28th May
2007
Romtelecom launches first phase of ‘Customer
comes first’ project
Romtelecom is going to give its customers more value for the same monthly subscription
for landline telephony, after the launch of the first phase of the ‘Customer
comes first’ project, on May 28, company General Manager Yorgos Ioannidis
announced on a festive occasion yesterday.
“We have new offers to show our gratitude to our customers for being loyal
to us. We are now a company concentrated mainly on our customers and services,”
Yorgos Ioannidis said.
For the first time in the company’s history is Romtelecom making a radical
change of approach to the relating to its customers, after years when efforts
have been focused on becoming a healthy company from a financial point of view
and able to make substantial investment and modernize its network.
On May 28, the Romtelecom network will have become completely digitalised, and
the company will start rewarding its customers with super-offers at no extra cost
compared to the current subscription.
“Romtelecom is changing together with Romania and we also contributed to
the development of this country,” Yorgos Ioannidis (photo) said. The manager
said the Romtelecom strategy will be also complemented by a new subscription enabling
customers to make unlimited calls in the Romtelecom network with no day or hour
slot restriction. Called ‘Confort nelimitat,’ the new subscription
will cost EUR 11.2 per month plus VAT. All the other subscriptions will include
unlimited calls outside the peak hours in the Romtelecom network (Comfort 50,
Comfort 200) or discounted tariffs for calls made in the operator’s network
(Confort standard).
The price of the social subscription will drop from EUR 4.9/month to EUR 3.9/month
plus VAT, and all retired people with an income smaller than RON 180/month qualify
for such a subscription. Ioannidis further stated that the Internet access services
were a priority to Romtelecom in its long-term strategy.
In the first half of 2008, Romtelecom is planning to launch the television over
IP service (IPTV), counting on finishing the investment in the IP network by the
end of this year.
“Romtelecom will have the most robust IP network in the SE of Europe,”
Ioannidis mentioned. The investment budget Romtelecom ahs earmarked this year
will exceed EUR 200 M. The company General Manager yesterday introduced the new
management of Romtelecom as well, including two commercial directors whose task
is to retain and enlarge the client portfolio. Joerg Zeddis has become commercial
executive director, for the residential segment, and George Makowski will be in
charge of the corporate clients. The other members of the new management team
of Romtelecom are Eftimios Papapostolou – executive director for business
services, Fotis Karonis – IT director, and Anca Georgescu Aladgem –
HR director.
The other members of the top management of the landline telephony operator are:
Anastosios Tzolas – chief financial officer, David Craig – director
of the wholesale business unit, but his term will most likely come to an end this
year, Catalin Dima – legal and PR executive director, Silviu Agapi –
executive director for technology, Vasileios Voulgaris – director of the
strategy and business plan division and Harm Aben – director of the regulations
division.
Source: Nine O'Clock
Investors undeterred by Romanian politics
Romania, which joined the European Union on Jan. 1, has become a top target for
Czech companies wanting to expand abroad. Analysts say that the business environment
remains strong despite the political unrest that climaxed with a national referendum
May 19 reconfirming Traian Basescu as president. He was suspended a month earlier
by the Romanian Parliament.
Enterprises already present in Romania are reporting high revenues and have plans
to expand. Other firms said they were casting a close eye on rising economic indicators
to calculate the right moment of a possible entry.
However, Czech investors point to two major issues that still hamper their development
on the Romanian market: corruption and bureaucracy. But the situation is improving,
analysts said. Romanian legislation meets European Union requirements, the economy
is developing despite political precariousness, and the market will grow, driving
investors’ profits upward.
Romania’s image abroad remains controversial. A Transparency International
2006 report on the perception of corruption, released shortly before Romania joined
the EU, placed the country as the most corrupt country in the future EU-27. Despite
such an image, companies look at long-term economic indicators when they decide
to launch Romanian operations, according to analysts.
A record foreign direct investment (FDI) inflow in 2006 (see chart) and a sturdy
gross domestic product (GDP) growth of 6.4 percent was reflected in the earnings
of major Czech companies already operating in Romania.
“The most important investments are expected in the energy and infrastructure
fields,” said Karel Zdenovec, head of the trade department within the Czech
Embassy in Bucharest. “We also expect in the forthcoming period some actions
in the financial field, in the domain of food processing, paper-mill productions,
ecological and IT projects, software and other special applications,” he
said.
