NEW S 3www.business-review.eu Business Review | February 2015 NEW S 3

PUBLISHERBill AveryEDITOR-IN-CHIEFAnda SebesiEDITORS AT LARGEAnca Ionita, Simona FodorJOURNALISTSSimona Bazavan, Otilia HaragaRaluca Comanescu, Tatiana Lazar,Romanita Oprea, Andreea MarinasCOPY EDITORDebbie Stowe PHOTO EDITORMihai ConstantineanuLAYOUTBeatric e Gheorghiu PUBLISHERBloc Notes Media ADDRESSNo. 10 Italiana St., 2nd floor, ap. 3Bucharest, Romania

EXECUTIVE DIRECTORGeorge MoiseBUSINESS DEVELOPMENT MANAGEROana MolodoiSALES & EVENTSAna-Maria Nedelcu, Oana Albu, Valeria Cornean, Romeo BosnaMARKETINGAna-Maria Stanca, Ana Maria Andrei, Anamaria RaduPRODUCTIONDan MitroiDISTRI BUTIONEugen Musat LANDLINEEditorial: 031.040.09.32Office: 031.040.09.31EMAILSeditorial@business-review.rosales@business-review.roevents@business-review.ro

Contents

6 IMF negotiations stumble over energy policy7 30 pct of Romanians expect economy to improve in 2015, finds GfK

study8 Residential market sees growth beyond Prima Casa9 Bucharest’s new office supply to increase by 30 percent in 201510 The dissolution of Rasdaq market – potential unwanted effects on

companies12 National health insurance card becomes compulsory this month14 Ten and counting: the survivors of a decade on the local market18 Octagon aims to enter top ten construction companies20 More ups and fewer downs on a difficult market22 CEZ Romania: over EUR 2 billion of investments in ten years30 Storience: making its name on the London branding market32 BR Awards – the nominees37 Where to draw the line with the Big Brother laws?40 Group consolidation to shape advertising sector in 201542 Director Radu Jude takes Silver Bear42 Romanian Peasant Museum marks 25th anniversary43 New chapter: Carturesti bookstore opens in Old Town44 Bucharest National Opera stages Verdi’s Felstaff44 Film review: Wish I was here45 Taking care of Romania’s institutionalized children

ISSN No. 1453 - 729X

NEWSin briefAGRICULTUREAgricover to invest EUR 5 mln inpork processing unitItalian Agribusiness holding AgricoverGroup has announced it will expand itsbusiness into pork production after ac-quiring a slaughterhouse in Niculesti,Dambovita county. The total investmentin the project amounts to EUR 5 millionand will also include upgrading the pro-cessing lines, increasing the capacityextension, the development of the cut-ting lines, the purchase of specializedlogistics infrastructure and the devel-opment of the IT system. The unit cur-rently has a slaughter capacity of 120pigs per hour.

AUTOCar sales up by 15.4 pct in JanuaryCar sales increased by 15.4 percent inJanuary compared to the same periodof 2014, but were down by 29.3 percentagainst the previous month, accordingto the Association of Car Producers andImporters (APIA). Second-hand car im-ports also increased. A total of 5,535 ve-hicles were sold in January.

BANKINGBRD returns to profit in 2014Romania’s second largest bank BRDposted a RON 43.2 million (EUR 9.7 mil-lion) profit last year due to a 43 percentnet risk cost decrease, the bank has an-nounced. In 2013 it registered a loss ofRON 385 million (EUR 86.6 million). Lastyear the lender continued to implementcost optimization measures that led toa reduction of operational expenses by2.9 percent compared to 2013. Thecost/income ratio was 50.2 percent. BRDhad a market share of 12.39 percent inSeptember 2014.

