Austria’s Gerlinger Holding is the new owner of Serbia’s Mitros meat processing plant, promising to invest €16 million in new equipment and hire 360 workers in the first stage, with production expected to start in early July.
Gerlinger Holding's long-term goal is to invest €20 million in the factory, hire more than 1,000 workers and export its products to China and Russia.
At the official ceremony, Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vu?i? said that he believes that Gerlinger Holding will cooperate with Germany's Toennies, whose representatives are already looking for land in Serbia to build pig farms on, which he said would give another boost to production at Mitros.
For his part, Gerlinger Holding owner, Johann Gerlinger, said that Serbia is the ideal place for investments because it has raw materials, but also meets the other required preconditions. He pledged that his company will introduce European production standards and help Mitros regain the glory that it had in the former Yugoslavia.
Established in the 1950s, Mitros Meat Industry was a leader in former Yugoslavia's meat processing industry for many years, with a workforce of 1,250. Swisslion Takovo became the owner of the factory following the first privatization in 2005, but Mitros went into bankruptcy four years later, when it had 150 employees.
A further two unsuccessful sales followed, after which the creditors' committee of Mitros accepted in January a €800.000 Gerlinger Holding offer to sell the industrial slaughterhouse and can factory.
The Austrian company has production plants in Hungary and Romania, which employ around 800 people, and exports products to the EU and Russia. Mitros is its third plant, and it has been announced that its output will be the highest in the company.
