2 Spanish-Russian automotive industry joint ventures to be launched in Kaluga

KALUGA, July 13 (Itar-Tass) -- Two Spanish-Russian automotive industry
joint ventures, Gestamp-Severstal-Kaluga and Severstal-Gonvarri-Kaluga,
will be launched in the Kaluga-based Grabtsevo industrial park on Tuesday.
The joint venture Gestamp-Severstal-Kaluga, the majority stake in
which is owned by Gestamp corporation of Spain, will manufacture car body
pieces for a Volkswagen Group Rus plant operating in Kaluga since October
2009. The plant assembles Volkswagen, Skoda Octavia, and Skoda Fabia cars
adapted to Russia's climate and roads. The Gestamp-Severstal-Kaluga
venture's production line includes a complete cycle of metal-roll
processing from rolls to car elements. Investments in the venture stood at
approximately 89 million euros.
Within the same project, a service metal centre will also be launched
to provide services to the automotive industry and other industrial
sectors, such as electrical industry and construction. A total of 40
million euros were invested in this project with the expected capacity of
170,000 tons of rolled metal a year.
The two new companies will offer more than 200 new jobs.
The Grabtsevo techno park with an area of 730 hectares is located
within Kaluga's city limits near a motor way linking the Moscow-Kiev and
Kaluga-Tula highways. One of the park's sites is allocated to implement
the A-Park project of the Magna company to manufacture front pieces,
bumpers, and car mirrors. The Kaluga regional government has signed a
contract with Benteler AG to set up the production of suspension for
Kaluga-manufactures Volkswagen cars. The total volume of investments is
expected to reach 18 million euros.
Apart from this, Berlin-Chemie-Menarini has launched a project for the
construction of a full-cycle pharmaceutical plant on the park's territory.
Denmark's Novo Nordisk, a world leader in diabetes treatment, plans to
build a hi-tech insulin production facility.
-0-ras