BT profit up by 19.5 pct in 2014Banca Transilvania (BT) registered a netprofit of RON 448.1 million (EUR 101million) last year, up 19.5 percent y-o-yfollowing better cost control, the bankhas announced. Provisions rose by 57percent to RON 638 million (EUR 143.6million) and assets by 11.2 percent to

RON 35.64 billion (EUR 8 billion).Operational incomes increased by 20percent at the end of 2014, from RON1.99 billion (EUR 450 million), comparedto RON 1.66 billion (EUR 373 million) in2013. At the same time, operational ex-penses increased by 3.4 percent to RON836.5 million (EUR 188 million).

FMCGCoca-Cola HBC reports 6 percentdrop in local volume sales in2014Coca-Cola HBC’s sales volume in Ro-mania fell by 6 percent last year to 139.2million bottle packs from 148.5 millionbottle packs in 2013, amid greater com-petitiveness on the market and a fall inCoca-Cola carbonated beverages sales.This is the second consecutive yearwhen Coca-Cola HBC Romania’s saleshave declined after sold volumes fell by9 percent in 213. At global level, the bot-tler’s sales decreased by 2.8 percent lastyear, to 2 billion packs from 2.06 billionsold in 2013.

HEALTHCARERegina Maria invests EUR 5 mlnin expanding networkPrivate healthcare company Regina Mariawill invest over EUR 5 million this yearin expanding its network in cities whereit is not present, such as Iasi, and esti-mates a 20 percent increase in turnoverto EUR 67 million. The company hired300 people in 2014, growing to 3,000employees. This year it plans to hire an-other 300.

INFRASTRUCTURERomania to have 1,300 km ofnew highway by 2030, says Ministry of TransportThe updated Transport Master Plan,drawn up following public debate, fore-sees the construction of 1,300 kilometersof highway by 2030, twice as many asin the initial plan. Following debate, theMinistry of Transport has proposed theconstruction of various highway sectorsthat were initially to be expressways,namely Sibiu-Pitesti, Bacau-Pascani, Tar-

4 NEWS www.business-review.eu Business Review | February 2015

NEWSin briefgu Neamt-Iasi-Ungheni and Targu Mures-Targu Neamt (the latter as a motorwaybuilt in several stages).

INVESTMENTSForeign investments down by 11pct in 2014Non-residents’ direct investment in Ro-mania is estimated at EUR 2.42 billionin 2014, according to data from the Na-tional Bank of Romania (BNR). Thismarks a 10.6 percent drop from the post-crisis peak reported in 2013. Romaniaattracted EUR 2.71 billion of foreigndirect investments (FDI) in 2013. Thiswas up by 27 percent against 2012 whenFDI posted the first increase since thebeginning of the economic downturnbut still less than a third of the recordEUR 9.5 billion reported in 2008.

Local EU funds absorption rate20 pct below EU averageRomania has absorbed only 56 percentof the EU funds it has been allocated forthe 2007-2013 financial period comparedto an EU average of 76 percent, according

to the most recent data from the Euro-pean Commission (EC), said AngelaFilote, head of the EC representation inRomania, quoted by Mediafax newsagency. This makes Romania the onlyEU member country with a rate of ab-sorption lower than 60 percent, sheadded, warning that the country hasonly this year to absorb the remainingfunds for the 2007-2013 financial frame-work and improve its rate.

ITDB Global Technology reaches200 employee target, plans torecruit 300 more by 2016DB Global Technology, the technologicalcenter of Deutsche Bank (DB), an-nounced that it has reached its target of200 employees, of whom 40 were hiredin the last three months of 2014, ac-cording to DB officials. The center hasbeen operational since January 2014and is predicted to reach 500 employeesby 2016. After the recruits were broughtin, the office expanded on an additionalfloor in the same headquarters in Pipera.

Another 300 people are expected to fillnew positions in the quality assurance,software development, project manage-ment, IT architecture andfunctional/business analysis depart-ments by 2016.

