business review

A N A L Y S I SCompanies from retail to brokerage services andtravel agencies go for promotions and special of-fers to secure at least constant levels of sales

S e e pages 10-11

BUSINESS REVIEWROMANIA’S PREMIERE BUSINESS WEEKLY MAY 4 - 10, 2009 / VOLUME 14, NUMBER 16

www.business-review.ro

I N T E R V I E WThe British Ambassador to Romania Robin Barnettsays plenty of British companies are looking at thelocal market despite a tough year ahead

S e e page 9

Romania has launched yet another effort to promote thecountry as a tourist destination, aiming to attract foreigntourists to yet unknown locations such as the Danube Delta. A national branding campaign is set to start next year.

See page 12

Romania has launched yet another effort to promote thecountry as a tourist destination, aiming to attract foreigntourists to yet unknown locations such as the Danube Delta. A national branding campaign is set to start next year.

See page 12

N E W SCreativ Global Property, owned by Marius Ivan,received EUR 180,000 in a North Gate sale con-tract breach payment from Immoeast

S e e page 4

TAKING FLIGHT, AGAINTAKING FLIGHT, AGAIN

HOLIDAY T ICKETS HAVE JOINED MEAL T ICKETS, A EUR 1.3 BILL ION MARKET; SEE PAGES 18-19

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N E W S

BUSINESS REVIEW / May 4 - 10, 20094

BRIEFSPROPRIETATEA FUND TO BELISTED ON BSE BY YEAR-ENDé Proprietatea Fund is poised forBucharest Stock Exchange (BSE)listing by year-end, according toMircea Ursache, president of TheAuthority for the Recovery of StateAssets (AVAS). The listing is still instand-by especially since the selectionfor the fund’s manager is overdue.

FARMACEUTICA REMEDIADEVA EXPECTS EUR 500,000NET GAIN THIS YEARé Pharma company FarmaceuticaRemedia Deva expects a net profit ofEUR 500,000 in 2009, with a growthof 8.6 percent in the company’srevenues, after having posted a EUR700,000 loss in 2008. The companyis valued at EUR 4.04 million basedon the value of its shares traded onthe Bucharest Stock Exchange (BSE).

COMPA SIBIU HOPES FORSEVEN-FOLD PROFIT IN 2009é Car parts manufacturer CompaSibiu plans to post EUR 700,000 inprofit this year, a seven-fold increasecompared to last year, but expects itsturnover go down by 15 percent. InApril, the company announced itwould layoff staff and pursue othercost cutting measures in order tomake up for the poor results. Thecompany’s market value is of EUR9.4 million based on its stock valueon the BSE.

UNIMPRESA SUGGESTS ASIMPLER FISCAL CODE ANDLABOR REGULATIONSé Unimpresa, the association ofItalian companies in Romania hasrecently suggested the Romaniangovernment simpler labor regulationsand fewer fiscal taxes, in order tosustain SMEs, many of which areItalian companies. According toStefano Albarosa, president ofUnimpresa, the 558 taxes and fiscalstrains develop in a “wicked system”.The representatives of Italiancompanies running businesses inRomania have suggested thereduction of VAT for productionequipments’ purchase, among otherfiscal exemptions.

Real estate developer Creativ Glob-al Property, controlled by local busi-nessman Marius Ivan and Irish investorTom Quinn has received EUR 180,000from Austrian investment fund Im-moeast as penalty payment for with-drawing from a real estate deal. “Im-moeast and Creativ Global Propertysigned the memorandum of under-standing for the sale of North Gate proj-ect in November 2007, but Immoeastwithdraw from the deal. The paymentrepresents the penalty clause in thatcontract,” Theodor McCann, partnerwith Constantinovici, McCann & A s o-ciatii law firm told Business Review.The firm represented Creativ GlobalProperty in the arbitration.

The process started in the summerof last year and lasted for eight monthsand was judged locally at the Interna-tional Arbitration Court near the Ro-manian Trade and Industry Chamber.The agreed deal was supposed to re-quire a EUR 70 million payment fromImmoeast, if it was to be carried on. Im-

moeast was represented by Popovici,Nitu & Asociatii in this arbitration pro-cedure.

North Gate building is leased out toRenault and BCR and was Creativ'sfirst project on the Romanian market.

The developer was planning to startworks on its PiperaCity project in A p r i l

or May this year, according to previousannouncements. "We have been takinga very cautious approach to the mar-ket.[...] We are tendering at the momentand we have already seen a dramatic re-duction in construction prices from fourmonths ago," Jonathan Youens, manag-ing director with the developer, has pre-viously told BR. He expected to startconstruction works on the project inApril or May, "but this will be subjectto a further review of market conditionsover the next few months."

P r e v i o u s l y, Creativ was planning tostart construction works at the project atthe end of August last year, when it an-nounced it would deliver two off i c ebuildings on 80,000 sqm in 2010. "Wehave not as yet finalized our financingplans as we consider that banks at themoment are still recovering from theshock of the past few months and arenot taking a realistic view on the wayforward," the Creativ Global Propertymanaging director went on.

Corina Saceanu

Creativ Global Property gets EUR 180,000 contractbreach payment from Immoeast

GreenWEEE InternationalBuzau has put EUR 10 million inbuilding an electric and electron-ic products recycling plant inBuzau, which delivers a process-ing capacity of over 50,000wastes tonnes per year, the com-pany has announced.

The plant covers a total areaof around 10,800 sqm, of which6,100 sqm represent the produc-tion area.

This is the largest privateproject developed in Romaniaand South-Eastern Europe re-

gion, the company said. The investment, which in-

cludes the price of land pricehas been carried on by a group ofinvestors comprising SC Rom-carbon SA Buzau which partici-pated with 72 percent, two Swissinvestment funds which totaled18 percent within the overall in-vestment and a private investorwhich contributed with 10 per-cent.

GreenWEEE InternationalSA is part of Romcarbon group,headquartered in Buzau and run-

ning operations in Romania andabroad, in countries likeUkraine, Serbia, Macedonia andGreece. The group posted a EUR85 million turnover in 2008from Romanian recycling activi-ties of electronic and electricequipment, PET gas cylindersand plastic containers.

GreenWEEE InternationalBuzau runs a network of 150collecting points countrywideand employs 2,000 people.

Magda Purice

GreenWEEE puts EUR 10 mln in Buzau waste recycling plant

The Romanian consolidatedbudget deficit was of 1.5 percent ofthe GDP in the first three months ofthis year, slightly below the amountagreed with the International Mone-tary Fund upon signing the financingmemorandum, according to govern-ment data.

In April, the amounts collected tothe state budget were only three per-cent below those in April 2008, afterthe January budget collection saw adrop of 6.2 percent compared to thesame month in 2008, according to

G h e o rghe Pogea, the Romanian fi-nance minister. Overall the revenuesin the general budget dropped by 5.5percent in the first quarter of the yearcompared to the similar period of lasty e a r. The VAT collection, the biggestresource in the state budget, saw adrop of RON 1.72 billion. The col-lected taxes in profit dropped by RON336 million, while the collected taxeson salaries grew by RON 796 million.The Q1 state budget amounted toRON 38 million. Budget expensesgrew by 14 percent in this first quarter

of the year compared to the same pe-riod of the last.

Finance minister Pogea said theEUR 5 billion Romania will soon re-ceive from the European Commissionwill be used to finance the budgetdeficit, and will not fund salaries orpensions. The amount is expected atthe end of June. He also announcedthat 34,000 employees in the statesystem will be axed by year- e n d ,when only 1.2 million staff will bepaid from the state budget.

S t a f f

Romania keeps budget deficit below IMF agreed threshold

Marius Ivan, one of the owners of Creativ Glob-al Property

N E W S


BRIEFSBEGA TURISM SEEKSADDITION TO SHARE CAPITALé Bega Turism, a company controlledby businessmen Marius and EmilCristescu, which manages Timisoarahotel, plans to increase thecompany’s share capital by RON40.56 million, a decision to be takenduring the shareholders’ meetingscheduled for June 2009. BegaTurism is valued at EUR 15.8 million,based on its BSE stock trading value.Marius Cristescu, the majorityshareholder holds 59.33 percent inthe company, while his brother Emilowns the remainder of the shares.Bega Turism is part of Bega group ofcompanies which also comprisesBegachim, Chimforex, Foraj SondeCraiova, Bega Com, Bega Trans Autoand Bega Imobiliare.

ROMPETROL RAFINAREESTIMATES FIVE TIMESSMALLER LOSSES IN 2009é Rompetrol Rafinare, theadministrator of Petromidia refineryestimates it would decrease its loss byfive times this year, to USD 37 millionnet losses. The company’s turnovercould also halve to USD 1.73 billion,compared with USD 3.43 billion lastyear, according to the financialreport voted by the company’s board.Last year the company posted lossesof USD 184.52 million. The companyis controlled by Rompetrol group,which owns 75.32 percent of itsshares.

ELECTROPUTERE CRAIOVAEXPECTS PROFIT IN 2009é Locomotive manufacturerElectroputere Craiova, controlled bySaudi company Al-Arrab plans topost a gross profit of EUR 3.8 millionat the end of the 2009 fiscal year ,after it posted a record loss of EUR26.7 million last year. The companyalso predicts a turnover of EUR 93.2million, up 86.3 percent on lastyear’s result. The investments for thisyear are budgeted at EUR 7.55million, following a capital increaseof EUR 5 million from the company’smajority shareholder. The companywas privatized in 2007 after Al-Arrab Contracting Company Limitedacquired the majority stake in a EUR120 million transaction. At that time,the buyer said it would invest aroundEUR 20 million in Electroputere.

