Plant for 32 million euros with 30 thousand square meters area and 2000 employees. This investment record for Pleven has its actual start this week: German giant Leoni makes the symbolic first sod of its Bulgarian plant for assembling electrical wiring installations for cars. The plant to be built by September 2019 will be located in the industrial zone of the city on 1 Grivishko Shose Street. It will have a built-up area of nearly 30,000 square meters, in which will be located production, logistics, administration, dining and service rooms with all the amenities for the staff. But real production will begin as early as the end of the year.

The biggest investment in the city in recent years will be with a co-investor - the real land and the building, which is half of the investment, will be invested by the Pleven construction company "Horizont Ivanov". It will rent the asset to the German company.

Construction start

The construction will be in several stages, Svetoslav Bogalinski, Manager of Business Development at the Horizont Ivanov Construction Company, will be building the plant, according to Leoni. The symbolic first sod will be on 27 September.

Existing premises will be renovated for the production needs - four areas with buildings, each with an approximate area of 5000 sq.m. New buildings of over 10 thousand square meters will be built. In the second one will be located the administration, there will be warehouses and technical premises, explained Bogalinski.

Half of the funds earmarked for the investment are for the design and construction of the long-term tangible asset, ie. for land and buildings. They will be owned by "Horizont Ivanov", who have a contract for their letting to Leoni for a period of 15 years with an option for extension. Part of the site was owned by "Horizont Ivanov", while another will be occupied by purchase.

The German concern will invest 16m euros in machinery, equipment, production lines.

According to the information provided by the German company, the workforce at the plant in Pleven will gradually reach 2000 people, 200 of which will be recruited by January next year. The production will be entirely for Mercedes-Benz, as the company has a huge order for the new C-Class, Leoni announced in the course of choosing the location for its plant last year when presenting its investment plan for Bulgaria.

The plant is expected to be partially open by the end of this year, and in full capacity in 2020, Leoni said in June when it became clear that the production facilities would be built in Pleven.

The Leoni Group is the largest manufacturer in Europe and the fourth in the world of electrical systems and wiring for cars. Over 86,000 people work in 31 countries. In 2017, the company's consolidated sales amounted to € 4.9 billion and a net profit of € 144 million.

Horizont Ivanov - with a chain of factories

"Horizont Ivanov is not only a builder or an investor, but when a foreign company has an interest in investing, we fight for Bulgaria to be choosen, and the investor usually makes a short list, the most attractive are the Balkan countries. Romania, Bulgaria, Macedonia, Serbia, where labor, logistics, the macro-environment, political stability, etc. are the important and determinant factors that influence decision-making, "said Svetoslav Bogalinski. We build, construct and lease. "

The largest project in this model is the newly built Yazaki factory in Dimitrovgrad - an investment of 50 million euros.

The company is currently working on several other major projects. It completes the implementation of a Turkish Sa-ba project, which after a merger in the summer is already part of the Indian Varroc group. The newly built factory at the Yazaki factory in Dimitrovgrad will also produce parts for the automotive industry - headlights, turn signals, etc. A new large scale project is approaching in Russia, the company said.

The name of Horizon Ivanov is connected with the construction of Arena Armeec in Sofia, the production and installation of the metal structure for the new terminal at Sofia Airport, the almost 50-meter tower, representing a 274-ton metal structure, the Olympic fire for the Sochi winter games in 2014, and many more, mainly industrial projects.