Kyoto-based equipment maker Nagatsu Kogyo will invest JPY500 million (USD4.86 million) in a factory in Komatsu, Ishikawa prefecture, in a deal likely to see the Japanese company manufacturing forklift transmissions for Komatsu Ltd.

The factory, according to a Japanese News Digest report, will have a floor space of 4800 square metres and will be commissioned in March 2005.

"Nagatsu Kogyo will produce transmissions for forklift trucks at the factory and will sell the output to ... Komatsu Ltd," the report said.

Nagatsu Kogyo currently has two factories in Komatsu. When the new factory opens, the company expects JPY8 billion ($77.8 million) in annual sales from its three factories.