US industrial equipment manufacturer Caterpillar has announced it will invest £7m in manufacturing operations in Northern Ireland.
The money will go towards it materials handling equipment division.
Caterpillar makes wheeled materials handling machines for the scrap sorting and forestry industries in Northern Ireland.
The investment was announced by first minister Peter Robinson and deputy first minister Martin McGuinness during a business development trip to the US.
Primarily, the money will be spent on skills development and training for 100 staff.
Mr Robinson said: “The project is especially important as it has the potential to help attract additional projects from the wider Caterpillar family.
“This new project for Northern Ireland will also offer our local workforce the opportunity to develop key transferable skills that will add value to our manufacturing sector, bringing further economic benefit.”
Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness claimed that the 100 “quality manufacturing positions” created via this investment “will generate salaries in the region of £2.2m annually”.
The ministers made the announcement after meeting senior management at Caterpillar’s headquarters in Peoria, Illinois.