Four projects for Eastern Europe received COFIDES financing in the form of a multi-project joint venture loan worth 12 million euros. This financing, drawn from FIEX resources, is intended to modernise and expand the production capacity of the Grupo CIE plants presently operating in these countries, and more specifically for CIE MATRICON (Romania), CIE LT FORGE (Lithuania), and CIE PLASTY and CIE PRAGA LOUNY (Czech Republic). The total investment associated with these projects comes to nearly 30 million euros and is expected to create 600 local jobs.

CIE is an industrial group with over 65 plants engaging essentially in some area of the automobile industry. The group’s main business is the design, manufacture and sale of automobile components and sub-assemblies for the world-wide market for supplementary automobile technology (aluminium, forged steel, metals and plastic) and a number of related processes (machining, welding, painting and assembly). The group presently has production facilities in Spain, France, Portugal, Czech Republic, Romania, Lithuania, Morocco, Mexico, Brazil and China.

COFIDES has financed several projects undertaken by Grupo CIE in connection with its international expansion strategy. In 2004, drawing on FIEX resources, COFIDES granted the group a 9 million-euro joint venture loan for the company’s Mexican subsidiary, CIE Celaya. Also in 2004, the group received a 3-million euro loan to expand it business in the Czech Republic. With its support for Grupo CIE, COFIDES reiterates its commitment to the automobile industry, an area with high strategic value for the country’s economic interests.