Local lender CEC Bank, majorityowned by the Romanian state, saw itsasset growing by 19.9 percent in thefirst quarter of the year to some EUR3.85 billion. The amount of grossloans increased by 7.4 percent in thisperiod, to reach EUR 1.91 billion.H o w e v e r, the bank said it would stoplending towards the end of the year ifa share capital increase will not hap-pen. The Romanian government hasissued a set of anti-crisis measuresmeant to sustain the local bankingsystem, which included a RON 900million capital increase for CECBank.

In September of October we willhave to stop lending even with thecapital we have because the Roman-ian Central Bank will stop us whenthe loans will be more than eighttimes our capital. If we will receive

the promised RON 900 million, wewill be able to continue lending,” saidRadu Ghetea, president of the bank.

The bank's structure of loans is 60percent distributed to individuals, butit hopes to decrease the ratio to 50

percent, according to Ghetea. In thefirst quarter of this year, loans grant-ed to companies by CEC Bank grewby 22.6 percent.

CEC Bank, the former RomanianSavings Bank, made almost EUR 100million in profit last year, much ofwhich was due to the sale of its sharesin insurance company Asiban. T h eprofit, which was five times higherthan the figure posted in 2007, wasboosted by the bank's cashing insome EUR 87.5 million from thesale. CEC Bank's profit excluding theAsiban sale was some EUR 44.5 mil-lion, up 40 percent on the previousy e a r.

The bank grew its assets by 25percent to EUR 3.4 billion, while itsloans reached EUR 2 billion, up 56percent in the Romanian currency.

S t a f f

CEC bank sees assets up by 20 percent in Q1

Local Asesoft Distributionbought a 51 percent stake in onlineretailer eMAG. The value of thetransaction was not disclosed.

“After more than one year ofdiscussions, even with external in-vestors, we decided to go furtherwith a partner who has been veryclose to us over the past seven years.The agreement between the twocompanies is strictly financial.Every company will continue inde-pendently with its own business line

and will keep its focus on the mar-ket it is active in: Asesoft in distri-bution and eMAG in online retail,”said Radu Apostolescu, marketingdirector and cofounder of eMAG.

“We will not favor eMAG asclient of Asesoft. We will continueto support all Asesoft partners.eMAG brings bellow 10 percent ofAsesoft sales, eMAG sells over15,000 products from over 500 pro-ducers, while Asesoft sells approxi-mately 2,000 products from 50 pro-

ducers,” said Razvan Zieba, the ex-ecutive director of Asesoft.

Asesoft Distribution had aturnover of USD 127 million lastyear. It took over the indirect distri-bution contracts of retailer Flamin-go this March, after buying 50 per-cent of distributor Combox lastyear.

eMAG had an estimated EUR110 million turnover in 2008. In2007 it had a profit of EUR600,000. ■

Asesoft Distribution buys online retailer eMAG

The European Bank for Recon-struction and Development (EBRD)plans to invest up to EUR 40 millionfor a stake in the Eastern Europeanoperations of Germany’s WAZ Me-dia Group. The joint aim is to sup-port the further development of po-litically and economically inde-pendent media in the region. In Ro-mania, WAZ group owns the com-pany which runs Romania Liberadaily.

Besides the investment in tradi-tional media, the WAZ Group andthe EBRD emphasize the impor-tance of the Internet for fostering

sustainable economic developmentin Eastern Europe, particularlythrough mobile services and online-based companies.

WAZ Media Group, a majorGerman media house, sees a strate-gic focus on the media industry ofEastern Europe and plans furtherexpansion there.

“The development of independ-ent media, bringing high-qualitycontent across the EBRD region,helps to strengthen democracy andbuild up the knowledge-based econ-omy that is crucial for the future ofthese countries”, said EBRD Presi-

dent Thomas Mirow. “The EBRD is very happy to support the WAZ Group in this endeavor”, headded.

The WAZ Group sees in theEBRD a strong partner that after 18years of commitment in the region enjoys an excellent reputa-tion there.

The EBRD will initially investEUR 20 million for a stake in OstHolding, the Vienna-based compa-ny which manages its media inter-ests in Eastern Europe. A furtherEUR 20 million is being reservedfor future capital increases. ■

EBRD takes EUR 40 million stake in WAZ MediaGroup’s Eastern European operations

CEC Bank has recently been re-branded

N E W S


BRIEFSMCDONALD'S PUTS EUR 4MLN IN NEW BUCHARESTRESTAURANTé Fast food chain McDonald'sRomania has recently opened a new

unit in Drumul Taberei area inBucharest, the company’s 59th unit inRomania, following an investment of

EUR 4 million. The fast foodrestaurant in Drumul Taberei delivers

375 sqm and 270 seats in the lobbyarea and 60 seats on the terrace.

The restaurant chain plans to opentwo more units by the end of May inSibiu and Piatra Neamt. McDonald's

Romania ended 2008 with a turnoverof EUR 400 million, up EUR 100

million on the previous year.

BIO LOGISTIC FORESEES EUR2.64 MLN TURNOVER IN 2009é Bio products distribution companyBio Logistic, which was created afterthe merger of Bio Markt Retail Group

and Natura Land, estimates aturnover of EUR 2.64 million in

2009, up 20 percent on last year.Bio Markt Retail Group posted a

turnover of EUR 1 million in 2008,while Natura Land registered EUR1.2 million in turnover during the

same period. For 2009, the companyplans to open a stand-alone shop in

Bucharest, an addition to the alreadythree existing shops in Timisoara and

Bucharest. It will open a franchisedistribution system from 2010.

Orange Romania reported EUR264 million in revenue for the firstquarter of this year, a 14.1 percent dropcompared to the first quarter of 2008.The plunge reflects the negative evolu-tion of the currency exchange, the im-pact of tariffs regulation, the combinede ffects of the drop in retail price, and anoverall adjustment of consumption onvarious segments. The yearly averageRPU was of EUR 11 4 .

“Although the first signs of the eco-nomic crisis started to be felt in thefourth quarter of last year, the impactwas more powerful in the first quarter,as it happened in other industries andwith other services,” said Thierry Mil-let, interim CEO of Orange Romania.

The local SIM penetration rate isover 100 percent, which slowed downthe growth rate for clients. In the firstquarter of 2009, Orange had1 0 . 118.000 clients.

For this year, Orange plans to de-velop its mobile broadband services, asegment where it presently has1.889.000 clients, 81 percent morecompared to the first quarter of lasty e a r.

Overall, France Te l e c o m ’s businessgrowth in emerging markets sloweddown significantly. Here revenues weredown 0.5 percent on a comparable ba-sis, compared with a 7.2 percent in-crease in the fourth quarter of 2008.

S t a f f

Pharmaceutical company ZentivaRomania expects the company’s grossprofit to diminish by 33 percent in 2009on 2008, to EUR 4.9 million, but ithopes its turnover will grow by 3.2 per-cent. Last year, Zentiva Romania posteda net profit of EUR 6.3 million, 5.4 per-cent more on 2007, while its turnovergrew by 13 percent.

The Czech pharmaceutical producerZentiva has reported a double sales fig-ure in the third quarter of 2008 in Ro-mania, compared with the same periodof 2007.

Last year, Dragos Damian, generalmanager of Zentiva Romania was ex-pecting the local pharmaceutical marketto see a revive in the second part of2008. “The local pharmaceutical marketdeveloped peculiarly, it has reported anincrease of the patented drugs segmentand a regress on the generic pharmaceu-tical products segment,” said Damian.

Zentiva Romania’s market value isof EUR 41.35 million, based on its 2008stock value on the Bucharest Stock Ex-c h a n g e .

Magda Purice

Orange Romania Q 1 revenuesdrop 14 percent to EUR 264 mln

Zentiva Romaniaexpects 33 percentlower profit

Ranbaxy Romania, the local sub-sidiary of Indian pharmaceutical groupsaw an 8.4 percent decline in sales inthe first quarter of 2009, down to USD19 million. The local currency devalu-ation and the new health and pharma-ceutical regulations introduced by theMinistry of Public Health are the mainreasons for this drop in profit, said thec o m p a n y.

Overall, the Indian group reportednet sales of USD 313 billion for thefirst quarter of 2009 ended March 31,a loss of 4 percent compared to thesimilar period of 2008. For this year,the company expects some USD 1.4billion in sales. Last year, the Indiangroup has decided to sell the liquid

medicine division of Terapia Cluj-Napoca, for USD 20 million, havinghad talks with several interested com-panies. At that time, sources on themarket said that the decision came as aresult of the company's business strat-egy to rationalize the production costsin order to expand the manufacturingoperations in its main production facil-ity in Kluez. Although the Terapia di-vision was profitable, liquid medicinesare not a core focus for Ranbaxy, saidthe firm. The Indian group took overTerapia Cluj for USD 324 million in2006 when it acquired a 96.7 percentin the company from the American in-vestment fund Advent International.

