and with a great quantity of talent, making it an attractive location for Stanley Black & Decker to develop a world-class center tied to strategic growth initiatives.”