Metinvest to invest $400 mln in EMZ modernization

The Ukrainian Metinvest Holding is to invest $400 million by 2010 into the modernization of production at its EMZ group of enterprises, which comprises Ukrainian steelmaker Enakievsk MZ and Ukrainian-Swiss Company Metalen, the company's steel and finished steel products division director Mr. Igor Koritko said last Friday. The largest part of the current $400 million will be spent on increasing billet production capacity at EMZ. As for the group's finished steel products capacities, Mr. Koritko stated that Metalen does not intend to increase its current capacity of finished steel products but rather is interested in acquiring new finished steel production facilities in Western Europe, the Middle East or North America. The current investment is a part of a $700 million-worth investment program, $300 million of which has already been invested in EMZ's modernization since 2001.