Magda Purice

Ranbaxy Romania reports 8.4 percentdrop in first quarter sales

Zentiva’s profit will go down by 33 percent

W H O ’ SEVENTS, BUSINESS AND POLITICAL AGENDA N E W SRAZVAN STOICESCU, 28, was appointed

managing associ-ate with Bulboa-ca&Asociatii lawfirm. He coordinat-ed the legal teamthat assisted the Ro-

manian state in the EUR 750 mil-lion Eurobonds issue in 2008. Hespecialises in finances and capitalmarkets, being a member of theBucharest Bar since 2004. Previ-o u s l y, Stoicescu was senior associ-ate, having worked for Bulboa-ca&Asociatii since its founding.

CO S T I N TE O D O R O V I C I, 28, was appointedsenior associate withB u l b o a c a & A s o c i a t i ilaw firm. He is amember of theBucharest Bar since2005 and specialises

in financing and capital markets.He joined Bulboaca&Asociatii ayear ago. Teodorovici gives legalcounsel to clients such asSchroders Investment Manage-ment bank in the consultancy giv-en to the Proprietatea Fund.

IO A N A RA D U, 27, was appointed seniorassociate with Bul-b o a c a & A s o c i a t i ilaw firm. She spe-cialises in litigationsand labour law andis a member of the

Bucharest Bar since 2005. Shejoined Bulboaca&Asociatii in late2007. Radu gives legal counsel toclients such as Ringier media

group and sweets producer Kraft.

MI H A E L A DU M I T R U joined DPD (Pega-sus Courier S.A.) as DPD classicInternational product & operationsm a n a g e r. She previously workedas operations manager at GeoPostRomania for three years and inter-national product specialist at Car-gus International for five years.She graduated from the Faculty ofFinance, Insurance, Banking andStock Exchanges at the A c a d e m yof Economic Studies in Bucharest.

RA L U C A MA N O L A C H E joined DPD (Pega-sus Courier SA) Romania as man-ager of the collection department.She has a wide experience in thecollection activity, payment termsnegotiation and credit control. Shehas also worked in PR, communi-cation and journalism. Manolachehas a specialist degree in commu-nications and PR from the IrecsonInstitute and studied InternationalEconomical Relations at the Ro-manian-American University inBucharest.

CE L I A- IO A N A DU T A joined DPD (Pega-sus Courier SA) Romania as col-lection specialist. She has a wideexperience in the collection activi-ty having previously worked forseveral companies in the financialfield such as EOS KSI, BCR A s i g-urari and Carpatica Asig. She hasstudied International Relations andEuropean Studies at the “LucianBlaga” University in Sibiu.

Business Review welcomes information for Who’s News from readers.Feel free to contact us on 206 0680 (10 lines), by fax at 335 3474 or e-mail: [email protected]


C A L E N D A R / W H O ’ S N E W S

MAY 4é 19.00- Garrigues inaugurates new Bucharest office at Hilton Hotel, Le

Diplomate room. By invitation only.

MAY 5é 10.30- Ringier organizes press meeting to announce financial results for

2008 at Hilton Hotel, Regina Maria room. é 11.00- Uniqa Asigurari organizes press conference at Marriott Hotel,

Galati room.

MAY 6é 10.00- IBM organizes the “IBM Cognos Finance Forum 2009” at Hotel

Pullman.é 10.00- Abbot Laboratories launches Humira, a new treatment for psori-

asis, at Crowne Plaza Hotel, Primavera room. é 11.00- AmCham Romania presents its future objectives during a meet-

ing at Hilton Hotel, Marcu room. é 19.00- The Illusions restaurant organizes press meeting on Dacia

Blvd& 5 Henri Coanda St.

MAY 7é 10.00- Wolf Theiss law firm organizes media round table at Hilton Ho-

tel. é 10.30- Gap opens first store in Romania in Baneasa Shopping City, 1st

floor.

MAY 13é 13.00- Beautik Haute Parfumerie launches Caron perfume collection at

Brown Sugar club, 5 Primaverii Blvd.

MAY 15é 20.00-Inocenti Foundation organizes benefit event at Kentauros Media

Studios.

MAY 22-23é eLiberatica, an international IT event takes place at Politehnica Univer-

sity in Bucharest.


I N T E R V I E W

British companies are still looking at the Romanian market for furtherinvestments, even though they expect a tough year ahead. They are keepingtheir gaze on several areas, including infrastructure, the environment, energyand the financial services sector, and although not all of those interested willinvest in 2009, there are good prospects for new British investments in thefuture, says ROBIN BARNETT, the British ambassador to Romania.

Despite a tough 2009, British companiesshow bulldog spirit for Romania

By Corina Saceanu

To what extent do the new fiscalmeasures drawn up by the Romaniangovernment interfere with foreign in -vestors' activity in Romania? What areBritish companies saying about thesemeasures?

From the perspective of Britishcompanies, the overall picture is impor-tant. They want to see a stable economicenvironment, as predictable an exchangerate as possible and predictability in gen-eral. It is very clear that businesses don'tlike surprises. As long as these condi-tions are met, British investors accept

that each government has to take a set ofspecific measures on the short term toaddress the effects of the economic cri-sis. And, let's be honest, raising revenueshas to be part of that.

What measures has the British gov -ernment taken that would be appropri -ate for Romania too, in your opinion?

I think that both in the UK and inRomania targeted measures have beentaken to stimulate the economy. For ex-ample, measures to ensure that the bank-ing sector remains sound and solid andto ensure that, even though in the shortterm budget deficits may rise, in the

medium and long term the public fi-nances remain sound. But we have torecognize that the situations of diff e r e n teconomies require specific measures. Avery positive measure taken by the Ro-manian government was the announce-ment that former communist blockswould be insulated. This will clearlyhelp construction companies, an indus-try which is in a difficult period. It willalso reduce energy bills, and at the sametime it is a step in the right direction to-wards reducing our carbon footprinthere in Romania as well. But each coun-try has specific circumstances.

You mentioned several areas of in -terest to UK companies here. But whatsort of British companies would cometo Romania now?

Without identifying specific compa-nies, I can tell you that at the embassywe’re continuing to see a lot of compa-nies taking a look at the Romanian mar-ket. Perhaps many of them will not havethe money to invest in Romania in 2009,but investment decisions aren't taken onthe basis of three-four months’ o b s e r v a-tion anyway. The important thing is thatBritish companies are continuing to takea look at Romania, and as the economicsituation improves, that means we willhave good prospects of seeing signifi-cant new British investments in Roma-nia in the future.

Even in times of crisis I don't thinkanybody expects the flow of foreign di-rect investments in Romania to reduce tozero. A huge range of sectors have po-tential, in our opinion. Even this yearthere will be projects funded by the EUthrough structural funds, or by the gov-ernment, which is committed to spend-ing more on infrastructure. Part of ourjob is to ensure that British companiesare fully aware of the opportunitieswhich arise not just here in Bucharest,but in the rest of the country as well, andthere are already British companiesspread out all over Romania.

The remittances sent by Romani -ans from abroad as well as the numberof local people working abroad havedecreased. How has the number of Ro -manians working in the UK evolved inthe second half of last year and the firstpart of this year? Are many expatriateworkers returning to Romania?

It is too early to have statistics for2009, but it is clear that there are still alot of Romanians in the UK, making animportant contribution to the Britishe c o n o m y.

We've started to see some activity interms of the fight against corruption inRomania lately, with several cases fea -

turing in the media. How do you thinkRomania is doing on this chapter?

Prime Minister Boc said on comingto office that the new government in-tended to speed up the process of takingthe necessary measures to increase EUcooperation and the verification mecha-nism. The UK encourages the govern-ment in its efforts in this direction. Weare trying to make a practical contribu-tion to helping speed up this process, andare currently engaged in working withthe Ministry of Justice and the SuperiorCouncil of Magistrates. Two Britishjudges are visiting Romania to exchangeexperience and ideas to help improve thee fficiency and effectiveness of the corejudicial system here in Romania. T h e yhave been to Romania twice already andwill be coming back. This is a projectfunded by the British government.

c o r i n a _ s a c e a n u @ b m g . ro

é Romania remains interesting toBritish companies, even though2009 will be a hard year. T h emain areas of interest to UKfirms are railways, ports, theconstruction sector, the environ-ment, energy and financial serv-ices (trading and consultancy).

é Those skeptical about Romania'srate of absorption of EU fundsshould remember the experienceof other member countries,which had a low rate of absorp-tion of those funds in the firsttwo-three years but then man-aged to increase it, said the UKa m b a s s a d o r.

é Romania's relations with the UKare in good shape, according toRobin Barnett, and the twocountries share similar views onseveral issues, including thepresence of troops in the MiddleE a s t .

é R e c e n t l y, a Romanian delegationheaded by the Romanian foreigna ffairs minister, Cristian Dia-conescu, visited London. T h eUK Embassy in Romania has al-so lobbied for British companieswhich have experienced hardtimes in Romania.

é Over 3,300 British companiesare active in Romania. Britishinvestors in the country includeMott McDonald, Copper Beech,Thomson Reuters, Royal Bankof Scotland, Fabian Capital, A l i-son Hayes, Freshfields Bruck-haus Deringer and A n g l o - R o-manian Bank Limited, amongo t h e r s .


A N A L Y S I S

Special offers and promotions are the words of theday for consumers who started tightening their beltsand for companies which saw their sales shrinking.Although companies go for lower profit margins,they are employing various marketing strategies tokeep the flow of customers and ideally increase sales– be it in fashion retail, stock market trading orholiday packages.