In 2006, top companies such as the electricity group CEZ, chemical and pharmaceutical
company Zentiva, food manufacturer Hamé and the international private equity
group PPF Investments recorded growth or expansion in Romania.
CEZ’s October 2005 purchase of 51 percent of the Romanian electricity distributor
Electrica Oltenia for € 151 million (Kc 4.2 billion) was maybe one of the
most resounding Czech investments in Romania. In 2006, CEZ Romania’s earnings
before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) were € 60.3
million, compared to Electrica Oltenia’s 2005 net profit of € 21.3
million in 2005. Also in 2006, CEZ bid to purchase 67.5 percent of another major
Romanian electricity distributor Electrica Muntenia Sud, but lost in favor of
Italian group Enel that won the bid with a € 820 million offer. However,
CEZ remains interested in further expansion, this time in electricity production.
The Romanian government has recently announced its intentions to privatize three
major electricity producers in Rovinari, Turceni and Craiova in the Oltenia region
of southwest Romania, by 2008. “We’re interested in these projects
and we would like to diversify our portfolio in Romania,” said Eva Nováková,
CEZ’s spokeswoman.
“It’s normal for CEZ to be interested in investing mainly in the Oltenia
region if the company wants to acquire synergies with its already owned distribution
plant Electrica Oltenia,” said Constantin Nica, economic councilor with
the Romanian Embassy in Prague.
Some of CEZ’s suppliers are considering launching Romanian operations, too.
Czech producer of plastic switchboards for electricity and gas distribution DCK
Holoubkov Bohemia is considering opening a production center in Romania, Lenka
Chaloupková, DCK Holoubkov’s export manager told CBW. “We’re
trying to cooperate with more and more Romanian partners and we’re considering
launching a production plant, but for the moment we rather focus on enlarging
our supplies,” Chaloupková said. DCK Holoubkov is already a supplier
for CEZ and the German electricity group E.ON Ceská republika in the Czech
Republic. Chaloupková said that the main challenges on the Romanian market
are the different standards in switchboard production between Romania and the
Czech Republic and the price sensitivity. “We need to maintain our quality,
yet adapt to the local price conditions,” she said.
Zentiva had a successful year in 2006. The Czech firm, which in September 2005
acquired the Romanian pharmaceutical company Sicomed for $102 million (Kc 2.1
billion)—saw its sales increasing by 27.2 percent in the first quarter of
2007 to reach € 23.2 million year-on-year. In 2006, Zentiva was the seventh-largest
pharmaceutical company in Romania, with a 5.2 percent market share and sales of
€ 87 million.
For Zentiva, Romania makes roughly 19.8 percent of the total sales of the group
and is the second market after the Czech Republic.
Food producer Hamé is another major Czech investor in Romania that’s
considering expansion. Last year, Petr Šubrt, Hamé’s general
director for Romania, told the Romanian financial daily Ziarul financiar that
Hamé is “ready to buy whatever business” it makes sense to
invest in. He added that the business can’t grow organically anymore “but
needs expansion.” In 2006, Hamé’s turnover grew up € 5.1
billion in 2006 from € 4.3 million in 2005.
The Romanian service sector also lures investments. In early 2007, private equity
investment fund PPF Investments (PPFI) purchased two insurance houses in less
than one month (see “PPFI grows in Romania,” CBW, March 5, 2007).
PPFI was reportedly interested in purchasing a share in the hotel chain Continental
Hotels, operator of the Ibis brand in Romania. The management of Continental hotels
denied rumors about possible negotiations and, on May 14, decided to raise its
capital by € 14 million and open six more new hotels in Romania totaling
1,600 rooms by mid-2010. At the end of 2006, Continental Hotels had a turnover
of € 24.3 million, compared to € 22.3 million in 2005. PPFI declined
to comment on its expansion strategy in Romania.
Besides large investors, many smaller firms gained more confidence in Romania
after its accession to the EU. An example is the Czech law firm Konecná
& Šafár, which will open its first office abroad in Romania in
the second half of 2007. Domestic consultancy M.C.Triton is also examining the
option of opening an office in Romania (see “Consultancies see growth and
consolidation,” CBW, March 19, 2007).
“Generally, the Romanian environment is business-friendly, but there are
still two problems: corruption and bureaucracy,” said Pavel Šafár,
partner with Konecná & Šafár.
