Strategically located in the center of Europe, Belgium contains a powerful infrastructure and serves as residence to the main decisional bodies of the European Union. Equipped with these location features, Belgium offers prime opportunities for companies seeking optimal sites for distribution activities or a European headquarters location.
Belgium has established a fiscal framework to encourage foreign investment. Any company, domestic or foreign, is able to obtain a binding decision from authorities about the taxes prior to a particular investment project. Such a ruling gives the investor legal security regarding the tax treatment of its investment project and facilitates the planning.
The regions of Belgium are responsible for approving financial incentives to expanding companies. In most cases, the incentive is granted as either an interest rebate, a capital premium or a combination of both, depending on whether the project is financed by a loan, self-financing or a combination of both.
The systems differ slightly from one region to another depending on the relative weight of the factors that are taken into account by granting aid, including the number of jobs created, the increased value-added per job, the technology content of the project, and its attractiveness for the region.
The maximum incentive aid is 21 percent of the eligible investment, which is in line with the rates in the other European countries.
Belgium has a quality of work force and productivity is one of the highest in the world, which can be explained, in part, by the high education and training standards.
Incentives for training and retraining, as well as for job creation, are offered at the federal and regional level.
U.S. Companies See Advantages in Belgium
FedEx Express, a subsidiary of Memphis, Tenn.,-based FedEx Corp., will site a regional headquarters facility in La Hulpe to serve markets in Europe, the Middle East, the Indian subcontinent and Africa.
The company cited La Hulpe’s central location in Europe, the retention of its Belgian employees, access to international and public transportation connections, and a commercially zoned site set in natural surroundings as factors in the site location decision, said Robert W. Elliott, president of FedEx Express, Europe, Middle East, Indian subcontinent and Africa.
The move to La Hulpe will allow FedEx to consolidate its headquarters, which are currently split between three sites in Belgium. The company has operated in Belgium for nearly a quarter-century.
The planned relocation will involve about 600 personnel, encompassing office staff and the company’s senior management.
U.S. logistics provider Vanguard and its Antwerp-based subsidiary Confreight are building a new logistics center in the northern part of the Port of Antwerp. The project is worth 18.5 million euros.
Phoenix-based Vanguard acquired Confreight earlier this year and plans to base its European headquarters in Antwerp. It has been granted an operating concession for a period of 75 years. The logistics center will be operational in mid-2008.
Another U.S. logistics company, Odyssey Logistics & Technology Corp., has announced plans to expand into Europe in early 2008. The company, which provides international logistics management services to the chemical industry and other process manufacturers, chose Antwerp as the headquarters for its European operations.
The company’s entry into Europe will provide an opportunity to extend its logistics outsourcing services to its North American clients and expand its offering to the European market, said Robert Shellman, CEO of the Danbury, Conn.,-based company. The expansion will give Odyssey the chance to provide an integrated total logistics solution of technology, people and processes into a single offering, thereby serving many more clients and giving the company truly global coverage, Shellman noted.
Plans are also underway for other possible offices in Belgium.