MACROECONOMICSEconomy expands by 2.9 pct in2014Romania’s GDP reported a 2.9 percentincrease last year compared to 2013, afterin Q4 it grew by 0.5 percent against Q3,and by 2.6 percent compared to thesame period of 2013, according to datafrom the National Institute of Statistics(INS). Economic growth in the first quar-ter of 2014 compared to the last quarterof 2013 was adjusted from 0.8 percentto 0.3 percent and the third quarter’seconomic growth was revised from 1.8percent to 2.2 percent compared to thesecond quarter. Data for the secondquarter remained unchanged at a GDPcontraction of 0.4 percent against thefirst quarter of 2014.

ONLINERomanians bought online prod-ucts exceeding EUR 1.2 billion in2014Local online retail generated sales ofmore than EUR 1.1 billion in 2014, ac-cording to the eCommerce Prize Gala(GPeC), which covers only products andnot services, bill payments, plane andshow tickets, as well as payment forholidays and travel. The Romanian on-line retail market doubled in size lastyear on 2013. The market reached ap-proximately EUR 1.2 billion in 2014, com-pared to just EUR 600 million in 2013.

TELECOMVodafone’s Supernet 4G servicedraws 60 pct increase in datatrafficSince its launch in September 2014, Voda-fone Supernet 4G, a mobile data servicedesigned to allow higher speeds, networkstability and security in the network,has brought the company a 60 percentincrease in total data traffic, the operatorhas announced. Also, Vodafone’s 4Gdata traffic grew more than fourfold inthe same period. Moreover, data speedsbetween July 2014 and December 2014doubled for downloads and uploads,said Andrea Rossini, consumer businessunit director at Vodafone Romania.

MONTH AHEADFebruary 23German / Austrian Investors’ForumAustria and Germany have remainedamong the most active investors inthe local economy, together account-ing for over 30 percent of the directforeign investments in Romania inthe past year. The sixth German andAustrian Investors Forum will look atthe year to come through both the in-vestors’ and authorities’ perspectives,trying to identify solutions to improvethe economic environment and at-tract new investments on the localmarket.

March 1 Tax evasion alertCustomers will be able to report re-tailers who don’t issue tax receipts viaa telephone number set up by the Na-tional Agency for Fiscal Administra-tion (ANAF), which stores will have todisplay from this date.

March 2BR AwardsThe Business Review Awards areabout success stories, exceptional re-sults and brilliant people. These arejust some of the ingredients that haveturned the event into a tradition whichis now in its tenth year. The winners ofthe 12 categories will receive theirprizes during a gala on March 2.

March 10Holiday vouchersThe National Tourism Authority (ANT)announced it would solve the bureau-cratic problems related to the issuingof holiday vouchers by March 10. Theinitial deadline for issuing the vouch-ers was January 1 and employers’unions from the tourism industryhave complained that the delay is af-fecting the market. Both public andprivate companies can grant holidayvouchers to their employees whichcan be used only in Romania.

MOST READ www.business-review.eu

1 Carturesti opens Old Town bookstore this Thursday

2 UPDATE: Media mogul AdrianSarbu under arrest

3 Bucharest’s Mega Mall to openon April 23

4 Chamber of Deputies approvesarrest of former tourism minis-ter Elena Udrea

5 Former tourism minister ElenaUdrea investigated for corruption

NEWS 5www.business-review.eu Business Review | February 2015

George Buruiana has stepped down as general direc-tor of CFR Marfa. He had held theposition since June 2014, this beinghis second time at the helm of thestate-owned railway operator afteranother stint between 1998 and 2001.Between 2002 and 2011 Buruianamanaged a private railway operatorand in 2012 he was appointed presi-dent of the Railway Carriers Associ-ation.

Ioana Enachehas been put incharge ofAmway’s opera-tions in Greece inaddition to her re-sponsibilities asgeneral managerfor Romania and

Bulgaria. She has over 22 years ofprofessional experience in sales,marketing, communication, strategyand change management, havingworked for companies such as Glax-oSmithKline, A&D Pharma andPetrom. Enache was appointed gen-eral manager of Amway Romania inFebruary 2012 when she replacedGeorge Popescu. ARE POZA

Andrei Risteahas been promotedto sales managerby Trend Consultand will be respon-sible, along withthe account man-agement, for draft-

ing and implementing the company’ssales strategy. He joined the team in2011 as sales consultant. Ristea hasten years of experience in sales. Inthe past he has worked in manage-ment and training for financial andbanking companies.

