Wilbur Ross plans to invest in Turkey
Posted by meb at April 22nd, 2008
Billionaire investor Wilbur Ross said he’s looking for a Turkish partner to invest in making automotive parts in the country.
“Turkey is a low-cost place to manufacture and has a number of carmakers there like Peugeot and Ford,” Ross said in an interview in Abu Dhabi yesterday. “We think there would be good auto parts demand there.”
The investment by International Automotive Components Group in Turkey would be a “greenfield” development, building plants to manufacture components such as panels, dashboards and carpets for cars, Ross said. The group recently opened plants in Japan and China and plans another in India in November.
Carmakers including Ford Motor, PSA Peugeot Citroen and Toyota Motor make cars in Turkey for export to Europe, taking advantage of the country’s customs accord with the European Union, and for sale in the nation of 71 million. The government is seeking to attract more foreign investment to balance a widening trade deficit.
Turkey’s parliament passed a law on Feb. 28 granting tax incentives to companies engaging in research and development. The government expects auto and auto-parts makers to increase investment in the country as a result of that legislation, Alpaslan Korkmaz, head of Turkey’s investment promotion agency, said in a March 4 interview.Ross, who said he will be in Turkey this week to discuss the venture, declined to name potential partners or give details of the cost of the planned facility.
source: Bloomberg via Turkish Daily News
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