Just in from Business Spectator:
Coca-Cola Amatil Ltd and the Victorian Government have announced a new $100 million investment plan to assist the future of SPC Ardmona and the Goulburn Valley.
Under the plan Coca-Cola will invest $78 million into SPC Ardmona, while the Victorian Government will invest $22 million over three years.
The Victorian Government’s participation is conditional upon the entering into of formal legal documentation which will set out the investment milestones upon which the financial assistance will be provided.
Conditions of the agreement include employment being maintained at a minimum level of 500 Full Time Equivalent (FTE) employees for three years and the refund of all payments
made under the agreement should SPCA cease business operations at Shepparton within five years of the agreement with the Victorian Government…The total combined $100 million package will be invested over a three year period into efficiency measures and innovation at SPC Ardmona, Coca-Cola said…
The decision to save the Goulburn Valley’s biggest employer will ensure that thousands of manufacturing and horticultural jobs are not lost. It is also a politically expedient move by the State Government, which faces an election later this year and is facing fallout from the closure of the Australian automotive assembly industry, which is set to hit Victoria particularly hard.
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