GERMAN steel-processing company ThyssenKrupp will likely invest €98 million in a new facility in eastern Slovakia as the company has reportedly filed an application with the Economy Ministry with an investment plan that could create about 1,200 jobs, the Hospodárske Noviny daily reported, citing ministry sources.
The ministry did not confirm the information in the daily, stating that it cannot comment on proposed investments before they are approved. But two independent sources told the daily that the company had requested investment stimuli from the state based on its plans.
ThyssenKrupp reportedly has not decided exactly where it will situate the new facility, with Hospodárske Noviny writing that the company is considering two sites: an industrial park in Prešov and the village of Haniska in Košice Region.
The daily also wrote that several other investors are considering new facilities in Slovak regions with high unemployment that could bring jobs for about 900 people.
“We are negotiating with three companies, Belgian, French and German,” said Dany R. E. Rottiers, chief executive of Eastern Investment Centres, a consulting company that represents the state in negotiations with possible investors, as quoted by the daily.
Rottiers added that his firm is also holding discussions with a company in the engineering sector about the possibility of opening a plant in the Orava region, adding that even though the European Union is suffering from the ongoing sovereign debt crisis, investors have not lost interest in Slovakia. Rottiers said he thinks Slovakia has a more advantageous environment than other EU countries.
