- Funds flow into the construction of the world’s most advanced special steel plant
- The EU bank also provides finance for voestalpine’s R&D activities
The European Investment Bank (EIB) is providing a loan of EUR 300m in two tranches to voestalpine AG. The first tranche will be channelled into the construction of a cutting-edge special steel plant in Kapfenberg, Austria. From 2021, the fully digitalised plant will produce around 205 000 tonnes of high-performance steels per year for the international aviation, automotive and energy industries and secure more than 3 000 highly qualified jobs on the site on a long-term basis. The second tranche of the EU loan will be used for the technology group’s research and development programme over a period of three years.
EIB Vice-President responsible for activities in Austria Andrew McDowell stated: “We want to preserve and also create new jobs in Europe’s manufacturing industries. But we can only do this with advanced, highly efficient and innovative facilities that can compete successfully on an international scale. So I very much welcome this cooperation with voestalpine, which is focusing on the construction of a new special steel plant, and also on the research and development work of the company, with which we have already been working together closely and constructively for many years.”
“voestalpine’s global success and growth is based to a large extent on our group’s intensive research and development work. Driving innovation forward always means investing in new developments; the EIB finance will therefore play a key role in our R&D activities over the coming years. The financial resources made available will also make a crucial contribution to the construction of the special steel plant in Kapfenberg, which will set new international standards in digitalisation, product quality and environmental protection,” commented voestalpine AG’s CEO Herbert Eibensteiner.