14th June
2007
BMW office opens in Romania
BMW Group will open at the beginning of July its own office in Romania, managing
imports, marketing, PR and post-sale services. The current main BMW importer,
Automobile Bavaria, will remain dealer and the main partner of the BMW office.
BMW representatives estimate that the sales of BMW and Mini brands in Romania
will grow some 10% in 2007, up to 2,000 units.
The official office of BMW Group is part of BMW Group Central Eastern Europe,
which manages brand imports in Slovakia, Bulgaria and other countries in the region.
BMW Group decided to open the office in order to have better market predictions
and to be able to provide spare parts to dealers in less time than usually necessary.
Source: Hotnews.ro
Sibiu, a 100m-euro retail magnet
In the last six months, the city of Sibiu has attracted investments worth tens
of millions euros in retail, while at the end of 2004, the current European Capital
of Culture did not have even a single hypermarket. Among the first retail networks
to arrive in Sibiu are Real Hypermarket, Media Galaxy, bauMax and Kaufland.
Retail investments peaked last year, when BelRom, a Romanian-Belgian joint venture,
invested 50m euros into a retail park project. BelRom later sold the park for
83m euros to the British fund North Real Estate making a 33m-euro profit in just
10 months.
The reason why major retailers are attracted to Sibiu is because of "the
high growth potential of the market", which is expected to attract at least
40m euros in the coming period.
Over the past few years, the biggest Romanian retailers have invested up to 60m
euros in projects.
Real Hypermarket is the biggest store in Sibiu and was developed through an investment
worth 13m euros, which was launched at the end of last year. The store is the
4th Real Hypermarket opened in Romania. Located in the retail park developed by
BelRom, the store employs 450 people.
A Media Galaxy store, developed with investments of 1.5m euros, also opened in
Sibiu this year. Consecutively, The Mall Promenada shopping complex opened, which
includes 85 stores. Among other developments, the Bucharest-based Mobilia Company
is about to complete construction of a furniture mall in the same retail park.
The mall is expected to open later this month and will bring together 20 furniture
manufacturers. The mall will be the first of its kind in the Sibiu area.
The BauMax store chain, a business started by the Essi family, has brought the
concept of a "family business" to Sibiu. The Sibiu store is located
in the same retail park and opened earlier this year. The Trident Sibiu supermarket,
developed with an investment of 2m euros, is the fourth shopping centre of this
type that Trident Trans Tex has opened in Romania.
Other retailers chose to expand by acquiring new units, with the demise of Univers'all
triggered by the arrival of some strong international competitors. In this particular
case, Interex hypermarket rapidly replaced the former Univers'all. The store entails
a 4m-euro investment operated by Interex CDE Romania, part of the French group,
Groupement des Musquetaires.
However, some retailers have remained cautious and have chosen to develop their
businesses' by renting land. Kaufland was the 7th hypermarket to open in Sibiu,
with an investment put at 7m euros. However, Kaufland is renting both the site
and building from a Sibiu company, Terra Invest.
Metro Cash&Carry decided to increase its investments in Sibiu by preparing
a new retail area. Carrefour is also expected to open a hypermarket in Sibiu,
according to its representatives, while Praktiker could soon become the second
biggest player on the DIY market, after bauMax, by opening a store.
Source: ZF.ro
Can Romania become Europe's India?
The representatives of some of the biggest players in the business process outsourcing
(BPO) industry have launched operations in Bucharest in the last three years,
turning Romania into a Southeast European leading light in this field.
Taking into consideration the fact that India continues to be the world's most
attractive location for companies seeking to open service centres, does Romania
stand any chance of becoming Europe's India in terms of outsourcing? This was
the most important question that was requested to be answered by consultants,
experts in this field and representatives of the authorities, who were attending
the first BPO conference in Romania organised by ZIARUL FINANCIAR, in partnership
with Genpact.
Economy and Finance Minister Varujan Vosganian, who attended the seminar, said
that investments in outsourcing could reach 200-250 million euros by 2010.
