Fidelity Investments plans to close an operation in Marlborough, Massachusetts, and move many of the 1,100 jobs there to other New England locations, a spokeswoman for the giant fund firm said.

Fidelity spokeswoman Anne Crowley said the company plans to close the office by next year and to offer many workers their jobs at other locations, including in Merrimack, New Hampshire, and in Smithfield, Rhode Island. There will be a small number of layoffs, she added.

Family-controlled Fidelity has about 37,000 employees in all and is headquartered in Boston. But it has steadily reduced its workforce, down from 46,500 workers at the end of December, 2007. The job cuts helped it last week report a 17 percent increase in operating income for 2010, to $2.94 billion.

After the job cuts and the financial crisis Fidelity was left with excess real estate, Crowley said, leading to its decision to shut down the facility in Marlborough, where it owns two buildings and leased a third. We decided it made sense to consolidate the New England workforce, she said.

Fidelity now intends to sell both buildings it owns, each with about 700,000 square feet of space.

In the Marlborough office, Fidelity had run units handling 401(k) savings accounts, payroll and healthcare arrangements for corporate clients.

(Reporting by Ross Kerber; Editing by Steve Orlofsky)

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