Real estate emissaries are poking around northern Illinois on behalf of several European manufacturers that may want to expand.
A state official says at least five site selection firms with European ties have inquired about manufacturing expansions, each project representing 150 to 300 jobs.
“European companies are knocking,” says Jeff Polsean, regional manager of the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity.
“With what’s going on in Greece and Europe with the euro, I think the dollar is more stable. These companies want to balance their portfolio so if things there disintegrate, they have stability in the U.S.”
The prospects include companies involved in metal forming and bending as well as makers of components for heavy equipment, energy and machinery.
Struggles in the Old World
Europe is a big investor in the U.S., and in recent years direct foreign investment by European companies has been rising. The U.S. Commerce Department’s Bureau of Economic Analysis says between 2005 and 2010 - as the global economy boomed, then staggered - investments in the U.S. by European companies rose from $1.2 trillion to $1.7 trillion.
That’s good economic news for the U.S. from a continent where the news these days is mostly grim. Last week, finance ministers from European countries approved a $172 billion bailout package for Greece, an attempt to prevent the country from defaulting and stabilize the euro, but the fate of other eurozone countries - indeed, of the euro itself - is yet unresolved.
The bailout of Greece, its second, prompted the European Union’s executive body to forecast that the economy for the 17-nation eurozone would shrink 0.3% in 2012.
Interest by European companies may signal they’re looking to invest the cash they’ve hoarded to ride out a recession and money in their balance sheets where it has a chance of growing.
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