Annex to contract with "Fiat" signed - property of "Zastava" to become joint venture's property as soon as payment is done

The representatives of the Government of Serbia and Italian "Fiata" signed the annex to the contract today (December 23rd, 2009) for investment in the joint venture for production of automobiles in Kragujevac, which will make "Zastava" a part of that Italian company.

The annex was signed by the Deputy Prime Minister and the Minister of Economy of Serbia, Mlađan Dinkić, the Vice President of "Fiat" Group, Alfredo Altavilla, and the Director General of joint venture "Fiat automobili Srbija", Giovanni de Filippis.

After he signed the contract, Dinkić said that "Fiat" had issued the order for payment of the founding capital of 98m EUR for the joint venture and that the money was expected to be on the account on December 29th. He added that 2m EUR had been paid earlier.

He said that the state would transfer the property of "Zastava" to the joint venture as soon as the payment was done.

The annex to the contract, as Dinkić explained, anticipates investments of 700m EUR in new equipment and modernization of the factory whose annual production capacity is 200,000 vehicles, as well as production of two new models of automobiles in Kragujevac, which will be "launched" in the second half of year 2011.

Altavilla said that "Fiat" would pay the second part of the founding capital of 100m EUR for the joint venture in 2010.