Italy’s Antonio Merloni is planning to open a plant that will produce Ardo washing machines in the Ukrainian city of Ivano-Frankivsk in October 2007, Roman Tkach, head of the Ivano-Frankivsk regional administration, said at a local government meeting on Thursday.
Antonio Merloni has already invested 51 million euros in building and equipping the plant, he said.
Tkach also said the company plans to start producing freezers and refrigerators in the region.
The Ivano-Frankivsk plant will have capacity to produce 800,000- 900,000 washing machines per year. The plant is expected to produce about 200,000 units in the first year, about 300,000-400,000 units in the second and then will gradually reach full capacity.
The plant will produce the new line of Ardo washing machines. About 20% of the washing machines will be sold in Ukraine, while the rest will be delivered to European countries.
Antonio Merloni purchased a controlling stock holding in the Ivita plant from the Nord Group in 2003 and created the company Ukrainian Domestic Appliances Ltd. on its core.