Mayor Ivan Radić said the company applied to a call for the purchase of 33,000 square metres of land, offering €1.1 million, which was more than the estimated value.
IMS Gear's core business is the manufacturing of parts for the auto and other industries, it has factories in Germany, the United States, Mexico and China, employing 3,000 workers, Radić said.
The company plans to invest €6 million in the Osijek project, where it will make parts for auto industry buyers based in Southeast Europe, he added.
Radić said the city began expanding the Nemetin business zone and that it asked the competent ministry to give it another 36 hectares of land, which he expects to occur "soon".
This will be IMS Gear's first production plant in Europe outside Germany, management board member Wolfgang Weber said, adding that they encountered an ambitious city administration which pledged the help necessary to realise the investment.
The company chose Croatia because it is a dynamic EU member state which is also in the euro and Schengen areas, which facilitates doing business, and it chose Osijek because it is strategically located, facilitating access to buyers in Hungary, Serbia, and Bosnia and Herzegovina, Weber said.
Production in Osijek could begin in mid or late 2025, he added.