Šafár said that corruption is noticeable at two levels. “Whenever
you need something and the other person isn’t obliged to serve you, there
is an automatic expectation that you will pay for it,” he said. The other
area of corruption is on the decision-making level where, for example, “public
tenders aren’t very transparent yet.”
Bureaucracy is another factor that affects Romania, Šafár said. “Day-to-day
operations can flow smoothly, but if a company needs a more sophisticated transaction,
the number of necessary permits and authorizations is extremely high,” he
said.
However, “the business is booming and we expect to see growth and reach
[a staff of] between 10 and 15 lawyers in the next five years,” Šafár
said. “We sometimes feel difficulties on access to tenders, together with
lack of information and corruption in different stages of decisions,” Zdenovec
said. “There are still big differences between the Romanian regions from
the point of view of development of infrastructure and the conditions for the
business activities,” he said.
Romania’s capital market didn’t react when the Parliament suspended
President Basescu April 19. “Business is stronger than politics, and the
investment climate has not been noticeably affected by the political difficulties,”
said Victor Kevehazi, senior partner with consultancy KPMG Romania. Kevehazi said
that “most investors look at Romania’s long term potential, and so
they are not too concerned about short term political instability.”
Rather, the greater concern would be a longer term political instability that
may affect or impede legislation and have a greater impact on investors. “The
only potential difficulty for the investment climate would be if the political
instability drags out for a long time, and important legislation does not get
passed,” he said, adding that Romania also has the chance to access significant
amounts of EU funding, which “present a great opportunity for the country
to modernize its infrastructure, with corresponding benefits to the business environment.”
These funds could be jeopardized if “Romania does not have an efficient
government to administer their disbursement,” he said. “The business
community and citizens consequently need to be vigilant, to ensure that government
does not squander this opportunity for the country,” Kevehazi said.
The open conflict between Basescu and Prime Minister Calin Popescu Tariceanu (National
Liberal Party, PNL) made the European Commission (EC) wonder if Romania is able
to continue the reforms it promised before its EU accession.
Basescu was suspended by the Romanian Parliament April 19 on grounds of side-stepping
the Constitution by alleging that members of Tariceanu’s government have
close connections to the so-called “oligarchs”—Romania oil,
energy and media moguls whose businesses started to be investigated after the
2004 elections that saw Basescu’s coalition of center-right parties win
the polls.
The Romanian Constitutional Court (CSJ) rejected Parliament’s claim that
Basescu subverted the law, but the opinion wasn’t binding.
The Parliament then voted by a wide margin to suspend the president. The decision
provoked waves of protests and fears that reforms in Romania would be stopped.
The results of the May 19 referendum, when Basescu was reconfirmed as president
with roughly 75 percent of votes, lead to hopes among those in the business community
that Romania will follow its positive development. But the referendum was just
one of several issues in the conflict between the president and Parliament.
In June 2007, Romania expects an EC report on justice reforms that will evaluate
the current state of affairs. If Romania doesn’t meet the EC’s criteria,
a “safeguard clause on justice” can be activated against the new EU
member, which could affect the country’s international image. “We
have no signals that this might happen,” said Dan Balanescu, first secretary
with the Romanian Embassy in the Czech Republic.
Analysts also expressed a hope that the country will return to normalcy. “We
hope that with the referendum out of the way, there will be a return to more coherent
government,” KPMG’s Kevehazi said.
Source: Czech Business Week
Teen arrested in Romania facing custody in UK
Stephen Baker, 17, is only being allowed home by Romanian Police on condition
that he is arrested on his arrival back on British soil. Magistrates at Middlesbrough
relaxed bail conditions, including an electronic tag, to allow the teenager to
accompany Teesside charity workers to Romania last December.
But Mr Baker, of Ormesby, near Middlesbrough, has found himself in trouble with
police in Bucharest.
He is under investigation for aggravated burglary - when a Romanian family was
attacked in their own home - and for alleged drink-driving.
Rod Jones, founder of the Convoy Aid charity, has also told the youngster's mother,
Sharon, she is to be a grandmother - and her son could face paternity proceedings
brought by a Romanian woman. Speaking exclusively to The Northern Echo, Mrs Baker
said: "I spoke to Stephen this morning. He just wants to come home and get
things sorted out. I don't know whether I am coming or going."
