Michelin to reveal South Carolina investment this afternoon

ERJ staff report (TB)

Greenville, South Carolina -- Michelin North America (MNA) Inc. is planning a major investment in South Carolina and will disclose details of the project later today.

Michelin declined to discuss details of the plan before the press conference, scheduled for 10 a.m. local time (16:00 in Frankfurt & Paris) April 10 at Michelin headquarters in Greenville. MNA Chairman and President Pete Selleck will make the announcement, which the tyre maker described as its biggest investment in the past decade.

In February it came to light that officials in Anderson County, South Carolina-where Michelin has two rubber-mixing/calendering facilities and more than 900 employees-were pitching the tyre maker with an investment incentive package known as “Project Cougar.”

The package would provide tax relief and other incentives for creating at least 125 jobs and investing a minimum of $150 million, according to descriptions of the program. The incentives scale up with greater investment and more jobs.

At that time Michelin declined to comment on its plans, saying: “Incentives such as those being considered by Anderson County pave the way for the potential of future investments down the road. While Michelin routinely considers a variety of business opportunities, we have nothing to announce at this time.”

Since then South Carolina media have reported on a number of other state and local agencies coming forward with investment incentive packages of their own.

Besides the rubber mixing plants in Anderson County, Michelin has four tyre plants, its headquarters, research-and-development campus and a test track, employing another 6,000-plus in South Carolina.

Overall, MNA operates 18 plants in 16 locations throughout the continent, employing 22,270 and generating $7.25 billion in annual sales, according to company information.

Anderson County is just southwest of Greenville, about halfway between Atlanta and Charlotte, N.C. Interstate 85 runs through it.

Michelin at the moment is in the midst of a $200 million, two-year expansion at its passenger/light truck tyre plant in Lexington, South Carolina, to boost capacity, primarily for larger diameter performance tyres for SUVs and crossovers.

From Tire Business (A Crain publication)