Italcementi Group to invest in three Bulgarian subsidiaries

Italcementi Group will invest $20m in its three subsidiaries in Bulgaria - cement plants Devnya Cement and Vulkan and transport company Lyulyaka, a company official said.  Italcementi Group will invest $20m by 2007 in the upgrade and replacement of cement mills, in safety and environment protection and in diversification of construction mixtures. So far Italcementi Group has intested $160m in Bulgaria, $68m of which in acquisition of production units in the country and the remaining funds in quality standards improvement, environment protection and production upgrades. 

Italcementi Group will focus on boosting energy efficiency of cement plants in Bulgaria. Italcementi has already invested $5.0m in development of coal mills using local coal. The mills process about 200,000t of coal annually cutting costs of fuel import. Italcementi has cement sales terminals in Russe, Kyustendil and Damyanitsa and is to open shortly such terminal in Sofia.