March 15 (SeeNews) - US-based International Armored Group (IAG) said on Wednesday that it plans to expand its manufacturing capacity in Bulgaria with two plants for armoured vehicles, each commanding an estimated initial investment of 25 million levs ($13.5 million/12.8 million euro).
The company has already lodged investment proposals to acquire land plots for the planned factories in the cities of Blagoevgrad and Plovdiv, IAG said in a press release after the sod-turning ceremony for the construction of its inaugural Bulgarian plant near Burgas.
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IAG expects to be able to acquire the land very soon, it added.
"It is important and much more profitable for Bulgaria is to have its own production and to invest in its own defence. We will contribute to increasing exports, we will introduce innovations in the Bulgarian defence industry and we will train Bulgarian specialists in a growing field of global importance," IAG owner and CEO Anton Stefov said.
The Burgas plant will be IAG's eighth production facility and among the largest armoured vehicles plants in Europe, making vehicles to NATO standards.
IAG announced the 20 million levs investment in the Burgas plant last month. The company is also allocating 2 million levs to install a 1.2 MW rooftop solar array at the facility, it has told SeeNews.
(1 euro = 1.95583 levs)