Business News
Fiat becomes majority owner of Serbia's Zastava car factory
Dec 23, 2009, 14:58 GMT
Belgrade - Italian carmaker Fiat on Wednesday became a majority owner of Serbian car manufacturer Zastava, Belgrade media reported.
Serbian Deputy Prime Minister Mladjan Dinkic and Alfredo Altavilla, vice president of the Fiat group, signed Wednesday an annex of the contract made in September last year, making Fiat owner of 67-per-cent stake of the Zastava factory in Kragujevac, 110 kilometres south of Belgrade.
The Serbian government owns a 33-per-cent stake in the company.
The Italian carmaker is now expected to invest 100 million euros (142 million dollars) into Zastava by the end of the year and a total of 700 million euros for the modernisation of the factory. The factory would produce two new models along with the Punto, which is already being made at the Zastava plant.
Fiat would also raise output to 200,000 units per year, bringing to Serbia almost 2 billion euros in export income.
The announcement of Fiat's investment in Zastava stirred hopes of new jobs and a revival of the town and the area around it, which were badly hit by recession.
'This means that the economic crisis is at the end for Serbia as well,' Dinkic said before signing the annex.
COMMENT
blog comments powered by DisqusLatest Headlines in Business
- 1. US unemployment drops further, but figures disappoint
- 2. Japan stocks down as euro debt outweighs positive US data
- 3. Iraq resumes oil flow after pipeline blast in Turkey
- 4. Spanish bond auction lifts eurozone worries, sinks Japan stocks
- 5. ECB holds rates, rules out early exit from emergency measures
Older Talkback
