SLOVAK Investment and Trade Development Agency (SARIO) spokesman Ondrej Žember said on July 18 that Slovakia has until August 31 to come up with a new offer for South Korean tyre company Hankook Tire.
Talks on the new investment contract should start at the beginning of August, the SITA news agency wrote.
Problems with the proposed South Korean investment emerged in early July when the Slovak cabinet failed to approve an investment contract with Hankook, submitted by Economy Minister Pavol Rusko.
The South Korean tyre maker had planned to invest €500 million (Sk19.3 billion) into building a plant in Levice, with an annual production capacity of 5 million tyres.
Following the rejection Hankook reopened talks with other countries. The company was willing to reduce its request for state assistance from 21 percent to 19 percent of the total investment, with direct financial assistance of 13 percent. Hankook would not make any concessions beyond that.