Firms charm customers withcrisis marketing strategies

Fashion retailers go from one promotion to another to keep their sales up

By Corina Saceanu

During times of financial re-strain, customers go for lowerpriced products, downsize budgetsand like to pick cheap offers. Thismind shift was already felt on theRomanian market, where retail saleshave dropped since the beginning ofthe year, with value per shoppingspree having reduced by around 20percent for fashion retail, for exam-ple.

In top of the products the Roma-nians buy and/or consume less arethe products of furniture and interi-or decorations, electronic products,as well as clothing and footwear thatnearly 40 percent of Romanians saythey will buy less, according to a re-cent Synovate study.

To keep customers coming totheir stores and encourage spending,retailers have to bring in their mar-keting tools, and special offers areone way of achieving this. It does-n't cover only fashion retail. Ro-manian customers nowadays getspecial offers for car purchases, hol-iday packages, IT&C products, spapackages, books, banking productsand even stock exchange tradingservices.

For sellers, the profit marginsshrink, but promotions ensure aflow of sales meant at least to helpthem survive during the downturn.

FASHION TRIES ON ITS MAR-KETING SCHEMES

Both good and bad news arecoming from consumers. On onehand, one in three Romanians saysthey have reduced their fashion pur-chase budgets, and 30 percent ofthem intend to do the same in the fu-ture, reveals a study by Synovatecarried on in February this year. Buton the other hand, food sales couldbe less affected, as only half of therespondents said they were thinkingabout reducing their budgets forfood.

Again on the bright side, thereare still 3 Romanians out of 10 whodon't intend to decrease their budg-ets to offer gifts, and only 9 percenthave given up on buying brandedproducts.

Romanians' perception followsthe reality – they think the car in-dustry, construction and agricultureare the worst hit by the financial cri-sis.

In fashion retail, special offerseither target a short term increase in

traffic in the stores and consequent-ly higher sales or an increase in thecustomer loyalty to the brand. “Caseby case, such promotional activitiescan generate an increase in trafficby 10 to 20 percent. But we also or-ganize promotions which aim at in-creasing the customer loyalty, ”Alexandra Dumitrescu, marketingmanager with Rafar tells BusinessReview. The company, which runsfashion stores under diff e r e n tbrands in Romania has been runningpromotions in its stores since the be-ginning of the year, with discountsup to 30 percent on certain products.“Promotions are something constantin our marketing activity and we or-ganize them based on plans agreedwith each brand before the begin-ning of each season,” says Alexan-dra Dumitrescu.

In Debenhams stores, one of thebrands in Rafar's portfolio, the aver-age value per purchase has droppedby 10 percent in Bucharest, and by15 percent for its stores in the rest ofcountry.

The retailer used promotionaloffers similarly to last years, butcame up with new ones too, andsays such promotions have led to anincrease in sales compared to theperiod before the special offer peri-od. In Rafar's case, these offers varyfrom price reductions to cross pro-motions with other brands on themarket to offer complementaryproducts.

FOREX AND STOCK TRADINGDO FOR SPECIAL OFFERS TOO

Stock exchange trading is by farnot as a common activity in Roma-nia as shopping for clothes, and2008 was not a particularly goodyear for stock market investors,with stocks falling to historic lows.Deltastock, an online broker ofshares and Forex has decided to runa promotional offer to increase itsnumber of clients and raise aware-ness.

Each customer who opens atrading account with Deltastock inApril in May will get double thefirst sum they deposit in their trad-ing account for sums lower thanEUR 1,000. This anniversary of-fer's target is a 50 percent increasein the number of the firm's cus-tomers, Cristian Enache, brokerwith Deltastock tells Business Re-view.

“This offer aims to help thosewho start trading on external mar-kets and implicitly increase the


A N A L Y S I S

number of those who use the DeltaTrading platform,” says Enache.The firm targets local traders whowant to expand their portfolios, withabove average financial power whomake investments decisions usingtrading software for external mar-kets.

“In the first month, we have eas-ily reached pour target and the inter-est we have seen makes us believewe will exceed our initial target,”says Cristian Enache. Moreover,this pilot project could be extendedto other markets where Deltastock isactive.

Most of the trading throughDeltastock's platform goes on theForex market, but the firm has seenan increase in interest for for stocksand exchange traded funds (ETFs)since the beginning of the year too.

Last year, for example, the vol-ume of deposits in trading accountswith Deltastock grew five-fold com-pared to 2007, while eight timesmore demo trading accounts wereopened.

TRAVEL OFFERS GO THE EXTRAMILE

Travelling expenses are the first

to fall when budgets shrink, but ifthey are given the right offers, Ro-manians wouldn't say no to cheapholidays.

Romanians who plan to travelthis year go for advance, discountedbookings, promotions and specialoffers, found travel agency Eximturafter conducting a study in severalRomanian cities.

“We realized that in a year ofcrisis, in order to come up with a re-alistic holiday budget, the Roman-ian holiday market needs to be ana-lyzed in a professional way. Wedidn't do it before because of theclear increase pattern of this marketin the past, but now it is necessary,”says Lucia Morariu, general manag-er of Eximtur.

The firm now runs an off e rwhich allows customers pay fortheir travel packages in ten install-ments with no interest.

The budget for trips and holi-days suffered a significant decreasedue to the financial crisis. Almost 4out of 10 respondents claim theylowered the budget for trips and hol-idays as compared to 3 months ago,according to the Synovate study runin January this year. Those aged 30-34 years lower their budget signifi-cantly more than the average, ac-cording to the study.

Low cost airlines seem to befavoured by the downsize in travelbudget, as opposed to other carrierson the market, although they havefelt the shrinking too. Local airlineTarom has recently taken a shift inits marketing policy and introducedlow cost tickets for several destina-tions, competing with low cost com-panies.

The company offers EUR 50tickets for certain foreign destina-tions and EUR 24 tickets for localflights during the entire 2009, withthese low prices available only witha 30-day advance booking.

[email protected]

Cristian Enache, broker with Deltastock Price cuts go from 10 -30 percent at Debenhams


F E A T U R E

A new campaign that promotes Romania as a tourism destination was

launched following a collaboration protocol between the Ministry of Tourism

and BRD Societe Generale. Headed by the key line “Romania. Land of

Choice,” the campaign has at its forefront three Romanian sports legends-

gymnast Nadia Comaneci, soccer player Gheorghe Hagi and tennisman Ilie

Nastase. It precedes the creation of the long-expected country brand for

Romania and will run until the latter comes into force next year.

“Romania, Land of Choice”precedes country brand creation

The Moldavian monasteries are among Romania’s tourism trademarks for foreign visitors

By Otilia Haraga

“In spite of the remarkableprogress that Romania has made sof a r, it still has an image deficitabroad. It is totally abnormal that solittle should be known about theDanube Delta or the country’s cul-tural heritage,” said Patrick Gelin,

president of BRD. “Romania, the Land of Choice”

is a campaign that lies on the shoul-ders of three sports legends, NadiaComaneci, Gheorghe Hagi and IlieNastase. The choice of these figureswas not a random one, as Gelin ex-plains. “Ilie Nastase, Nadia Co-maneci and Gica Hagi, who have,each in his remarkable way, had a

great impact on the world of sports,can successfully be Romania’s im-age vectors abroad.” Gelin said thepartnership with the Ministry ofTourism is the result of an idea thatwas tested in BRD several yearsago. “The campaign “unique cardsin the world” was at that point- andstill remains- the only one that hasproposed and really succeeded inselling a Romanian banking productabroad. It proved then that thephrase “sports is one of Romania’sbest ambassadors” is not a cliché buta verifiable reality,” he said.

Stefan Stroe, strategy directorwith Grey Bucharest says this deci-sion to use Comaneci, Hagi andNastase is “not bad.” However, be-yond their charisma and awarenessthat will easily reach its limit, theMinistry of Tourism should alsothink about how they could motivatethe Romanians living abroad to ad-vertise their native country willingly,he says. “We have millions of Ro-manians abroad who would like tohear good things about Romania intheir proximity.” He calls these peo-ple “advocates in reserve of the Ro-manian brand”- potential patriotswho would make small promotione fforts for promoting the image oftheir country in their communities.“I think they should be the first topromote, followed by other well-known Romanians in the country, ”he says.

S t r o e ’s vision of the campaignfor promoting Romania as a tourismdestination revolves around adven-ture and the unknown. “I think thestrategy of a tourism campaign forRomania should be as realistic andinciting as possible and work first ofall on the short term.” He specifical-ly emphasizes that “it does not haveto be beautiful.” Romania is, 20years after the fall of communism, atourism adventure, so that thetourists that we wish to attractshould be those who desire “adven-tures in the east,” he explains.

The agency that is in charge withthe creation of this campaign is A D-D V Euro RSCG, which has collabo-rated with BRD over the last fiveyears for the advertising campaignsin which Hagi, Comaneci and Nas-tase were the driving force. T h ecampaign is scheduled to start inMay and will continue until thelaunch of the country brand. It issupported by BRD and will be pro-moted by the Ministry of To u r i s m .According to Elena Udrea, thetourism minister, the entire cam-paign will cost several million euros,

of which EUR 2 million will be usedfor running the campaign on twopopular international T V c h a n n e l s .For this, a public bidding will be or-ganized. So far, the campaign is on-ly halfway through, as only postalcards and prints have been finalized.There will also be press ads, outdoorand television advertising. “The“Romania, Land of Choice” cam-paign will promote cultural tourism,eco-tourism, agro tourism, the sea-side, Bucharest and Sibiu,” saidUdrea. The countries which are mostt a rgeted are mostly European coun-tries and the United States.

