Bekaert opens new Dramix® plant in Orotina, Costa Rica

Mr Luis Guillermo Solís, President of Costa Rica, visited the new Bekaert Dramix® plant in Costa Rica, where he was hosted by Mr Matthew Taylor, Chief Executive Officer of Bekaert and the Regional Bekaert Management Team. The President was accompanied by Mr Mora, Minister of Foreign Trade Affairs and representatives of the Government of Costa Rica.

Orotina, Costa Rica, 26-8-2014 — /EuropaWire/ — The inauguration ceremony that took place last Friday was attended by Mrs Montero Jiménez, Mayor of Orotina, several diplomatic, governmental and business association representatives, the members of the Board of Directors of Bekaert Costa Rica SA, and key customers and business contacts.

Bekaert Costa Rica SA manufactures Dramix® steel fibers for the construction sector. Dramix® is a Bekaert designed and patented steel fiber for the reinforcement of concrete in industrial flooring and building projects, as well as in infrastructure applications such as tunnels and mine shafts. Bekaert took the decision to invest in a Dramix® manufacturing platform in Costa Rica to serve infrastructure and construction markets in the Americas.

Matthew Taylor, Chief Executive Officer of Bekaert, commented: “Establishing a foothold in Costa Rica is consistent with our strategy of investing in markets with growth perspectives. This location is excellent as an export hub to both North and Latin America, where we expect continued growth opportunities for advanced solutions serving the construction markets. We highly appreciate the Government’s commitment in providing support and guidance to investors. This has been demonstrated in all phases of Bekaert’s investment projects in Costa Rica, and by the visit of the President and the Minister, which was a great honor to our company.”

Pictures of the event: www.bekaert.com : about us – press & media – image library

Bekaert in Costa Rica
Bekaert has two operations in Costa Rica: on 30 April 2014, Bekaert acquired, through the Bekaert Ideal Holding (a 80/20 partnership between Bekaert and its Ecuadorian partners, represented by members of the Kohn family), 73% of the Orotina-based steel wire activity of ArcelorMittal who retains 27%. The new Dramix® activity in Costa Rica has been established with the same shareholders’ structure and will serve customers in North and Latin American infrastructure and construction markets.

Bekaert and Bekaert in Latin America
Bekaert (www.bekaert.com) is a world market and technology leader in steel wire transformation and coatings. Bekaert (Euronext Brussels: BEKB) is a global company with headquarters in Belgium, employing 27 000 people worldwide.

Serving customers in 120 countries, Bekaert pursues sustainable profitable growth in all its activities and generated combined sales of € 4.1 billion in 2013.

Bekaert’s activities in Latin America go back to 1950. Today, they represent close to 40% of combined sales. They include the partnership with ArcelorMittal in Brazil, Ecuador and Costa Rica, the subsidiaries under the Bekaert Ideal Holding in partnership with the Ecuadorian partners (represented by members of the Kohn family) in Ecuador, Venezuela, Colombia, and Costa Rica, and those within the partnership (partners represented by members of the families Matetic, Conrads and Gallofré) in Chile and Peru. At present, Bekaert employs close to 8000 people in the region.

Corporate Press Contact
Katelijn Bohez
T +32 56 23 05 71

Regional Press Contact
Ignacio B. Solís
T +506 88 37 15 36
www.bekaert.com