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Fitesa Announcement
The Laurens County Development Corporation today announced that Fitesa, a Brazilian non-woven company which announced last October that it would locate a facility in Owing Industrial Park, will not locate in the county. Marvin Moss, Executive Director of the Development Corporation, said company officials informed him that as a result of the soft financial markets in the upstate, the company could not find a financial institution that would finance a portion of their project. They began to explore joint venture possibilities with Fiberweb earlier this year and a proposal is currently being considered by both boards.
Moss was told that the two companies have reviewed options to increase production in the Americas and that Fiberweb has available space in Simpsonville, Mexico and Washington. Putting the production into one of the existing facilities is the best financial option instead of building a new facility in Owings Industrial Park. “Naturally we are very disappointed that Fitesa is not coming to the county” Moss said. “But we understand the difficulty that companies are facing with financing projects in today’s environment”.
Fitesa is not the only company that has been impacted by the downturn in the US economy. Dunkin Donut, Greenlight Biodiesel and All-American Log Homes have all delayed their projects after announcing their intent to build facilities in the county. As the economy improves Moss expects to see these projects renew their interest in building facilities in the county.
