On 30 April 2013, on an official ceremony held at the Ministry of Economy, Energy and Tourism, Minister Asen Vasilev handed the investment certificate Class A to the company "Behr-Hella Thermocontrol" Ltd. This was a milestone in the one-year efforts of the experts of the InvestBulgaria Agency (IBA) to attract the German company in Bulgaria and marked the beginning of the launch phase of production. This is the second certified project in the the automotive industry this year, after the German producer of locking systems for cars Witte Automotive, that also received in February Class A certificate for its project for a new plant in Ruse.
Bulgaria was chosen as the next location of BHTC in strong competition with Romania, Serbia and Macedonia, as well as countries from Central Europe. The representatives and management of the company’s headquarter in the town of Lippstadt, Michael von Butlar and Alexander Uzunov said that BHTC has chosen Bulgaria, because they have received support from InvestBulgaria Agency and the Ministry of Economy, Energy and Tourism, as well as from local authorities, technical universities and the President of the Republic Bulgaria. Among the advantages of our country have been identified also the qualified workforce, together with favorable investment environment and investment incentives.
The new plant will be built in the industrial zone Bozhurishte. The project envisages that for the next five years in Bozhurishte will be invested 42.5 million BGN and about 350 new jobs will be created.
Behr-Hella Thermocontrol was established in 1999 as a joint venture between Behr GmbH & Co. and Hella KGaA Hueck & Co. The company is a leading manufacturer of air conditioners and cooling systems for automotive manufacturers such as Bentley, Lamborghini, Ferrari, BMW, Mercedes, Porsche and others. Currently, the company employs over 1,500 people and its turnover in 2012 reached 333 million. BHTC has subsidiaries in Germany, USA, China and India, as well as R&D and commercial center in Japan.