NRW.INVEST increases settlements by ten percent

Press release from 18.03.2008

NRW.INVEST increases settlements by ten percent

• State agency publishes 2007 performance record
• 10 percent more settlements than in previous year
• 1,290 new jobs forecast

Düsseldorf, 18 March 2008 – By concentrating on settlement business, NRW.INVEST GmbH was able to increase the number of newly located firms by ten percent to 80 in 2007. The newly acquired investors plan to create a total of 1,290 new jobs. This is almost 32 percent more than in the previous year. By comparison: in 2006, a total of 72 companies with 979 potential jobs settled in NRW.

At the same time, NRW.INVEST succeeded in increasing the number of its potential settlement cases currently being processed by two thirds. "We are satisfied with our balance for 2007; things are definitely developing in the right direction", emphasizes Peter Glaessel, spokesman of the management board. "We expect to see significant increases for the coming years", he adds.

Investors from western Europe continue to be the number one job engine. For example, four different investors from the United Kingdom alone will be creating nearly 170 new jobs in the state. The British Admiral Group opened its German head office AdmiralDirekt.de in Cologne. The third-largest British car direct insurer immediately employed 75 people at its Cologne location. In the mid-term, the company intends to create a further 45 jobs. Wincanton, one of the leading logistics and transport service providers in Europe, expanded its logistics space. To do so, it rented 7,600 m² of logistics space and 600 m² of office space in the ProLogis Park in Krefeld, where Wincanton is creating over 40 jobs.

Yet emerging markets such as China, India or Turkey are also increasing their activities in North Rhine-Westphalia. As a rule, most of the companies concerned are still small firms with a low employment impact. 44 investors from these countries are planning to create around 130 jobs, which is an average of just three jobs per company. "However, it is in these emerging markets that the settlement potential of the future lies. These investor groups are becoming increasingly important as numerous firms are not yet globally oriented", underlines Petra Wassner, managing director of NRW.INVEST. This has also been demonstrated by the first larger investments in North Rhine-Westphalia. One such example is Albonair, part of the multinational Hinduja Group from India, which is planning 50 new jobs in Dortmund. Albonair GmbH will focus on the development, production and sale of exhaust after-treatment systems for environment-friendly diesel engines. Or the Chinese telecommunications company ZTE Corporation, which last year opened its German head office in the state capital Düsseldorf, creating 30 new jobs.

To enrich the service for investors, NRW.INVEST last year added an important information platform to its online offering in the form of the interactive commercial site portal GERMANSITE. Here, investors can select commercial sites according to their specific location requirements and view corresponding portfolios directly. The visual highlight is the link from GERMANSITE, www.germansite.com, to Google Earth which homes in on the commercial sites in the portal and displays them in outline.

Further Info:
Annette Peis, Press and PR
Telefon: +49 (0) 211-130 00 162
E-Mail: Peis@nrwinvest.com

NRW.INVEST GmbH
Economic Development Agency
of the German State of North Rhine-Westphalia
Völklinger Str. 4
40219 Düsseldorf