wiredInUSA June 2018

Fourth Serbian operation

Stainless transaction

Image: www.leoni.com

Image: www.outokumpu.com

German auto cable and harness producer Leoni AG has announced a fourth plant in Serbia. In April 2018 Leoni formally opened the second phase of its third development at Niš in southern Serbia. The Leoni Wiring Systems plant, producing wire harnesses for an unnamed premium car maker, currently employs a 1,200 strong workforce. The company has now revealed it will start work this summer on the site of its fourth facility, in the central Serbian city of Kraljevo, where it will produce cables for Mercedes cars. According to Clemens Sachs, managing director of Leoni’s Serbian operations, this new facility will represent the biggest investment that Leoni has yet made in Serbia. It will cover an area of 45,000m 2 and employ between 4,000 and 5,000 workers. The planned site is north of Leoni’s concentrationof operations in southeastern Serbia. The firm’s original plant, established in 2009, was at Prokuplje while a second unit was opened five years later in nearby Malošište. The third plant at Niš is located slightly further north of these facilities. When Leoni completes its planned Kraljevo facility, the company is expected to become Serbia’s largest manufacturing employer with over 11,000 employees.

Outokumpu and Sandvik have signed an agreement for Outokumpu to take full ownership of the Fagersta Stainless wire rod mill in Sweden. Fagersta Stainless is currently a 50/50 joint venture between Outokumpu and Sandvik Materials Technology. Fagersta Stainless manufactures and distributes special stainless steel wire rod. In 2017, the company’s stainless steel deliveries amounted to 52,000 tonnes. Fagersta’s wire rod range complements the production by Outokumpu’s ASR wire rod mill in Sheffield, UK, and Outokumpu plans to further develop both units. The transaction will be executed in two phases, with Outokumpu’s ownership increasing to 90 percent at the end of June 2018, and to 100 percent at the end of 2019. Completion of the transaction is subject to the customary closing conditions.

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wiredInUSA - June 2018