July 29^th

Philippines based company IMI announced in Nis on July 30, that it would start building a facility for the production of electronic car components in the Lozni Kalem location in Niska Banja in August. Eric de Candido, Managing Director of IMI Bulgaria, pointed out that the 12,000-m2 facility would be completed in July 2018.

“The production facilities in the location will be built in three stages. The second one will entail the construction of a 8,000-m2 facility, and a facility with 4,000 square meters will be built in the third stage”, De Candido said at the Nis City House, at the official handing over of the building permit for the Lozni Kalem location. De Candido stated that more than 1,500 people would work in the facilities in Niska Banja in the next ten years. According to him, the production of electronic car parts in the new facility would meet all the requirements of the European Union.

Minister of Economy Goran Knezevic pointed out that 1,250 people would work in IMI Serbia as soon as July 2018. Mayor of Nis Darko Bulatovic pointed out that the local self-government had made maximum efforts in order for IMI to get a building permit as soon as possible.

July 29^th

The leading European producer of cables and cable systems for the automotive and other industries, Leoni, opened its third factory in Serbia on Saturday, July 29, 2017, in Nis, in the presence of President Aleksandar Vucic. The value of the investment is EUR 22 million, and the factory will employ 2,200 people. By pressing a button, Vucic initiated the first phase of the production in the new factory. The factory, which takes up over 22,000 square meters, will produce cable sets for BMW cars.

Leoni has been present in Serbia since 2009, when the BMW cable system factory in Prokuplje started operating. In 2013, a factory for the production of car cables for Land Rover and Jaguar opened in Malosiste near Doljevac. The total value of Leoni’s investments in Serbia so far amounts to EUR 75 million, and the newly raised factory in Nis will soon turn Leoni into the biggest employer in the production sector in Serbia with nearly 8,000 employees.

“Our goal is not just to be the biggest employer in Serbia, but to be the best employer – said Clemens Sachs”, director of Leoni in Serbia.

In the first quarter of the current year, the Leoni Group had net revenues of EUR 33.6 million, three times as much as in the corresponding period of 2016. Leoni is a global producer of wirings, optical fibers, cables and cable systems and similar components for the automotive industry and other related industries. The company has around 80,000 employees in 90 factories in 32 countries. Last year, Leoni had sales revenues of EUR 4.4 billion. The company was founded in 1917 in Nuremberg and is celebrating its 100th anniversary this year.

The official ceremony of putting the factory into operation was also attended by Minister of Economy Goran Knezevic, Clemens Sachs, executive vice president of Leoni, Ralf Maus, standing deputy ambassador of Germany, Alexander Jung, president of the Chamber of Commerce of Serbia, Marko Cadez, and Mayor of Nis Darko Bulatovic.