In December 2015, the French company Fames signed an Agreement for the Construction of a Cultural Center and a Film Music Studio – it was an investment worth 1.5 million euros.
The same month, an Agreement for the Sale of State Land was signed in the municipality of Gazi Baba between the mayor, Toni Trajkovski, and Aude Nassieu Maupas and Laurent Koppitz, representatives of Fames.
The agreement, as reported by the media, envisaged the construction of two buildings - a cultural center with an area of 543 square meters and a music studio with an area of 1,194 square meters at the location of the Cultural Center in the settlement of Avtokomanda.
The signing of the agreement was attended by the Prime Minister of the time Nikola Gruevski, the Minister of Culture, Elizabeta Kancheska Milevska, the Minister for Foreign Investments, Bil Pavleski, and the French Ambassador Mrs Laurence Auer.
"The company has been present in Macedonia for many years now, and by recording film and other orchestral music, it is already very well established in the global film industry. Many music tracks composed and created in Macedonia have become an essential and integral part of numerous Hollywood movies and commercials worldwide. The presence of Fames in the country in the recent years has brought excellent cooperation with the Macedonian Philharmonic, the Macedonian Opera and Ballet and many artists, musicians and film editors from our country ",said Gruevski, adding that the investment would enable long-term engagement of more than 100 Macedonian artists.
He added that the new facility in Gazi Baba would be primarily important for the citizens of the municipality since the site of the old Cultural Center would be replaced with an exceptionally sophisticated and modern facility comprising of a new library, theater and new cultural center of the municipality.
Minister Pavleski said that Fames had been present and active in Macedonia for several years and had operated within the Macedonian Radio and Television. Furthermore, he also said that the implementation of the new greenfield project was a result of the increased workload and the need for independent operation of the company.
The data from the Central Registry show that in 2015 the company had noncurrent assets of approximately 127,000 euros and 9 employees, whereas in 2016, the number of employees was increased by one.