Engineering group Weir says £70m Malaysia deal will have a direct benefit to the group's UK manufacturing facility in West Yorkshire.

Scottish engineering firm Weir Group is investing £70m in Malaysia, as the World Islamic Economic Forum kicked off in London, the first time the event has been held outside a non-Muslim country. The engineering group's plan to build a new foundry and rubber processing plant in Sendayan Techvalley is the biggest Malaysian investment by a UK company in five years. Weir boss, Keith Cochrane, said the Malaysian deal will have a direct benefit to the group's UK manufacturing facility in West Yorkshire. Keith Cochrane, Weir Group chief executive, said the investment was evidence of the UK's strong relationship with Malaysia and its ability to trade freely with each other. The deal is the biggest Malaysian investment by a UK company in five years. The deal was announced after a meeting between UK Prime Minister David Cameron, the Malaysian Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak and Mr Cochrane. The FTSE 100 company is set to spend the next three years expanding a 55-acre site at Sendayan Techvalley, which is around 70km south-east of the capital Kuala Lumpur.

The new Malaysian campus will include an additional foundry to produce high quality metal castings and a Linatex rubber processing plant for its mining customers. "This expansion demonstrates our confidence in Malaysia as a long-term source of high quality products for our customers around the world," Mr Cochrane said. The rubber expansion in Malaysia will have a direct benefit to Weir's growing UK valve manufacturing facility in Elland, West Yorkshire, the company said. The Weir Group boss said the engineering group's production has more than doubled since its 2010 acquisition of Malaysia-based Linatex and this investment would strengthen its global supply chain capability. Mr Cameron said Weir Group's investment was "another sign of a UK company winning in the global race. The Weir Group are a fine example of Scottish engineering excellence and their expansion highlights the crucial role it plays around the world." The project, which was 12 to 18 months in the making, will grow its Malaysian workforce to more than 1,000 people. Asia-Pacific accounts for more than 10pc of Weir's annual revenues, according to Weir's 2012 results.

By Ashley Armstrong

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