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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
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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
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