Udrea made clear the distinctionbetween this campaign and thecountry brand. The deadline for sub-mitting offers for the creation of thecountry brand was May 4. “We be-lieve we will have the best countrybrand creators in the world takingpart in this competition” she said.“ We will most likely start the pro-motion of the brand next year,” saidUdrea.

Previous branding campaignshave failed

This is actually not the first eff o r tto brand Romania. In 2004, a cam-paign was made by Ogilvy& Math-e r, which required USD 1.7 millionand which was called “Romania,simply surprising.” The campaignwas cancelled three years later byRichard Batchelor, who headed theteam of international consultantsfrom the World Tourism Org a n i z a-tion because “it did not communi-cate Romania’s essence to potentialvisitors.”

A second failed attempt was acampaign of the Ministry of Exter-nal A ffairs with the slogan “Fabu-lous Spirit” which cost USD110,000. Stroe says the reason forwhich previous efforts have failed isbecause this was one of the most dif-ficult communication strategy proj-ects. The brand strategy should con-vey that “Romania equals the mostbeautiful adventure in Europe.” T h esymbols and people used in it shouldbe compatible and representative forthis direction,” says Stroe.

The agency that will create theRomanian tourism brand will be se-lected following an internationalbid. Among the criteria that partici-pants will have to meet is to haveworked on at least one similar proj-ect. The creation of the brand willcost EUR 2 million, while otherEUR 73 million will be used for im-plementing it, which come from thefunds of the European Union. ■

MAY 4 - 10, 2009 / VOLUME 14, NUMBER 16

BUSINESS REVIEW FORUM Manage your business environment !

Estates&ConstructionM A R K E T

Sonae Sierra delays projects in Bucharest andPloiesti, stops on-site works in Craiova

Portuguese real estate developerSonae Sierra has stopped on-site con-struction works on a shopping mall inCraiova and reported a loss of EUR 50million in the value of its Craiova andPitesti projects. The developer has alsohalted investments in its planned proj-ects in Bucharest and Ploiesti due tolack of financing. “Following a re-eval-uation we realized we had lost overEUR 50 million on the two projects(Ploiesti and Craiova, e.n,), the sumwhich had already been invested,” saidAlvaro Portela, executive manager ofthe company.

The shopping mall in Craiova, theonly one of the three projects withworks at the site underway, was already70 percent pre-leased, but this did not

help the developer secure the necessarybank financing. The mall in Craiova re-quired EUR 140 million in investment,according to previous information.

The developer had announcedplans to build three shopping centers inRomania. The biggest of them was inBucharest, a 110,000-sqm shoppingmall due for completion in 2011, whichrequired a EUR 600 million invest-ment.

Sonae Sierra owns the River Plazashopping mall in the city of RamnicuValcea, for which it paid EUR 42 mil-lion in 2007, when it entered the mar-ket. It also owns 51 percent of shop-ping center Arena Mall in Bacau,which it bought for around EUR 45million. The Portuguese developer

wanted to be among the top three de-velopers and mall owners in Romaniain terms of lettable areas in three to fiveyears, according to previous state-ments.

Sonae Sierra is one of several realestate developers which have haltedtheir projects in Romania. HungarianAblon has abandoned its planned resi-dential projects, as has Copper Beech,which decided to continue only oneresidential project at which construc-tion works were already underway. Re-c e n t l y, Austrian construction companyStrabag suspended construction worksat the Asmita Gardens residential proj-ect, due to payment delays by its devel-oper Charlemagne Capital.

Corina Saceanu

Sonae Sierra entered the Romanian market in 2007, when it bought River Plaza mall in Ramnicu Valcea


E S T A T E S & C O N S T R U C T I O N M A R K E T

Bucharest infrastructure ranks114th among 215 cities on infas-tructure development, according toa recent study conducted by HRconsultancy company Mercer.Bucharest surpassed capitals suchas Sofia, which ranked 144 orMoscow, ranking 126. On the otherhand, Budapest ranked 74th whilePrague was ranked 76th.

The best urban infrastructuresystems have been developed incities such as Singapore, which oc-cupies the first place in this top, fol-lowed by Munich or Copenhagen.

At the other end of the top, Baghdadranks last on both infrastructure andquality of life, according to theMercer study. In the same top, Lon-don was ranked 5th, Paris, 6th,while Swiss cities Zurich and Bernaranked 7th and 8th respectively.Mercer conducted this top taking in-to account criteria such as generalaccess to basic structures such aspower, filtered water, pipelines, te-lephony and internet networks, pub-lic transportation or road infrastruc-ture.

Magda Purice

Bucharest ranks 114 among 215 cities on urbaninfrastructure development, Mercer study finds

Transactions with old apartments rep-resented most of the deals on the residen-tial market in the first three months of2009, according to a a study of real estateagency Coldwell Banker. The old apart-ments, representing units built before1989, registered sales discounts up toeven 50 percent in 2009 compared withthe same period of 2008.

“Areas such as Militari or DrumulTaberei, which have a large amount ofresidential units have attractive salesprices at this moment, of EUR 1,000 persqm for 3 and 4-room suits and up toEUR 1,200 per sqm for studios and tworooms apartments. The latest are the mostrequired units,” said Catalin Serbanescu,managing partner of Coldwell Banker’so ffice in Banu Manta. For example, a 34 sqm-studio in Dru-

mul Taberei, Moghioros area is priced atEUR 41,000, while a 3-room 71 sqm -apartment in Militari can be sold for EUR67,000 sqm.

“More than ever, a powerful state-ment in pricing the apartments is deliv-ered by the construction year of the block,before or after 1977. The banks look forthis detail in granting the loans but thisreference is also taken into account in no-t a r i e s ’ commission calculations or otherfiscal taxations,” said Serbanescu.

The real estate consultancy agencyrepresentative thinks that the months tocome will bring transactions relatedmostly to the old apartments segment,where the prices are expected to be low-e r.

Magda Purice

Old apartments make bulk of Q1 deals, Coldwell Banker s a y s

The prime retail location rentsacross Europe posted a 1.3 percentdrop in the first quarter of 2009,with the largest decrease registeredin Bucharest with a 30 percent dropto EUR 1,080 per sqm per year andin Warsaw, with a 33 percent drop toEUR 960 per sqm, according to a re-port issued by CB Richard Ellis.

The yields in retail grew by 24base points in Q1 of 2009,Bucharest registering the highestgrowth with 300 base points andMoscow posting a 150 base pointsincrease.

The prime location rents for of-fices decreased in the first quarter of2009, according to CBRE’s officerents index for EU-15 countries,which lost 3.4 percent in this period.

The largest decrease has been regis-tered in Kiev which lost 33 percentand reached EUR 357 per sqm peryear, while Moscow’s office rentslost 20 percent, to EUR 918 persqm. The price of industrial spacesdropped also 2.2 percent in the sur-veyed EU-15 region, with Dubaiposting the largest drop to EUR 33percent to EUR 67 per sqm per year.Haga posted the sole industrial rent increase in EMEA, with 8.3percent reaching EUR 65 per sqmper year.

The yields in European officesincreased by 19 points in Q1 of2009, representing an increase of107 base points compared to oneyear ago, according to CB RichardEllis. The largest increase has been

registered in Moscow, with an in-crease of 150 base points to 11.5percent, while cities such as Sofia,Zagreb, Budapest, Belgrad andBucharest posted 100 base pointsrise in Q1 of 2009 compared withthe same period of 2008. Converse-l y, Manchester and Birminghamdropped 15 base points, represent-ing a 7.5 percent drop.

The industrial segment in theEuropean region grew by 32 basepoints, being 120 base points higherin the first months of 2009 com-pared with the 2008 similar period.Bucharest and Moscow once againposted the largest rise with 150 basepoints and reached 13.5 percent and10 percent raise consequently.

Magda Purice

CBRE: First quarter of 2009 brings lower rents and higher yields in Europe

Bucharest infastructured earned the city the 114place among 215 cities ranked by development

Old apartments caught the interest of buyers inthe first part of this year

BRIEFSSOMMERING INSTALL KEEPSTURNOVER STEADY AT EUR 4MILLION IN Q1 OF 2009é Installations producer SommeringInstall reported a EUR 4 millionturnover in the first quarter of 2009,according to the company’s generalmanager Rudolf Sommer. This year,Sommering Install plans to investbetween EUR 100,000 to EUR500,000 in local marketing andpromotion activities. In March 2009,the company completed a EUR 3million investment in its Tunari areaplant near Bucharest. SommeringInstall’s projects portfolio includesprojects such as Baneasa ShoppingCity, Washington Residence,Bucharest Business Park and theGermany Embassy building inBucharest.

STRABAG 2008 NET PROFITDROPS 8 PERCENT é Austrian construction companyStrabag reported an 8 percent dropin net profit last year, to a value ofEUR 157 million, due to curencyexchange fluctuations and assetsdevaluation, the company reported.In 2007, the company posted a netprofit of 170 million. The group’sfinancial reports stated a revenueincrease by 24 percent to EUR12.228 million in 2008. For thisyear, the group expects cash andamount equivalents of about EUR 1.5billion, and an equity ratio of 30.5percent.

