Magna plans to hire about 3,000 workers in the next two years and is considering building a large paint shop in Slovenia.

Večer says talks are already under way with representatives of various local communities and the Economy Ministry, with the decision expected before the end of the year.

While neither Magna nor the ministry would comment for the paper, Večer says one municipality in eastern Slovenia, Hoče-Slivnica, has already started zoning procedures at the initiative of the ministry.

Marko Soršak, the Hoče-Slivnica mayor, told the paper the municipality had embarked on rezoning, with the expenses paid by the Economy Ministry since "the state has a strategic investor".

He would neither confirm nor deny that Magna was the investor in question.

Magna is one of the biggest players in the automotive industry and with revenue of EUR 26bn and a global workforce of 152,000, of which 6,000 work in Graz.

Hundreds of Slovenians, mostly from the border regions, work in Magna's factories in and around Graz, which offer much better pay for low-skilled workers than Slovenian industry.

The government has been striving to attract at least one major foreign investor to Maribor region, which is economically depressed and has high unemployment but used to be an automotive industry hub in Yugoslavia.