Elke Schopf has joined the retail department ofreal estate services firm CBRE Ro-mania, the company has announced.She has over 15 years of professionalexperience in real estate and will co-ordinate the lease of one of the shop-ping centers exclusively representedby CBRE Romania. Schopf has previ-ously worked for Immofinanz whereshe acted as head of leasing retailand was responsible for projectssuch as Polus Cluj, Maritimo Con-stanta and Pitești Mall. Between 2001and 2013 she worked for RaiffeisenEvolution and Baumax.

WHO’S NEWSMarius Ghenea has joined the 3TS Capital team assenior adviser, with the mission to ex-pand the private equity fund’s technol-ogy investment portfolio, according toWall-Street.ro. The entrepreneur willbe in charge of the investment strategyof local private equity and venture capi-tal fund Catalyst Romania, while pro-viding consultancy to 3TS CEE Fund III.

Adrian Ghitais the new creative di-rector of advertisingagency Springer &Jacoby Romania. Anart director by profes-sion, he has over 10years of professionalexperience in adver-

tising. Ghita has previously worked foragencies such as Grafitti BBDO,Cohn&Jansen and Mercury 360.

Catalin Olteanu has been appointed commercial direc-tor of operational leasing company ALDAutomotive, a branch of BRD – GroupeSociete Generale and the ALD Automo-tive Group. Olteanu has previouslyworked as deputy commercial directorat BRD Finance IFN – Groupe Societe

Generale. He hasbeen with the Frenchgroup for the pastseven years. Prior tothis, he worked formore than four yearsin the sales and mar-keting departments of

companies such as GE Money, Citibankand Raiffeisen Leasing.

Viorel Opait has been appointed business develop-ment director at the local office of real estate services firm JLL. He will be focusing mostly on the office and industrial segments.Opait graduated from the BucharestUniversity of Economic Studies (ASE Bucharest) and has over ten years of professional experience in the real estate industry. During his career he has been involved in over 100 transactions totaling more than 500,000 sqm. His name is linked to transactions such as the sale of A1 Business Park, and office consolidations for Vodafone, ING Bank and Microsoft. Before joining JLL, Opait worked for Colliers International in the corporate services department.

BR welcomes information for Who’s News. Submissions may be edited fo r length and clarity.Get in touch at simona.bazavan@business-review.ro

6 MacRoEconoMy www.business-review.euBusiness Review | February 2015

IMF negotiations stumbleover energy policy

∫ SIMona Bazavan

Gas price hikes and the restructuringof Romania’s state-owned coal indus-try were the main roadblocks duringdiscussions between the IMF-EC del-egation and the local authorities. Rep-resentatives of the two institutionswere in Bucharest between January27 and February 9 for consultationsand the third evaluation of the EUR 4billion stand-by agreement with Ro-mania which will expire this Septem-ber.

The government would not agreeto increase the price of gas for house-holds and companies providing heat-ing for end consumers to RON 62(approximately EUR 14) per megawattfrom RON 53.3 at present as the IMFasked for, explained PM Victor Pontaafter the talks. The IMF also called forthe “massive and radical” restructur-ing of the Hunedoara and Oltenia en-ergy complexes which would lead onthe medium- and long-term to the ex-tinction of Romania’s coal-based en-ergy sector, argued the PM.

“Major investments have been andcontinue to be made in order to meetenvironmental requirements and weagree to take all the necessary meas-ures to increase efficiency, but onlywithin the limits we consider neces-sary to ensure the existence of thecoal-based energy industry for thenext 10, 15, 20 years and to preservejobs and social balance in these areas,”said Ponta, according to Hotnews.ro.

