A BILLION dollar advanced manufacturing company will set up shop in Geelong, creating scores of new jobs and injecting about $100 million into the local economy.

Chemical giant Accensi will start building on a site in the Geelong Ring Road Employment Precinct immediately and expects to be open for business by November this year.

Enterprise Geelong executive director Russell Walker said Accensi had bought five hectares of land on Broderick Rd.

At full operating capacity the company would directly employ 45 full-time staff, he said.

There would be another 33 full-time jobs created in flow-on sectors and many more again through the building process.

The development is set to deliver an immediate $20.2 million capital investment to Geelong.

Accensi will receive a ­$1.6 million grant through the Geelong Region Innovation and Investment Fund.

The GRIIF fund is contributed to by the Federal Government, Victorian Government and Ford.

Dr Walker said the deal had been signed off on Thursday night, after months of hard work and aggressive lobbying by Enterprise Geelong.

“One of the reasons we are so excited about this is not just the jobs and the cash investment but the Geelong operation of Accensi is going to form the spearhead of their market push across the entire south-east portion of Australia, particularly the southwest Victorian corridor which is, of course, our major food bowl and a major market for them, so that’s the initial push,” he said.

“Then they’ve got another business stream which they are pursuing at the moment ... in which they are looking at moving into a very, very high value area of the market and there will be another 200 jobs off that.”

Geelong will become the third Australian manufacturing base for Accensi, a world player in chemical crop protection.

Mr Walker said Accensi was a wholly-owned subsidiary of Hong Kong-listed company CK Life Sciences International, an international research-driven organisation.

Having a billion dollar, foreign-owned company set up shop in Geelong would raise the region’s profile on the world business stage, he said.

Enterprise Geelong portfolio holder Cr Bruce Harwood said Accensi had been investigating options for a Victorian base for some time.

“They need a new location to help them supply to their markets in Australia’s southern states. They’ve chosen Geelong as the best place for this growth to happen,” Cr Harwood said.

Geelong Mayor Darryn Lyons said Accensi had selected Geelong because of its infrastructure, proximity to markets, labour force and availability of affordable industrial land.

Victorian Minister for Manufacturing David Hodgett said the $1.6 million GRIIF grant was great news for the manufacturing sector in Geelong and its workers.

“This is the fifth announcement out of the GRIIF fund set up in the wake of Ford’s announcement. We have so far announced $8.4 million in funding and the creation of 280 new jobs in the Geelong region,” Mr Hodgett said.