However, Patrick Cogny, CEO of Genpact for Europe, says that it is quite difficult
to relate any SE European country to the Indian model. "India has been the
worldwide success story of outsourcing over the last few years. The outsourcing
industry has existed in India for well over 10 years, which demonstrates outsourcing
is an industry that redefines the way companies do business," Cogny specified.
India is the location of choice for service providers, especially because of the
low costs and the availability of language skills.
Whereas in India, BPO industry players operate on a market that turns out approximately
400,000 graduates a year and where experienced employees and managers are highly
available, in SE Europe and implicitly in Romania, the workforce market is much
more fragmented.
According to a survey conducted by the US consulting company A.T. Kearney that
was revealed during the event, Romania's attractiveness, as far as BPO investors
are concerned, has lessened compared with last year. Romania therefore ranks 33rd
out of an index of 50 countries, unlike last year, when it ranked 24th in the
same index (although the index only accounted for 40 countries).
"Some time ago, Romania's disadvantage to other countries was its economic
stability. Now, it's HR that's the problem," Bogdan Belciu, manager with
A.T. Kearney, pointed out, explaining that the main reason why Romania dropped
in the ranking was due to human resources.
"We have to maximise the size of the HR market we operate on as outsourcing
players. Endlessly fighting over the same people who work in the industry is not
a solution. The moment five or six players in the field realise this, we will
all stand to gain," stated Manish Sinha, HR Leader, Genpact Europe.
The BPO industry players particularly require individuals with foreign language
and various technical skills (accounting, IT etc.).
"The war over talent is the only thing that makes a difference among countries
and the companies that operate on the BPO market," stated David Jensen, Senior
Vice President, Communications, at Genpact.
Source: ZF.ro
Immoeast takes over two RED projects for 120 million
euros
Austrian investment fund Immoeast, the most active player on the domestic real
estate market continues its local expansion by involvement in two more real estate
projects in Baia Mare and Constanta, as a result of a total investment worth 120
million euros.
"Harborside Hotel is actually a continuation of the Trident Plaza project,
which will also include other retail spaces, parking spots and a three or four
star hotel with 160-180 rooms. The investment stands at about 50 million euros,"
Andrew Stear, manager of RED Management Capital, the developer of the project,
told ZF.
Immoeast has taken over 75 percent in the Harborside Hotel and Red Project Two,
and will buy the rest when the projects are completed.
Red Project Two is the company that bought the Maratex factory in Baia Mare, on
the site of which a project comprising retail and office space, as well as homes
will be developed. This project entails an investment of approximately 70 million
euros. The acquisition price of the land was approximately 16 million euros.
Construction works on the Trident Plaza complex began this spring. The complex
is under development by RED in Constanta and was 75 percent bought by Immoeast,
last autumn. The total value of the transaction amounted to 100 million euros.
The two acquisitions are not the only properties that Immoeast has in Constanta
and Baia Mare, considering the Austrians also bought the Polus Center project
in Constanta and the Gold Plaza shopping centre in Baia Mare. The cumulated value
of the transactions exceeded 280 million euros.
Immoeast is now engaged in an aggressive acquisition campaign, looking for both
completed properties but especially for projects in their early stages of development.
Other usual partners for Immoeast's investments are the developers of the Euromall
shopping centres, from which the Austrians bought their first two projects in
Galati and Pitesti, for a cumulated amount of more than 150 million euros.
At the same time, the acquisitions of the Polus Center projects in Cluj Napoca
(210 million euros) and in Constanta (185 million euros), developed by TriGranit
company, are the biggest transactions on the Romanian real estate market. The
Austrians have also announced they will develop a logistic network in partnership
with European Future Group, which is set to entail approximately 300 million-euro
investments.
Immoeast has a portfolio of more than 100 properties in Romania, with a lettable
area of 3.4 million square metres. The properties are either completed or in various
stages of development. RED, a company controlled by the Warburg Pincus and GED
Capital Partners investment funds is among the most active developers on the domestic
market.
Source: ZF.ro
BMW
Romania Sibiu Media
Galaxy Ziarul Financiar
GED Capital Immoeast
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