These were the main reasons whyanother letter of intent with the IMFand the EC has not been signed since

the visit, explained the PM, addingthat discussions will continue and anew IMF mission will come toBucharest in April.

But the failure to reach an agree-ment with its international creditorsshould not produce any macroeco-nomic effects in Romania, say econo-mists. “I don’t think that the situationresulting from not signing an agree-ment of intent with the IMF will havea significant impact on Romanian fi-nancial markets. Liquidity excess, ex-tremely reduced interest rates inEurope as well as Romania’s goodmacroeconomic indicators will prob-

ably mean that investors’ appetite forRomanian assets will remain un-changed,” Radu Craciun, BCR’s chiefeconomist, told Hotnews.ro. Thismeans that at least on the short termstate bond yields will remain at a his-toric low and the national currencyshould not depreciate, he predicted.

The EUR 4 billion precautionaryaid deal with the IMF and the EU wassigned in September 2013 to protectRomania from potential spillover ef-fects from international markets andhelp reduce financing costs. So far Ro-mania has not drawn on the moneyand has no plans to do so, but even ifthis were the case it would first haveto sign a letter of intent.

In spite of failed discussions withthe IMF, the PM said that he wants anew agreement with the country’s in-ternational creditors after the ongoingprecautionary aid deal expires in Sep-tember, only this time around Roma-

nia was interested in a more flexibledeal.

“I will always maintain the opinionthat a flexible agreement, similar tothe one Poland has, is a very goodthing,” said Ponta.

Romania still vulnerable toexternal shocks, warns IMFFollowing the global crisis the Ro-manian economy has largely man-aged to address internal and externalimbalances through a “mix of soundmacroeconomic policies”, noted theIMF in a statement following the visit.However, Romania is still vulnerableto the evolution of the global econ-omy and future growth depends onstepping up EU funds absorption andupgrading infrastructure among oth-ers, added IMF representatives.

“Convergence has stalled and weakpublic infrastructure has emerged asa key bottleneck for a higher growthtrajectory. At the same time, Romaniaremains vulnerable to external shocksand the repair of balance sheets is notyet complete,” they commented. TheIMF recommended that Romania in-crease the efficiency of public spend-ing, “re-invigorate delayedstate-owned enterprise reforms, andresolve crisis legacies in the financialsector”.

Romania’s potential economicgrowth is projected at around 3 per-cent in the medium term – 2.7 percentfor 2015 and 2.9 percent for 2016 – butshould the authorities accelerate theuptake of EU funds which in turnwould lead to the upgrading of publicinfrastructure, the country’s econ-omy would expand this growth byabout half a percentage point annu-ally over the medium term, estimatesthe IMF.

The IMF’s last evaluation visit toBucharest was in June last year whenthe government and the fund agreedupon the reduction social contribu-tions by five percentage points.

Romania’s EUR 4 billion precau-tionary agreement is equally dividedbetween the IMF and the EU. It is thethird and smallest deal with the twolenders since 2009 when the countryinked a EUR 20 billion bailout loan.

simona.bazavan@business-review.ro

Representatives of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the European Commission (EC) have not signed aletter of agreement with Romania after the latest round of talks on the country’s EUR 4 billion standby aid deal,but pundits say this should not impact the financial markets.

No compromise: the IMF and the government did not agree over gas price hikesand the restructuring of Romania’s state-owned coal industry

2.7 %The IMF’s economic growth forecast

for Romania in 2015

“Potential growth is currently projected ataround 3 percent in the medium term. The mis-sion estimates that ratcheting up EU funds ab-sorption substantially, leading to a greater den-sity and higher quality of infrastructure, couldboost this growth by about half a percentagepoint annually over the medium term,” IMF representatives

conSUMER conFIdEncE 7www.business-review.eu Business Review | February2015

30 pct of Romanians expect economyto improve in 2015, finds GfK studyFor the first time since the beginning of the crisis, the number of Romanians who think the economy will perform better over the coming year surpasses the number of those who expect it to worsen, according to GfK’sConsumer Confidence Barometer.

