Washington, D.C., July 27, 2010—IFC,
a member of the World Bank Group, will provide a $25 million loan to WEG,
a Brazilian high-efficiency electric motor manufacturer, to help build
a greenfield manufacturing plant in Hosur, India, creating new jobs and
bolstering India’s manufacturing capacity.
The new plant will have a capacity of
about 250 high- and medium-voltage motors and generators a year and will
generate direct employment for more than 250 people. Since 2004,
WEG has exported motors and generators manufactured in Brazil to the Indian
market, and the plant is one of its most significant investments outside
of Latin America to date.
Harry Schmelzer Jr., Executive President
of WEG, said, “This investment is a big step forward in WEG’s international
strategy. The new Hosur plant will improve the international distribution
capacity of the company’s products, and will improve production capacity
in selected markets. It also will build on the manufacturing structures
we already have in place in Brazil, Argentina, Mexico, Portugal, and China;
cementing our position as one of the biggest players in the world market
of industrial electrical products.”
In view of India’s massive infrastructure
requirements, the country needs to ramp up its capacity to manufacture
components essential to strengthening the local supply chain for infrastructure
development. The motors and generators produced by WEG will be used
across a wide range of applications in India, including irrigation, water
distribution, wastewater treatment systems, and power generation and transportation
systems.
The WEG motors are among the more energy
efficient available in their respective classes and operation of the motors
in a given year reduces carbon emissions when compared to existing machinery
or installation of comparable equipment.
Dimitris Tsitsiragos, IFC Director for
Global Manufacturing and Services, said, “WEG is bringing high value-added
manufacturing into a new market, and for a product which is an important
building block in infrastructure and irrigation projects. In addition
to creating employment and transferring technology, the South-South origin
of the investment contributes to diversifying India’s sources of foreign
investment.”
About IFC
IFC, a member of the World Bank Group,
is the largest global development institution focused on the private sector
in developing countries. We create opportunity for people to escape poverty
and improve their lives. We do so by providing financing to help businesses
employ more people and supply essential services, by mobilizing capital
from others, and by delivering advisory services to ensure sustainable
development. In a time of global economic uncertainty, our new investments
climbed to a record $18 billion in fiscal 2010. For more information, visit
www.ifc.org.
About WEG
WEG is a Brazil-based multinational
company founded in 1961. WEG manufactures capital goods equipment and is
among the largest manufacturers of electrical and electronic equipment
in the world, producing electric motors, generators, transformers and electronic
and electro-mechanical command and control devices. For more information,
visit www.weg.net.