RICHMOND - Governor Timothy M. Kaine today announced that Water World Fiberglass Pools, N.E. Inc. will invest $3 million to open a facility in the Buckingham County Industrial Park, creating 100 new jobs. Up to 50 additional employees will be hired for seasonal demands. The company will manufacture fiberglass swimming pools. Virginia successfully competed with Louisiana for the project.

RICHMOND - Governor Timothy M. Kaine today announced that Swedwood North America, a furniture manufacturer and subsidiary of IKEA, will build its North American manufacturing operation in Cane Creek Centre, an industrial park jointly developed by Pittsylvania County and the City of Danville. The company, which will produce furniture for IKEA home furnishing stores in North America, will begin work at the site in November, and the projected completion date on the first of three phases is the end of 2007. The Swedwood facility eventually will employ up to 740 people.

RICHMOND - Governor Timothy M. Kaine today announced that Virginia Cobia Farms LLC, a joint venture between MariCal Inc., a privately-held aquatic life science biotechnology company, and Blue Ridge Aquaculture, Inc., will invest $30.33 million to develop a new technology and method of farming Cobia fish in Saltville. The project will create 60 new jobs.

RICHMOND - Governor Timothy M. Kaine today announced that Holston Medical Group (HMG), a multi-specialty physician practice, will invest $3 million to open its first medical records data center in Scott County. The company, which will create 40 new jobs, will access and store the digital medical records of patients for multiple practices and hospitals in Northeast Tennessee and Southwest Virginia. HMG also intends to augment the medical records facility with a multi-physician facility offering a full range of diagnostic services for Southwest Virginia.

RICHMOND - Governor Timothy M. Kaine today is participating in a seven-day trade mission to Europe, with scheduled visits to Denmark, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and Germany. The Governor, accompanied by Secretary of Commerce and Trade Patrick O. Gottschalk and representatives of the Virginia Economic Development Partnership and Virginia Tourism Corporation, departed Saturday afternoon, November 11th, and will return to Virginia on Saturday, November 18th.

RICHMOND - Governor Timothy M. Kaine today announced that Corning, Incorporated, a diversified technology company, plans to invest $12 million over the next three years to expand its Specialty Materials Division in Danville, creating 50 new jobs. The facility’s current Danville operations will expand with the addition of new product lines, the first of which is a polarized glass product used primarily in laser telecommunications.

RICHMOND - Governor Timothy M. Kaine today announced that Smorgon Steel Group Ltd. will invest about $25 million in Botetourt County to open its first North American facility for its new LiteSteel™ beam product. The company will create 55 new jobs. Virginia successfully competed with North Carolina for the project.

RICHMOND - The Virginia Economic Development Partnership (VEDP) today announced the acceptance of five new companies into the Accessing International Markets (AIM) export development program. The program, launched by VEDP in December 2005, helps Virginia companies pursue international leads in a new market overseas and realize the benefits of exporting. Based on a competitive quarterly application process, 20 companies will be accepted into the AIM program each year.

RICHMOND - Governor Timothy M. Kaine today announced that Philip Morris USA will invest up to $100 million in its York County facility to support the company’s growth strategy. The company, which will initially create 75 new jobs, will occupy the former York Manufacturing Center, which closed in 2003. Operations are scheduled to begin in the second quarter of 2007, and additional new jobs are anticipated as the new facility ramps up production.

RICHMOND - Governor Timothy M. Kaine today announced that Merck & Co., Inc. will invest $57 million to expand the role its Elkton facility plays in producing GARDASIL®, Merck’s cervical cancer vaccine. The investment will include construction of a new building and the installation of equipment for the purification process—a key stage in manufacturing the product. Merck recently completed construction of a vaccine fermentation facility at Elkton, which will be used to support an earlier stage in the GARDASIL manufacturing process.