May 16 (SeeNews) - Croatian food, beverages and drug producer Podravka [ZSE:PODR-R-A] said on Tuesday it has opened a 530 million kuna ($79 million/71.3 million euro) factory for its drug making unit Belupo in the northern city of Koprivnica.
The new production lines will boost Belupo's capacity by 150% to 100 million packets of medicines annually, Podravka said in a statement on its website.
The new factory has two production units - for solid drug forms, and for semi-solid and liquid forms.
Belupo own funds covered 45% of the costs for the construction of the new plant, and the remainder was financed with a loan from the Croatian Bank for Reconstruction and Development.
The construction of the pharmaceutical plant, which is among the largest greenfield investments in Croatia, took four years.
Apart from the 1,386 people Belupo currently employs, the new plant will create jobs for an additional 200 people.
Belupo books some 46% of its sales revenue on the domestic market, and the remainder on 16 foreign markets. The drug maker's revenues account for almost 25% of Podravka's consolidated income.
(1 euro=7.42965 kuna)