EDB investment scheme

EDB investment scheme

SINGAPORE (AFP): The Economic Development Board (EDB) has
stepped up co-investments with multinationals and local firms
with a commitment of S$227.6 million (US$162 million) in 1996,
officials said yesterday.

The EDB, tasked with attracting investments and encouraging
pioneer ventures by sharing the risks with private companies,
administers an investment pool of US$1.3 billion under the
Cluster Development Fund program.

The 1996 investments account for nearly half the $483.4
million so far committed to 15 projects since the program was
launched in 1993, according to an EDB statement.

The funds have been invested in Singapore projects as well as
regional projects of Singapore-based companies, including
multinationals, as part of the city-state's efforts to develop an
external wing to its economy.

The 1996 investments in seven projects included commitments to
co-invest in a plant here to be set up by Swiss group Lonza, an
advanced semiconductor plant here with Hitachi Ltd. and Nippon
Steel Corp. of Japan, and a semiconductor plant in southeastern
China's Suzhou industrial park with Hitachi.