Motorola to buy Slovak telecom equipment producer

Bratislava, July 3: Motorola Inc will sign a contract with the Slovak government next Wednesday to buy troubled telecommunications equipment producer Tesla Piestany, the economics ministry said on Friday.

Ministry spokeswoman Eleonora Pernicka said that Motorola would be the first company to be granted a 10-year tax holiday under a new exemption for foreign investors.

"The Slovak government fulfilled Motorola’s requirements and Motorola agreed to all conditions set in the government measure on tax holidays. The signature of the contract is planned for next Wednesday," Pernicka said.

The price of the deal was not immediately available. The US Electronics company is expected to export goods worth more than 800 million crowns ($22.9 million) from the factory currently owned by Tesla Piestany, which is in bankruptcy proceedings. Last month, the Slovak government approved a new measure on tax holidays, effective from the beginning of July, in an attempt to attract foreign investment and boost the country’sailing exports. The measure stipulates that any foreign company asking for tax holidays must spend one billion crowns on buying "investment property" in Slovakia.