THE announcement of a £113 million investment package by the Larne based manufacturer F.G. Wilson, its US parent company, Emerson Electric, and Caterpillar, has put Northern Ireland in the "premier league" of inward investment locations, Economy Minister, Baroness Denton said.

The investment, backed by a £36.4 million grant from the IDB, is expected to result in the creation of over 1,500 jobs over the next five years. They will be divided between F.G. Wilson's existing plant in Larne, and new factories at Monkstown in north Belfast, and at Springvale in the west of the city.

Baroness Denton said the project was the clearest indication since the start of the pence process of how positively US companies regarded Northern Ireland as an investment location.

"This investment is an unprecedented endorsement of Northern Ireland by two of America's most successful, innovative, and respected blue chip corporations," she said.