25m-euro investment in car covers

The Portuguese company Coindu will invest 25 million euros in a production line for car and plane seat covers in the Curtici-Arad Free Zone (ZLCA), ZLCA general manager Mircea Pavel announced. “In the first stage, about seven million euros will be invested. The investment will be finalised by 2007 and will create about 1,000 jobs,” Pavel added. For the new production line, Coindu will take a four-hectare area under concession for 49 years, in the wake of a tender won on September 3rd. The concession contract will be signed next week. According to Pavel, over 100 firms, with investments of more than 50 million euros so far, are carrying out operations in the ZLCA. The ZLCA covers an area of 90 hectares, with the Curtici platform taking up 75 hectares. Investments in infrastructure have so far totalled six million euros, according to the ZLCA general manager. Specialising in the production of leather covers, Coindu owns two plants in Portugal and has its retail market secured thanks to car or plane makers in Austria, Sweden and France. The company derived sales of 100 million euros in 2003. ZF