CARPATCEMENT HOLDINGPUTS EUR 30,000 IN CSR ACTIVITIESé Construction materials producerCarpatcement Holding said itinvested EUR 30,000 in enviroment-related CSR activities, as part of aprogram called ”Bucurestiul Respira”(Bucharest breathes) initiated by thecompany in 2006. So far, thecompany put over EUR 200,000 inthis CSR program and plantedaround 7,000 trees in the Bucharestarea.



Diana Metiu was awarded at theBusiness Woman Gala

On 23th April took place the thirdedition of the Business Woman Hall ofFame Gala, where was launched The 33Romanian Business Women Hall of FameYearbook and The Political Woman Re-view.

The event was lodged by the editori-al manager of the Business Woman Re-view, Andreea Marin Banica and asguests can be mentioned Elena Basescu,who appears on the cover of the first Po-litical Woman edition. At this occasionwere awarded 33 Romanian businesswomen, successful women who foundsolutions to pass the crisis.

Diana Metiu, the owner and the gen-eral manager of PR and advertisingagency Diana Metiu International, was in-cluded on the 33th awarded women list,

as an important name in the domainswhich she represents, beside other noto-rious names of the Romanian business:Adriana Saftoiu, Camelia Sucu, Iulia Do-brin, Gabriela Vranceanu Firea, VeneraArapu, Carmen Adamescu, Despina An-drei etc. DMI is widely the most focusedPR agency on the market, with prepon-derant Real Estate customers while themost part of the profile companies try tohave customers from all domains. Wefound a successful niche and we maxi-mum exploit it. We accommodate quicklyand we found unprecedented promotionsolutions. I am happy to see that we areappreciated and I am extremely honoredto belong to Raducanu`s List, said DianaMetiu.

The event, the tribute paid to theseexceptional women, is, most part, due toa man – Alexandru Raducanu, the authorof Cum sa reusesti prin tine insuti and theowner of The Marketer Magazine, whowished to offer to the public few femalemodels who succeed in business world,since now monopolized by men.

Paraphrasing the dictum – men-tioned few times during the event – be-hind every powerful man is a more pow-erful woman, I could say that behind Di-ana Metiu there is a powerful womenteam who build the image of many suc-cessful companies, concluded DianaMetiu.

RADUCANU’S LIST

Padding materials producerKnauf Insulation Romania, part ofGerman group Knauf, estimates aEUR 9 million turnover in 2009, anincrease of 20 percent over 2008’s.

The increase was due to agrowth in the number of clients andin its products portfolio. “We aimfor an increase in 2009 also and weplan to acquire a market share of 35percent on the mineral wool seg-ment in the next three years,” saidAdrian Garofeanu, commercial di-rector of Knauf Insulation.

So far, Knauf Insulation holds amarket share of 15 percent on thissegment, according to the compa-n y ’s latest reports. The mineralwool segment is expected to reachEUR 60 million in 2009.

German group Knauf officiallyentered the Romanian market inSeptember 2009. “The company de-cided to enter the Romanian marketdue to its potential for constructionsand the need for good insulation

materials. Currently, Romania islagging behind the other Europeancountries on the insulation stan-dards for constructions,” said at thattime Dominique Bossan, managingdirector for Knauf in Eastern Eu-rope.

The company said it would opena logistic center in Romania, fromwhere it plans to distribute allaround the country to the local part-ners’ network.

On the short and medium term,the company doesn't plan to open aproduction plant in Romania. “Due to the already existing produc-tion plants in the neighboring coun-tries, we do not think of such a de-velopment as a priority, yet,” saidBossan.

Knauf Insulation runs factoriesin Russia, Serbia, Ukraine, Hun-gary, Slovakia, Slovenia, the CzechRepublic and a recently opened onein France.

Magda Purice

Knauf Insulation Romania plansEUR 9 million turnover in 2009

According to a study conducted byhousing, planning and developmentadvisor REAS, over 64,000 apart-ments were completed in Romania in2008, an increase of 36 percent com-pared to 2007. Even such a rapid pro-duction increase creates structuraloversupply given the accumulatedpent up demand resulting from thepersistently high housing shortage andthe growing ability to pay of the do-mestic buyers, according to REAS.The residential construction output inRomania increased by 17,000 units,including individual housing, with themost active regions in Romania beingB u c h a r e s t - I l f o v, North-West andNorth-East. In 2008, the housing con-struction output in the Bucharest-Ilfovregion was estimated at 8,326 units, ofwhich less than 35 percent were deliv-ered in the capital city, REAS found.Despite the large construction vol-umes, the market still shows a strongdemand for apartments. Due to the gapbetween buyer preferences and priceexpectations, demand for housing isbound to remain largely unmet, ac-cording to REAS. Still, even given thecompleted apartments in Bucharest in2008, estimated at 2,867 units, thenumber “is not impressive” whencompared to other capital cities of the

CESE region (Central, Eastern andSouthern Europe). According toREAS, there were twice fewer apart-ments completed in Bucharest than inBratislava, which is one-fourthBucharest size, and almost 90 percentfewer completions than in the Polishcapital comparable in population size.As for the residential prices’ t r i m m e devolution in 2008, REAS advisors ar-gue that “from the local householdpoint of view, the market should nor-malize and adjust price levels to theirpurchasing power. For many develop-ers, this phenomenon may indicate apainful necessity to revise financial as-sumptions for the implemented proj-ects, resignation from the high mar-gins and a significantly longer periodof sales and implementation of proj-ects. Consequently, many developerswill have to retarget their projects tothe popular and mid-market clients”.

REAS predictions for 2009 com-prise reduced transactions volumesand lower average prices in the resi-dential market, due to the lack of cap-ital and financing. REAS foresees arelatively robust recovery of the resi-dential market from the present down-turn, given this scale of developmentof the construction market.

Magda Purice

REAS: Residential market to recover as prices getcloser to a level suitable to buyers

Mentor Finance, a subsidiary ofMentor Group Holdings, said it receiveda EUR 15 million loan to developing aresidential project in Romania. A c c o r d-ing to the company, the loan has beengranted after a joint venture comprisingan international fund and a private equi-ty group was set up. “Beginning with thesummer of 2008, financial markets wereblocked. Due to the financial global cri-

sis, we were facing difficulties in re-ceiveing any loans for real estate proj-ects,” says Osnat Peled, marketing di-rector of Mentor Finance. According toPeled, the company has been contactedby developers over the last six months inorder to get assistance on receiving fi-nancing solutions for existing butblocked projects. “Due to the interna-tional network of business contacts thatwe have established with funds and pri-vate investors, in most of the cases wecan grant a solution, both in residentialand commercial projects, especially ifthere are some sales results or pre-leaseagreements for the project,” says Peled.The representative advises on the goodlocal opportunity of joining low-riskprojects at very good prices and yields.So far, Mentor Finance signed 35 fi-nancing contracts in Romania, Bulgariaand the republic of Moldova last year.R e c e n t l y, it became the subsidiary of aninternational fund which has interests inrenewable energy projects.

Magda Purice

Mentor Finance gets EUR 15 million loan forresidential project in Romania

Osnat Peled, marketing director with Mentor Finance



Austrian investor Sparkassen Im-mobilien AG reported a consolidatednet profit of EUR 5.7 million last yearand an EBIT of EUR 23.8 million.

The investor’s property portfolio in2010 is expected to reach EUR 2 bil-lion, with significant earnings growthfrom completion of pipeline projects,according to the company’s report. T h evalue of its portfolio at the end of 2008stood at EUR 1.78 billion, 15 percenthigher than in the previous year. De-velopment projects, which are recog-nized at cost of construction, made up16 percent of the total value of theportfolio. Residential property madeup 44 percent of the standing portfolio,divided between office properties,some 28 percent, commercial proper-ties with 17 percent, hotels with 7 per-cent and other properties with 4 per-cent. More than half of the rental prop-erty is in Germany, with 27 percent ofthe portfolio in Austria and the remain-ing 22 percent in Slovakia, the CzechRepublic, Croatia, Romania and Hun-g a r y.

As for operating results, by com-parison to the previous year,Sparkassen Immobilien AG's revenuesand rental income both grew by 14 per-cent, to EUR 109.2 million and EUR85.7 million respectively. Last year, themarket turbulence and the general sec-tor trends led to a devaluation of thef i r m ’s portfolio by a total of EUR101.7 million. The CEE portfolio wasdevaluated by 13.5 percent. The saleof eight properties from its portfolio in

2008 brought a profit of EUR 8.3 mil-lion in 2008. Among the successfuldeals, the reports includes the the con-version of the Novotel hotel inBucharest, acquired by the companywith EUR 29.5 million in 2006. T h eaccumulated investment in develop-ment projects at the end of 2008 totaledEUR 160.8 million with 7 develop-ments under construction, includingSun Plaza retail project in Berceni areaof Bucharest. The project waslaunched in 2007 but it has been de-layed so far. “The delay is due to therestructuring of the old project, as theinitial completion time was too opti-mistic. Works are advancing and we'vepre-contracted 84 percent of therentable spaces,” said Friedrich Wa c h-ernig, member of the Sparkassenboard. The new project will include ano ffice building with a total area of10,000 sqm atop the mall, taking theformer EUR 185 million investmentplan to EUR 200 million, financedwholly by Sparkassen Immobilien.

