Imerys will invest 20 mln euros per annum
France’s Imerys Group announced on Wednesday it will continue to invest 20 million euros a year in Greece, having already contributed more than 120 million euros to the country’s economy after its acquisition of S&B Industrial Minerals in 2014 and Elmin Bauxites this year.
Gilles Michel, chairman and chief executive officer of the minerals group, confirmed Imerys’s commitment to investing in Greece at a press conference in Athens, but admitted that the country risk was great for the company.
“It is true that we were very concerned about our investment in Greece with the imposition of the capital controls in June 2015, but after two years Greece is leaving its difficulties behind and we are planning for new investments in your country, concerning also the creation of a research and development center.”
Imerys, the world’s leading group in specialized minerals, employs some 1,000 people in Greece, after paying approximately 800 million euros to acquire S&B from Ulysses Kyriakopoulos, who now owns 5 percent of the French group, and Elmin Bauxites.
