Aid may be granted to Small and Medium Enterprises (hereinafter SMEs) for any form of initial investment.

Aid to large enterprises may be allowed only for “initial investment in a new business in the are concerned”.

Initial investment is defined as:

• Investment in tangible and intangible assets related to one or more of the following activities:

– Set up of a new factory;

– Capacity expansion of an existing factory;

–  Diversification of an establishment’s production to obtain products never previously manufactured;

– Fundamental change in the overall production process of an existing factory;

– Acquisition of assets belonging to an establishment that has been closed or would have been closed in the absence of acquisition, provided it is acquired by an investor who has no relationship with the seller. The mere acquisition of shares in an enterprise is not considered an initial investment.

Initial investment for the creation of a new economic activity (the only eligible investment for large enterprises in the Eastern Sicily SEZ) is defined as:

•     Investment in tangible and intangible assets related to one or more of the following activities:

– Creation of a new factory, or

– Diversification of the business of an establishment, provided that the new business is not the same or similar to that previously carried out in the same facility, or

– Acquisition of assets belonging to an establishment that has been closed or would have been closed in the absence of the acquisition, provided that the new activity to be carried out using the acquired assets is not the same or similar to that carried out in the establishment before the acquisition. The mere acquisition of shares in an enterprise is not considered an initial investment in the creation of a new economic activity;