Montante Group to start building its plant in January

Montante Group is going to build a plant, an initial investment estimated at EUR 10 million, in the Skopje industrial zone this coming January. The facility is expected to be completed in late May or June 2016 after which equipment will be installed and staff will be trained.

A contract for execution of the investment was signed Tuesday in Skopje by Claudia Nidro, a representative of the Italian company, and Viktor Mizo – director of the Directorate for Industrial and Development Zones.

The plant will be built in several stages on a location covering an area of 49,000 square meters. 100 people are set to be hired in the first stage after being trained to work with high technology.

“We have decided to complete this investment not only because of the assistance provided by the country, but also because of how the government treats all the companies that invest here,” Montante Group CEO Antonio Montante stated after the signing ceremony.

Montante, who met with Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski earlier in the day, said one of the reasons prompting the company to invest in Macedonia was the fact that a support would be offered during the research process.

“We were close to investing in another country, but thanks to the Directorate of Industrial and Development Zones and the attractive conditions we have been offered, we decided to come in Macedonia. To construct a plant in Macedonia is not an easy investment for the state, it is a positive know-how impact,” Montante said adding it involved high technology production.

The investment was previously announced several months ago. The Italian CEO thanked the Macedonian government for the support and vowed to bring new investors in Macedonia.

EUR 10 million are planned to be invested in the first stage with 100 people being employed. The number is expected to rise to 350-400 in the advancing stages, according to Viktor Mizo.

“The Italian company will manufacture a sophisticated state-of-the-art product and it is expected export to be over EUR 30 million annually in the beginning,” stated Mizo adding it would contribute to improving the economic and trade balance of the country further.

Montante Group is one of the three companies in Europe that produces state-of-the-art shock absorbers for industrial and railway vehicles. It has already registered a company in Macedonia with the name Europe Shock Absorbers.

The Turin-based Montante Group is a multinational company with 2,300 employees and an annual turnover of 800 million euros.