Magda Purice

Austrian Sparkassen Immobilien posts EUR 5.7million profit in 2008

Sparkassen owns Novotel hotel in Bucharest

Credit broker Kiwi Finance will pro-vide financial solutions for ESOP C o n-sulting clients, following a recentlysigned partnership between the twocompanies.

According to Alexandru Petrescu,managing partner of ESOP C o n s u l t i n g ,financial consultants are needed nowmore than ever in providing solutions forclients looking for a residential location.“The new realities of the real estate mar-ket led to the partnership between thetwo companies providing interconnect-ed services,” Petrescu said.

Last year, Kiwi Finance, the formerGemini Capital Consult and part of theSwedish investment fund Oresa Ve n-tures' portfolio, said it planned to reach30 offices in Romania by 2010.

Kiwi Finance posted a EUR 3.4 mil-lion turnover at the end of 2008, a 2 per-cent increase compared with 2007,while the company sold credits worthEUR 442 million.

Esop Consulting’s partnership withKiwi is another move made by a localreal etate agency in delivering financingservices to its clients.

Magda Purice

Kiwi Finance has financialsolutions for Esop clients


F E A T U R E

Meal tickets are still perceived by Romanians as a poor substitute for cash,and sometimes even as a salary cut. That is why the local consumer’s habitof using these tickets may differ considerably from the Europeans whoalso use these tickets, with theirs being three times more valuable thanRomanians’. Still, this market brings significant revenues for companiesissuing the vouchers, and fiscal facilities for employers.

Vouchers provide firmswith meal ticket to profit

Meal tickets and travel vouchers bring significant revenues for companies which issue them and fiscal facilities for employers

By Magda Purice

In the last ten years, the mealticket market has reached a value ofEUR 1.3 billion, according to esti-mations by the companies issuingdifferent types of tickets and vouch-ers.

It has the potential to grow toEUR 1.5 billion, even in the currenteconomic conditions, since the fis-cal facilities attached to these ticketscontinue to be attractive to employ-ers.

Still, according to Sodexo Ro-mania, a company which distributesservice vouchers and cards on thelocal market, the meal ticket seg-ment is subject to the economic sit-uation. According to FrancoisPodeur, general manager of SodexoRomania, a more pronounced nega-tive impact has been visible in thefields directly hit by the cash crisis,such as construction, real estate andautomotive.

Conversely, SMEs have startedto offer meal tickets. “In the currentmarket conditions, they want tomaximize the fiscal advantages af-forded through the provision ofmeal tickets to their staff,” Podeurtold Business Review. According tothe company’s calculations, half ofthe Romanian employees are beingoffered meal tickets as part of theirsalary package.

On this market, Sodexo has ashare of 40 percent, according to itsdata. The company has signed contracts with 50,000 locationscountywide so far, including restau-rants, shops and other serviceproviders.

Unlike other Europeans, the Ro-manian consumer on this market us-es the tickets for shopping at hyper-markets or supermarkets, besidesother commercial food stores, whilethe French or Italian user wouldrather put the ticket towards a mealat a restaurant. This may also be amatter of mentality, with a Roman-ian feeling embarrassed to pay withmeal tickets at a restaurant, unlikethe more pragmatic European con-sumer. In Romania, meal tickets arestill seen as a poor substitute forcash, say pundits.

Food vouchers have been intro-duced in European countries such asFrance, Belgium, Austria, Italy andGreece as a compensatory packageand an instrument of social protec-tion, according to a national compa-ny issuing service vouchers, Ticket


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Plus Services. Nona Onica, thecompany’s marketing & PR manag-er, says the local market of foodvouchers has developed fast in thelast ten years, in direct relation withthe social and economic backgroundand fiscal facilities.

According to the company’sstudies, a food voucher is worthEUR 8.65 per day in France, orEUR 7 per day in Belgium, com-pared with only EUR 2 per day inRomania. For a company to be au-thorized with issuing these value-based vouchers, it has to provide ashare capital of EUR 3 million for astart, but also make other invest-ments such as in technology and hu-man resources. For instance, TicketPlus Services recorded a volume ofissued vouchers amounting to EUR86 million at the end of 2008, andforecasts an increase of 30 percenton this amount in 2009. The compa-ny holds a portfolio of over 3,000client companies which purchasethese vouchers, most of them pri-vate companies with a staff of 100to 300 employees, according to On-ica.

HOLIDAY VOUCHERS THE NEXTBIG THING

On top of meal tickets, which forseveral years have been part of atypical negotiated salary package inRomania, 2009 brought a new idea

for Romanian employers and theirstaff, albeit a fairly traditional prac-tice for other European countries:vacation vouchers.

Most of the companies whichare active on the market of mealtickets and other vouchers havestarted to seek authorization to issuethis kind of ticket, with many ofthem expecting significant revenuesfrom this segment, “ if the productis trusted,” as one company said.Ticket Plus Services, the Romanianleader on the market of food vouch-ers, according to its own data, ex-pects the sales of holiday vouchersto make up 15 percent of the com-pany’s overall sales on the foodvoucher segment, from 220,000users.

“We’ve received positive signalstowards holiday vouchers both fromthe private and public sector. Nowthat the law is in place for thevouchers, called ‘vacantaPLUS’ inour case, we are counting on em-ployers offering their employees awell-deserved holiday,” said Onica.Holiday vouchers have an impact onthree parties: the employer, the em-ployee and the hospitality institu-tions, such as hotels, inns or othertourism agents.

Given that the total outlay peryear per person is around EUR 800,which will be spent in authorizedRomanian holiday units/agencies,

one thing is for sure – tour operatorsare more than interested in signingpartnerships with the issuing com-panies.

Ticket Plus Services is about tosign partnerships with more than300 such outlets and, according tothe company’s estimations, plans toreach a portfolio of more than 2,000affiliated partners. For all the pro-vided voucher services – meal, gift,etc – the company has 30,000 affili-ated shops countrywide, with 3,000signed contracts with companiesand 250,000 users.

In April, Chèque Déjeuner Ro-mania received its authorization toissue travel tickets called ChèqueVacances to Romanian employees.The company started a campaign toattract a chain of affiliated touristagencies, comprising hotels andinns. Chèque Déjeuner Romaniaplans to attract over 500,000 indi-vidual clients for these tickets and toincrease the number with publicsector employees.

“We see this product as a benefitfor every employee, employer andtourism institution. Although theopportunity for these vouchers hasappeared in troubled market condi-tions, if the product is trustedenough, the results will appear, ”said Elena Pap, general manager ofChèque Déjeuner Romania. T h ecompany was set up in 2002 and has

increased by 300 percent its issuednumber of tickets following the ac-quiring of the IFS’s commerce fund.In 2008, the company reached aturnover of EUR 12 million, a riseof 35 percent on the previous year’sresult. For 2009, it estimates a 20percent increase in turnover.

In the European region, Franceintroduced a system of holiday tick-ets in 1982.

Chèque Déjeuner Romania, acompany issuing meal, present, so-cial and the latest holiday tickets,found out that Hungary had imple-mented the holiday ticket system in1998, following a government ordi-nance which entitled each citizen tosuch tickets, free of taxes and othercharges. According to Chèque Déje-u n e r’s studies, the system con-tributed a 25 percent growth to therevenues coming from hospitalityand, as a political effect, to the erad-ication of social inequality.

In Romania, Chèque Déjeunerwas established in 2002, started toissue tickets in 2003 and recorded avolume of issued tickets four timeshigher in 2005 compared with itsfirst operational year. Locally, thecompany holds a 30 percent marketshare, and this year increased itsshare capital required for issuingholiday tickets. In 2008, the firm ad-justed its share capital by EUR 1.8million. ■

The local meal ticket market reached EUR 1.3 billion in the last 10 years Romania is on its way to implementing the holiday tickets system, which has already been done inother European countries


E V E N T S

What has happened to MorganF r e e m a n ’s agent? In my limited knowl-edge of how Hollywood works, I hadassumed that a top actor’s agent read thescripts his or her client was sent, and re-jected the bad ones. But Freeman nowappears to crop up in another dreadfulmovie every few months. Does he justsay yes to every part he’s offered? T h i sis the man, remember, who starred inDriving Miss Daisy, The ShawshankRedemption and Seven. He has an Os-c a r. Now it’s Bruce A l m i g h t y, LuckyNumber Slevin and The Love Guru.And Thick as Thieves falls squarely inthe latter category.

Everybody loves a heist movie.While in real life, the type of personwho robs banks is a brutal career crimi-nal who would shoot your face off for afew thousand dollars, on screen bankrobbers seem to have acquired an ele-gance and chutzpah. They are the FredAstaires of the criminal world,d e b o n a i r, graceful and ever on handwith a nifty move to surprise and delightthe audience. We’re always going to berooting for the gang, as they ingenious-ly outwit the dim-witted cops again andagain. From the cream of the crop –classics like The Sting, The Italian Job,The Ladykillers and modern day greatssuch as The Usual Suspects and InsideMan – to the merely diverting – A f t e rthe Sunset, Matchstick Men, Entrap-ment – it’s quite difficult to squander allthat audience goodwill and make a dis-appointing caper movie. But it has beenachieved here.

