Electric and wiring accessories factory opened in Zahle

Lebanese and Italian investors have partnered to open Meta Lebanon, a factory for electric and wiring accessories in Zahleh’s industrial zone. It began operating in the first week of May.

Meta Lebanon is a partnership between Italian company Ave Spa (51 percent), and Lebanese A&G Holding. A&G Holding includes several partners that were agents for Ave Spa in the country, such as Maalouf for General Electricity, Yasser Husseini & Co, Technopower, and others.

Investment in the 2,700 square meters (m2) factory is €2.5 million ($2.8 million).

“The Italian company will provide the know-how, and train the local staff,” said Joseph Maalouf, major shareholder at A&G. It is the first factory of its kind in the country, he said.

The factory will have an annual production capacity of 400,000 switches. Its products will be distributed locally and exported to Arab and African countries.

“The Italian partners wanted to expand in the MENA region to fill the gap situated between low-cost Chinese and high-cost and high-quality European products,” Maalouf said. The cost of local labor is lower than that of Italy. They chose Lebanon due to the facilities and incentives that were provided for them, he said.

The factory will create around 60 labor opportunities and 30 administrative opportunities.