MANSFIELD, Mass. – Covidien Ltd., the large medical devices and supplies company, is seeking state and local tax breaks as an incentive for the firm to spend $20 million expanding its presence in Mansfield.

“The company has conducted a site search and our first choice is to expand in Mansfield,” Covidien spokesman David Young told Providence Business News in an e-mail interview.

The company hopes to purchase and renovate a 115,000-square-foot building at 777 West St. in Mansfield by the end of the year, Young said. The facility is currently owned and occupied by the textiles- and materials-processing company Albany International Corp. The company expects to close a deal with Covidien for the building by the end of this year, and exit the building sometime in early 2009, said Susan Seigel, a spokeswoman for Albany International.

The cost of purchasing the building, which would be used for offices and research and development, would be $7.2 million. In addition, Covidien expects to spend $13.2 million on renovations and $2 million on new equipment, Young said. The new site would bring 50 new full-time jobs to Mansfield at salaries of $50,000 to $100,000, he added.

Covidien has told town officials in Mansfield that the company plans to apply for two tax incentives, a 5-percent Economic Opportunity Area Investment Tax Credit from the state and a tax-increment finance (TIF) agreement, Young said. “We consider this very important” to making the expansion feasible, he said.

The TIF would grant a multi-year exemption from property taxes on the additional value that would be added to the sites by the renovations, and would also grant a local personal property tax exemption. The agreement would require a number of approvals, including that of Town Meeting voters.

Although formal negotiations for the TIF agreement have not begun, town officials expressed support for the idea at a recent meeting of the Mansfield Board of Selectmen.

Covidien, formerly Tyco Healthcare, currently has 1,215 full-time employees in Mansfield and leases six buildings in the town. The company pays the town $1.2 million per year in property taxes, Young said. That would not change under the new tax-reduction requests.

The TIF agreement is expected to last between five and 20 years.

Covidien Ltd. (NYSE: COV), formerly Tyco Healthcare, is one of the largest health care device manufacturers and suppliers in the world. The company is based in Mansfield, Mass., although its official headquarters are in Bermuda. For more information, visit covidien.com.

More information on business incentive and tax reduction programs in Massachusetts is available online from the Massachusetts Biotechnology Council.