Bulletin 428 - Friday, July 10, 2009

Coahuila, Mexico,- Doubling to US$100 million the initial US$50 million investment announced in 2007, the Chinese company Golden Dragon formally started yesterday the pre-operations stage in their production line, creating more than 900 jobs; 200 workers are already being trained. The Plant's kickoff was announced by the President of Golden Dragon Mexico, Zuehai Zhu, before Governor Humberto Moreira Valdes, City Mayoress Herminia Martinez, Jorge Alanis, Minister of Economic Foster, Emilio Cadena, Grupo PRODENZA President, Tereso Medina Ramírez, General Secretary of Coahuila Workers Union - CTM and Marcos Duran, Economic Promotion Vice-minister. Zuehai Zhu informed that Golden Dragon will supply high-technology copper pipes to the most demanding markets and they have therefore invested more than US$50 million in state-of-the-art technology, which will allow offering a job to more than 900 people, of which 200 are currently being trained. He announced that this plant will produce more than 70 thousand tons of copper pipes.

Source: Vanguardia

Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua,- Government signed an economic commitments and fiscal incentives package so that the Asian Company Foxconn generates seven thousand new jobs for their manufacturing processes in the next few months, Jose Reyes Ferriz, City Mayor informed. Mayor Reyes Ferriz said that in order to alleviate the effects of the economic crisis and problems caused by unemployment and technical stoppages in some companies here, the Municipal Government decided to enter an agreement with Foxconn to create seven thousand jobs in addition to the five thousand it has generated up to now. Mr. Reyes Ferriz said that another company - which name was not disclosed - announced they would generate five thousand new jobs, which will help sort crisis out. "We would then have close to 17 thousand new jobs", he said.

Source: El Financiero

Washington,- Lear Corporation, manufacturer of automobile components, filed today for bankruptcy in the United States and Canada, after its restructure plan was approved by creditors and bondholders. Lear had already announced last July 1st they were planning to file for bankruptcy after reaching a provisional agreement with most members of creditors managing committees and bondholders about debt restructure. "Since then, the Company has received the support to their restructure plan from other creditors and bondholders and has reached agreements with creditors representing 68% of the guaranteed amount and bondholders representing 50% of the principal amount", the Company informed. Lear subsidiaries outside the United States and Canada are not included in the bankruptcy. Bob Rossiter, President, expressed in a press release his satisfaction with the solid support granted by creditors and bondholders to the debt restructure plan.

Source: El Diario

Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua,- Flextronics, manufacturer of Lego toys, will manufacture in one of their local plants flat screen TVs for an important Korean brand. The new operation will start in the next few weeks and will generate around one thousand direct jobs. According to one of Flextronics' local executives - which asked his name were not disclosed - the units will be produced in Plant 1. Pilot runs are currently underway. TVs to be produced by Flextronics here will be 19 to 37 inches, to be sold in all countries in North, Central and South America. This new business line was obtained thanks to the advantages offered by Flextronics here, such as application of lean manufacture systems with excellent results, flexibility, qualified labor, speed to change lines and location.

Source: El Diario

Mexico,- Nine years after establishing in Mexico, Quest Software keeps putting its money on this country, and they are now planning to double its facilities' space, increasing its labor force by 10% and keeping its operations growing at a 30% pace as in the last few years. In this way, the plans of this US company in IT field include expanding their offices located in World Trade Center in Mexico City, which will also provide for an expansion in Quest activities in the next five years. They are also planning to keep their Mexican subsidiary as the first one in Latin America, after being first in sales in the region in three of the last four years, leaving its Brazilian par five or ten points back. Quest will continue investing in Mexico, mainly in Customer Service Area, because in Mexico its customers include around 700 large corporations and almost one thousand 500 small and medium companies.

Source: El Financiero

Colon, Queretaro, Mexico,- With an investment of MEP$45 million (almost US$3.5 million), and with great logistics impact, the first air cargo terminal was inaugurated in Queretaro International Airport, which will allow relieving bottlenecks in Mexico City. In spite of the 50% drop in air cargo, this complex was built to offer airlines and service purveyors an alternative to quickly import and export goods, because currently few states have an air cargo terminal, such as Mexico City, Nuevo Leon, Jalisco and Puebla. Luis Felipe Rivas Villanueva, General Director for Terminal Logistics, pointed-out that benefits will primarily be for the region, because instead of taking to and/or picking up cargo in Mexico City, states such as Guanajuato, Queretaro, San Luis Potosi and Hidalgo will not depend on Mexico City Airport anymore.

Source: El Mural

Guadalajara, Mexico,- The US$500 million investment planned by the French Company Eurocopter to be made in Jalisco has been ruled out and new contestants are Nuevo Leon and Guanajuato, where Eurocopter new helicopters assembly plant could be established. According to sources close to the project, Eurocopter ruled out Jalisco after considering the competitive advantages offered by the other states. The sources revealed that in the case of Nuevo Leon, for example, they have a much more developed aeronautics cluster, in addition to its proximity to the United States, a market where they are pursuing a stronger presence. In Jalisco, five companies make up aeronautics sector. Jalisco was also excluded from the investment by the US Corporation Triumph Group, manufacturer of spare parts and components for airplanes. This Company decided last March their manufacturing plant should be established in the State of Zacatecas, where they are planning to invest around US$20 million in two years. These facilities, the first in the recently inaugurated Zacatecas Aerospace Park, could offer job to around 400 workers by 2011.

Source: El Norte