In debt to thuggish and monosyl-labic Russian gangsters (is there anyother kind?), legendary diamond thiefKeith Ripley (Freeman) is back for One

Last Heist. Think of him as a latter- d a yCary Grant in To Catch a Thief, minusmost of the charm. But the heist inquestion – stealing two hitherto un-heard of Fabergé eggs – is a two-manjob. Of course it is, it’s always a two-man job. So, he recruits young buckGabriel Martin (Antonio Banderas,w h o ’s pushing 50, so not that young ofa buck really) to come in on the deal.We are introduced to Gabriel in thef i l m ’s first – and last – exciting se-quence, an audacious diamond robberyon the New York subway. Yep, that’show elite security guards carry USD100,000 precious stones around the city– on the subway.

Distracting Gabriel from the task inhand is Keith’s attractive, blonde Russ-ian goddaughter Alexandra (RadhaMitchell), despite pop’s patronising andsexist warning that he should “stayaway from her”. This lame romanticsubplot seems at first to be largely a de-vice to allow Banderas to show off hisripped torso in gratuitously lengthy sexscenes, and prove that even at 50 he’sstill got it. Perhaps the ripped torso isthe reason Banderas was cast, as it cer-tainly can’t have been his acting: attimes his oddly camp performance be-comes almost painful to watch.

A n y w a y, the two cat burglars setabout planning the heist, until every-thing gets complicated by the thuggishRussian gangsters. Also on their trail is– and prepare to be astonished by thisinnovative plot direction – a dogged copwho has been chasing Keith throughouthis 20-year NYPD career! Imagine.

Events culminate in two big twists.One is so obvious that if you weren’taware it was going to happen with fiveminutes of the start, your lack of fore-sight probably qualifies you to trade insub-prime mortgages. The other is notobvious, and renders most of the pre-ceding events nonsensical. As the cred-its began to roll, I couldn’t even workout what was supposed to have gonedown. By the time they had finishedrolling, I had ceased to care.

Debbie Stowe

D i r e c t o r : Mimi LederS t a r r i n g: Morgan Freeman, AntonioB a n d e r a sOn at: : See listings for details

F I L MR E V I E W: Thick asThieves / The Code

Antonio Banderas and Morgan Freeman

The first three concerts that have beenconfirmed for the Bucharest Masters ofJazz festival are those of Richard Bona,Power of Three and Jan GarbarekGroup. The festival will take place be-tween October 23-25 at the Palace Hall.Norwegian saxophone player Jan Gar-barek is a promoter of ambiental jazzwho has penned about 60 albums sofar. Power of Three is a group made ofCHICK COREA, Lenny White, StanleyClarke who are well-known for theirvirtuosity and their funk- jazz music.Last but not least, Richard Bona, who isconsidered one of the best bass playersis an artist from Cameroon who is ap-preciated for his voice and verses. Bonawill play on the first day of the festival.The previous edition of Bucharest Mas-ters of Jazz brought to Bucharest artistssuch as Al Jarreau, Dianne Reeves, ErikTruffaz, Count Basie Orchestra, MontyAlexander Trio, Chick Corea, JohnMcLaughlin and Nigel Kennedy.

The best brands on the Roman-ian market were awarded during thesecond edition of the program Su-perbrands Romania. The awardswere handed in during a special galathat took place at JW Marriott Hotellast week. During the SuperbrandsGala, the tradition goes that a valu-able and respected public figure inRomania is awarded, who hasbrought a remarkable image capitalto the country. This year it was artistDan Puric who received this acco-lade. Previous editions saw RaedArafat, the creator of SMURD (themobile emergency service), actorIon Caramitru, initiator of theUNITER theater gala and BogdanBaltasar, who is held in high esteemby the financial and business com-

munity. On the same occasion, thesecond volume of the Business Su-perbrands was launched. The vol-ume includes top brands from do-mains and industries that are repre-sentative for Romania but also twocategories that are a first. The firstcategory which includes brandswith development potential fromneighboring countries is representedby three brands from the MoldovaRepublic: Agroindbank, Purcariand lawfirm Turcan& Turcan. Thesecond category entitled Brands toWatch includes brands that were upto a remarkable start such as Radis-son SAS and RBS, which will bemonitored in the future by the busi-ness Superbrands programs.

Otilia Haraga

Best brands awarded in secondSuperbrands edition

A campaign meant to draw atten-tion to the negative effects ofplastic on the environment andfauna in the Danube Delta is un-folding. The campaign called “AWorld Without Plastic Would BeFantastic” was initiated by Savethe Danube and Delta Associationin 2008. The aim of this campaignis to ring an alarm bell to the de-structive effects that plastic ob-jects that are discarded bytourists pose not only for the en-vironment per se but also for an-imals. It is estimated that, annual-ly, 100,000 birds and animals diebecause of plastic ingestion orwounds caused by it.


E V E N T S

Tickets in sector A for the first ever con-cert that MADONNA will play in Romaniaare already sold out. The pop icon willplay in Bucharest on August 26 in IzvorPark as part of the Sticky & Sweet Tour,the best selling tour of a solo artist in his-tory. According to organizers Emag!c En-tertainment, tickets are selling very rap-idly. “Tickets are selling the fastest thatwe have ever seen for a concert organ-ized by us: at this moment, only 20 per-cent of the tickets are available,” saidLaura Coroianu, CEO Emag!c Entertain-ment. Tickets in the other sectors can stillbe acquired from the Diverta store chainor online from www.myticket.ro site forprices that reach RON 120 (sector B),RON 600 (Gold Bar) and RON 800 (VIPsector). The Gold packages which includea VIP ticket in a premium area, access tothe VIP area and the VIP tent can be ac-quired only from the site for the price ofRON 2250.

Cuban trumpet and piano jazz player AR-TURO SANDOVAL will come to Romania tohold a concert during the Jazz Festival inSibiu. The 39th edition of the festival willunfold between May 11 and 17, and San-doval will play on the last day of the event.Arturo Sandoval is a famous trumpet andpiano player from Cuba who work is high-ly influenced by jazzmen such as CharlieParker, Clifford Brown and Dizzy Gillespie.Sandoval’s life was the subject of a moviecalled "For Love or Country: The ArturoSandoval Story" in which he was played byactor Andy Garcia. Sibiu Jazz Festival is oneof the best seen jazz events in South- East-ern Europe. Apart from jazz, music styleswhich combine jazz with folk, blues, rock,R&B, salsa and hip-hop.

Collection Mobility, a project which facilitatesthe exchange of works of art, was selected forimplementation by the European Union. Theproject was submitted as part of the CultureProgram of the European Union and will be im-plemented between 2009 and 2010. As muse-ums, libraries and archives administer an im-portant part of the cultural heritage, it wasdeemed important that all this content is madeaccessible to all. The project brings a positivecontribution in the intercultural dialogue amongthe member states of the European Union. Thiswill be possible by organizing exhibitions, edit-ing publications, facilitating research by updat-ing data basis and using them.

EUROPAfest, an international festival of blues, jazz, pop& classical music, will reunite over 300 mu-sicians from 40 countries. The event will take place between May 7 and 13 in Bucharest. The seriesof concerts will be hosted by various venues, both formal ones such as the Auditorium room in theNational Museum of Art or spaces of relaxation such as Hard Rock Cafe. Thus, consecrated bandsfrom Austria, Germany, Great Britain, the Netherlands and Romania have been invited to play. Animportant section of the festival entitled Caffe Festival, which proposes the public to listen to musicin an unconventional space, will take place at Hard Rock Cafe. There will be blues, jazz and pop con-certs but also jam sessions.

The annual United Way galatook place last week, marking 5years of activity of the non- govern-mental organization in Romania.The gala featured a special guest:Teresa Hall Bartels, President andCEO of United Way International.

Every year, the gala acknowledgesand awards the companies, organi-zations and volunteers who teamedup with United Way Romania tochange for the better people’s lives.The gala also marks the beginningof a fundraising campaign that willtake place between May and June inpartnership with 43 companies andtheir employees, which is based ondonations from the companies andtheir employees. The proceeds willbe used to support 35 programs ofeducation, health and economic andsocial integration. The programswere selected by the employees ofthe partner companies who are Unit-ed Way volunteers. In 5 years of ac-tivity, United Way has had so far aspartners 60 companies and 3,500people, mainly employees of thesecompanies. This made possible forthe foundation to provide assistanceto 15,000 people in total.

Otilia Haraga

United Way throws anniversary gala

Former prime minister Calin Popescu Tariceanu

The Inocenti Foundation will hold abenefit event on May 15 at Kentaurosstudios for the hospitalized children inBucharest and their parents.

The main beneficiaries of the foun-dation are infants who spend the firstmonths of their lives in the hospitalalone. The foundation works at prevent-ing the developmental delays that oftenresult from a lack of stimulation, indi-vidual care and attention. Children whoare hospitalized due to illness also bene-fit from our activities, and their mothersreceive counselling by psychologistsand educators. The charity event isaimed at raising money that will enablethe foundation to continue and expandits programs.

Romanian singer Loredana will givea guest performance at the event, as willthe Cortez Band, dancers from theWilmark Academia de Baile Latino, andour very own Elvis impersonator, To n yTecuceanu. All the performances arefree of charge, donated by exceptionalartists who support our work with thec h i l d r e n .

The event will also have an auctionand a raffle. World-famous tennis playerIlie Nastase, Andrei Pavel, and actor Ho-ratiu Malaele have donated items, ashave Albatross Travel, Carul cu Bere,Arcada Restaurant and others. Placeyour bid – you may come home with afavorite item. A donation of RON 300covers the cost of a ticket. ■

Inocenti Foundation holds benefitevent for hospitalized children

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