Sulzer Becomes Latest European Company to Shift Spending to US

(Bloomberg) -- Sulzer AG is moving some investments to the US because of the country’s green-technology aid, joining a flock of European companies saying that the Inflation Reduction Act’s allure is impossible to ignore.

While energy prices in Europe have come down somewhat, they remain well above those in the US and add to high labor costs, stringent regulation and strikes, Sulzer’s Executive Chairwoman Suzanne Thoma said Monday.

“I’m worried about Europe,” Thoma said in a phone interview. The Swiss pumpmaker rose on Monday after reporting robust order growth.

Executives from Volkswagen AG, engineering company Siemens Energy AG and battery producer Northvolt AB have lauded the roughly $370 billion in green-tech aid included in President Joe Biden’s subsidy framework. They’ve been critical of the European Union’s response, which is based on a cumbersome application process and draws on money that was already pledged through various green transition programs.

Sulzer still is investing in emerging technologies such as chemical recycling and carbon capture and is spending “considerable funds” in a clothes recycling pilot plant in Winterthur, Switzerland, Thoma said.

She took over the executive post in November after the departure of former Chief Executive Officer Frederic Lalanne.

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