Spain-based CIE Automotive secures US$56.2-million financing for expansion plans in Mexico

11 March, 2019

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Compañía Española de Financiación del Desarrollo (Cofides), a development bank comprised of public and private funds that supports the internationalization of Spanish companies, announced it has granted a 50-million euros credit line (around US$56.2 million at current exchange rate) to automotive supplier CIE Automotive for investment plans in Mexico.

The President and CEO of COFIDES, José Luis Curbelo, and the CIE Automotive CEO, Jesús Maria Herrera, signed the financing agreements at the COFIDES headquarters in Madrid in the presence of the Minister of Industry, Trade and Tourism, Reyes Maroto, and of the President of CIE, Antón Pradera.

The financing will be made through three co-investment loans charged to the own resources of COFIDES and the FIEX, which COFIDES exclusively manages on behalf of the Secretary of State for Trade. Thus, COFIDES will provide 50 of the more than 75 million euros of total investment required by the projects.

According to a statement, 21 million euros (US$23.6 million) will be allocated for the execution of new projects at CIE Celaya, one of the six plants the company operates in Celaya, Guanajuato. The facility is dedicated to metal stamping and high-pressure aluminum die casting. It was with this plant that CIE Automotive began its activity in Mexico in 2003, when it also had the support of COFIDES.

Another 18.5 million euros (US$20.8 million) will be allocated to CIE Pemsa, a plant specializing in production processes of stamping, assembly and painting, and 10.5 million euros (US$11.8 million) to CIE Nugar, located in Tultitlán, State of Mexico, dedicated to stamping and assembly. With these investments, CIE Automotive will be able to expand the capacity of these plants and meet the demands of new customers.

COFIDES and CIE Automotive have collaborated since 2004 in various projects to support the group’s international strategy in Mexico, the Czech Republic, Lithuania and Romania.

The President of COFIDES, José Luis Curbelo, stressed that CIE Automotive is committed to R&D in order to develop innovative and efficient products that place the Spanish automotive sector in positions of global leadership and respond to the interests and new demands of the market. In addition, he added that “the group’s international growth favors its competitiveness at the same time as it contributes to the creation of quality employment”.

“In a context of diversification of the Group’s funding sources, we thank COFIDES for its firm commitment to the CIE project, facilitating this funding for the expansion and modernization of our productive capacity in Mexico, and ultimately reinforcing the competitiveness of the Spanish automotive industry in a global sector like this one,” said Jesús Maria Herrera, CEO of CIE Automotive.

CIE Automotive is an industrial group specialized in high added value processes based in Bilbao. It is a global supplier of components and sub-assemblies for the automotive market that offers a business model based on the diversification of technologies, customers and geographies, which gives it a unique positioning and allows it to supply a wide variety of products to diverse customers located in the main world markets. The group has 98 production plants in 17 countries and employs more than 23,000 people.

In Mexico, the group operates 10 plants in Mexico with six of those located in Celaya, Guanajuato; two in Tultitlán, State of Mexico and two production sites in the State of Coahuila in the municipalities of Saltillo and Ramos Arizpe respectively.

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