PLOIESTI, ROMANIA-Belgium-based Alinso’s Romanian unit Allianso Business Park has signed a contract with Texas oil industry equipment and services company Lufkin Industries, to sell a 33-hectare plot in Ploiesti West Park on which it plans to build a $126m manufacturing facility. It is Lufkin’s largest investment in Europe and a major transaction in the central European industrial equipments sector.

Alinso is developing Ploiesti in a joint venture with Petrica Usurelu, founder of the Piritex Group; they plan to invest $989 million over six years. Allianso Business Park delivered a 323,000-square-foot warehouse to Unilever last April, and a new 215,000-square-foot logistics building will be available by late September.

Ivan Lokere, Alinso CEO, said the fact it found two strong tenants within a year shows Ploiesti was the right choice of location. The Lufkin investment will give new economic dynamics to Prahova County and to the Ploiesti industrial area, establishing Ploiesti West as a base for industrial firms.