Turkey's Giant Sisecam Invests USD 160 M in Bulgarian Flat Glass Producer

This is the biggest greenfield investment in this field in the country.

Prime Minister Simeon Saxe-Coburg held a meeting with Sisecam Vice President Alev Yaraman and General Manager Dogan Arkan on January 13.

The company selected will only be required to have experience in the construction of flat glass producers, said Alev Yaraman, Executive Vice President, Chief Executive Flat Glass at a meeting with Saxe-Coburg.

Purchase activities will start in the spring. The tender documents of the construction companies are currently being prepared.

Sisecam project is an example that the risk of investing in Bulgaria is not unbearably high, Economy Minister Lidiya Shuleva said.

Geological studies of the construction site are soon to be completed. They were given the green light at the end of December last year with a contract signed between Alev Yaraman, Executive Vice President, Chief Executive Flat Glass, and Deputy Prime Minister and Minister Shuleva.

The project encompasses the construction of two factories - a flat glass producer and a glass packing factory. The Bulgarian government will be in charge of building the infrastructure adjacent to the factory.

The new factory is expected to create some 700 new jobs in the town of Targovishte, which is one of the most severely hit by unemployment regions in Bulgaria.

Sisecam holding's daughter company Trakiya, the only producer of flat glass in Turkey, will be in charge of the investment project. The company holds 3% share of the world and 9% share of the European capacity for flat glass production.