Spirits producer Alexandrion Grup Romania plans to invest $100m to build a distillery in New York as it intends to expand into the US.

The company intends to construct a distillery of the same size that it operates in Romania.

Group president Nawaf Salameh told Agerpres that this new facility will employ 400 people, reported by RomaniaInsider.com.

The firm has not divulged information about the location where it intends to open the plant or the kind of spirits it will produce.

Construction is expected to commence in several months and production in about a year.

"The US is a market that cannot easily penetrate, and not only export. To be present in the market, you must also produce there."

Salameh added: “The US is a market that cannot easily penetrate, and not only export. To be present in the market, you must also produce there. For us, the US and Brazil are two major markets.

“US production will cover fully the demand for that market, and the rest will be exported, complementing the contribution of other production facilities.”

Set up in 1994, the Alexandrion Grup distributes more than 200 brands. It produces brandy, whisky, gin, vermouth, and tequila.

For the last five years, the firm has been strategising on the markets it plans to expand.

Commenting on the reason the firm chose US, Salameh added: “It is a strategical, not a commercial move. We will produce everything that can be distilled and all the brands will be ours.”