FIDELITY TO ADD 475 TECH JOBS AT MERRIMACK CAMPUS

Fidelity Investments says it plans to hire another 475 people for new jobs to be created at its campus in Merrimack. The jobs will include digital technologists as well as customer service, financial advisors and licensed professionals.

The company made the announcement as part of a larger plan that was unveiled earlier this week to expand its national workforce by some 3,500, mostly customer-facing employees, over the next six months, including 1,000 licensed financial planners who will mostly work remotely.

The company said it is aiming to expand its network of licensed financial planners to more than 20 new U.S.

markets. It said the expansion, which will widen the reach of its investor centers “to ensure continued success in meeting growing customer demand,” with the new hires in Merrimack taking place over the next six months.

Some 50 of the new jobs in Merrimack will be in the digital arena, including software engineers, data scientists and mobile/IOS engineers and architects.

EASTERN BANK TO ACQUIRE CENTURY BANK FOR $642 MILLION

Boston-based Eastern Bank, which acquired locations in New Hampshire when it purchased Centrix Bank in 2014, has announced it will be acquiring Century Bank and Trust of Medford, Mass., in a $642 million deal.

It was be Eastern’s first bank purchase since becoming a public company in October. Before that, the bank was the largest mutual bank in the nation.

The deal combines two of the largest community banks in the Boston area.

Century shareholders will get $115.28 in cash for each share of Century Bancorp, the Medford-based bank’s holding company, that they own.

HUBBARD PLANS $20 MILLION EXPANSION OF POULTRY R&D FARM

Poultry breeding company Hubbard plans to invest $20 million into expanding its Walpole research and development farm.

Luca Harrington, Hubbard director in Walpole, told the NH Union Leader that expansion is expected to bring up to 50 new jobs to the region, as well as improve the breeding stock of the broiler birds the company sells.

Work on the research and development facility, including a new grow-out farm to be named Centennial Farm, is expected to start immediately and be completed by mid-2022.

NOLAN NAMED EVERSOURCE’S NEW CEO

Joe Nolan, a longtime executive at Eversource Energy, will become the CEO of New England’s largest electric utility on May 5, succeeding Jim Judge.

Judge, who is 65, will stay on as executive chair, overseeing strategic planning and staying involved in investor and industry relations.

As chief executive, Nolan will oversee a company with about 9,300 employees, spanning three states — including New Hampshire — and serves a total of 4.3 million customers in its market area.

Nolan has been leading Eversource’s renewable energy efforts, including working on a joint venture with Ørsted, a Danish company.

LED BY WHEELABRATOR, 10 WASTE MANAGEMENT COMPANIES CONSOLIDATE AND REBRAND

Wheelabrator Technologies, a company with a long history in New Hampshire, has consolidated with nine other waste industry businesses and rebranded them under the name WIN Waste Innovations.

The rebranded company has 1,900 employees and includes the former Wheelabrator Technologies Inc., which is based in Portsmouth.

Other firms involved in the rebranding are: Londonderry-based Charles George Waste Disposal & Recycling; Atkinson-based Bay State Disposal; Stamford, Conn.-based City Carting & Recycling and Tunnel Hill Partners; Westborough, Mass.-based United Material Management; Eliot, Maine-based Shipyard Waste Solutions; County Waste Management Inc. of Westchester County, N.Y.; Fitchburg, Mass.-based Fiore Trucking Recycle & Disposal; and West Bridgewater, Mass.-based Noonan Waste Service.