Stephen's grandmother, Brenda, said: "I am just so upset about it. It's just
been a nightmare." The police in Romania say it could take anything from
days to four years to bring Stephen to trial and that if he fails to return to
Romania for his court appearance, he will be dealt with in his absence.
If the sentence is a jail term, they would expect Britain, as a fellow member
of the European Community, to imprison him. A spokeswoman for Cleveland Police
said: "We will be contacting the police in Romania to find out what the situation
is.''
Speaking from Romania, Mr Jones said: "Stephen has let me down very badly,
although he has done a lot of good work out here.'' The Romanian police have made
no conditions about the return to Britain of 16-year-old Liam Shone, from Loftus,
east Cleveland who also accompanied the charity to Romania on a "learning
visit". The Foreign Office has been lending consular support to the family
by making their own inquiries with the authorities in Romania.
Source: The Northern Echo
Immoeast to build EUR 97M shopping centre in Romania
Futureal Group, a dominant palyer on the Central European real estate market and
Immoeast AG, the leading real eastate fund in CEE, have announced on Friday they
would jointly build a giant shopping centre in Romania.
“Gold Plaza" will be built in Baia Mare (Frauenburg), a city of 150,000
residents in the economically strong northwest part of the country. “With
total usable space of 43,000 squqre metres, it will not only be the most modern,
but by far the biggest shopping centre in the city as well," Immoeast has
said in a statement.
Gold Plaza will be developed by Futureal (current development volume of about
EUR 1.3 bn, mainly residential and retail projects). In a first step Immoeast
has acquired 80% of the project; the remaining stake will be acquired upon completion.
The investment volume will total EUR 97 million. Construction will begin in the
fourth quarter of 2007 and completion is scheduled for the Q4 2008.
Gold Plaza is to be built in an excellent location, in the most dynamically developing
quarter of the town's northwest area, with an estimated population of 450,000
in the immediate surroundings.
“Gold Plaza is the first of an entire series of attractive large-scale investments
which we are working on in Romania," Immoeast Director General Karl Petrikovics
said.
“In the scope of the investment programme for the 2007/08 business year,
Romania will be the most significant and we will invest a total of EUR 1.8 billion
here, that is, approx. 30% of the entire investment volume of EUR 6 billion,"
he added.
In the last few months Immoeast has acquired numerous shopping centre projects
in Romania. The most important are the Polus Center Cluj (100,000 sqm), the Polus
Center Constanta (90,000 sqm) and a shopping centre in Craiova (37,500 sqm).
There are also numerous projects in the scope of the Immoeast specialty shopping
centre chain “StopShop". Altogether Immoeast has 103 properties in
Romania with total usable space of about 3.4 million sqm. This corresponds to
a share of approximately 20% of Immoeast's overall portfolio.
As of the end of the third quarter of 2006/07 (ending 31 Jan 2007) this will comprise
EUR 7.2 bn. With the investments in the 4th quarter and in the first few weeks
of the current business year, a total of about EUR 9 bn has been reached.
Immoeast has just succeeded in carrying out a capital increase for EUR 2.84 bn
and will finance the further development of its real estate portfolio with this.
At the end of the 2007/08 business year (ending 30 Apr 2008) a fair value (incl.
development projects) of EUR 14 bn will be reached, the company added.
Source: Portfolio.hu
Information & Links
romania news
romania news
romania news rss feed
romania news
romania news rss feed
romania news
romania news rss feed
romania news
romania news rss feed
romania news
romania news rss feed
romania news
romania news rss feed
Romania property news
Romania property news
Romania property news
Romania property investment
Romania property investment news property romania
property romania
property romania
property romania
property romania
property romania
property romania
property romania
property romania
property romania
property romania
property romania
property romania
property romania
property romania
property romania
property romania
property romania
property romania
property romania
property romania
property for sale bucharest
property for sale bucharest
property for sale bucharest
property for sale bucharest
romania property investment
romania property investment
romania property investment
romania property investment
romania property investment
Property Romania
Property Romania
Property Romania
Property
Romania
Property
Romania
Property Romania
Property Romania
Property Romania
Property
Investment Romania
Property
Investment Romania
Property
investment Romania
Bucharest property
Off plan property
Romania
Off plan property
Romania
Property for sale Romania
Rss feed romania news.