∫ SIMona Bazavan

“It is the first time in seven years whenthe share of those who are confidentabout the economic future of thecountry exceeds the share of thosewho are skeptical. This leads us to be-lieve that the GfK indicator will go upin 2015 as well. The fact that an intenseelection year came to an end and thatthere are recovery premises for theglobal economy gives Romanians hopefor a better future,” said Andi Du-mitrescu, general director of GfK Ro-mania.

The GfK Consumer ConfidenceBarometer reached an annual averageof -28.6 at the end of 2014.

According to GfK, four out of tenlocal consumers think that the generalstate of the Romanian economy was

worse last year than in 2013. However,the situation has improved since De-cember 2013, when nearly six out often Romanians felt that way. Moreover,a third of them expect the economy toget better in 2015 and only 20 percentthink it will get worse.

According to another source,Nielsen’s Global Consumer ConfidenceIndex, Romanians were more con-cerned about the economy in Q4 thanthroughout the rest of the year, butoverall the consumer confidenceindex was on the rise. The same reportrevealed that the public’s concernsabout job security and debts increasedin the last quarter of 2014 on the pre-vious quarters.

“Health status, job security, debtsand the increasing value of utility billsare Romanians’ main concerns. Healthstatus and debts are mentioned signifi-

cantly more often as main concern byRomanians than the European aver-age,” said Nielsen representatives.

According to GfK, a third of Roma-nians said in December that their fam-ilies’ financial situation was worsethan 12 months before and only 16 per-cent thought it was better. The situa-tion had improved compared to a yearbefore when 44 percent of respon-dents said their families’ financial sit-uation had worsened.

The study also reveals that Roma-nians’ expectations regarding their fi-nancial perspectives, inflation andunemployment had improved in De-cember 2014 compared to the situa-tion 12 months before. Also, thenumber of those who didn’t plan topurchase durable goods dropped inDecember 2014 (49 percent) com-pared to December 2013 (52 percent).

Romanians’ attitude towards sav-ing remained relatively stable. Only 20percent of consumers were planningto save money in December 2014while 59 percent of respondents saidtheir income barely covered theirmonthly expenses. At the same timethe number of debtors posted a slightdrop – 16 percent compared to 19 per-cent in December 2013 and December2012.

The information comes from theConsumer Confidence Barometer, astudy that is co-financed by the Euro-pean Commission and conductedmonthly by GfK Romania. The dataare representative of Romania’s popu-lation aged 15 and over, with a sampleof 1,000 people interviewed eachmonth.

simona.bazavan@business-review.ro

8 reAl estAte www.business-review.euBusiness Review | February 2015

residential market seesgrowth beyond Prima Casa

∫ siMoNA bAzAvAN

About 7,000 new RON-denominatedmortgages were taken out in December2014, more than three times the volumeregistered at the beginning of the year,according to data from Romania’s cen-tral bank. This was mainly the result offalling interest rates for mortgages in thenational currency – by mid-2014 interestrates for RON-denominated mortgagesdropped below those of euro-denomi-nated mortgages – but also of an overallincrease of transactions involving resi-dential properties.

Real estate developer Adama sold 30percent more apartments last year afterreporting a 25 percent increase in 2014,Alina Necula, head of marketing & salesat Adama Group, told BR. Overall, thereis growing demand for housing and themarket is showing signs of maturing,she added. For once, buying a propertyis no longer seasonal as was the case afew years back and buyers are no longerreluctant to purchase a home during itsdevelopment phase. Moreover, they aremore informed and have a better under-standing of the market context, sheadded.

All this is also reflected in the financ-ing options available to home buyers.

“Over the past few months banks havelaunched standard mortgage offerswhich are serious competition for PrimaCasa and which are more advantageousfor those who can afford to put down alarger deposit. In fact, even over thepast year the government program hasbeen exclusively for those who couldn’t

afford to pay a deposit of more than 5percent under any circumstances,” saidNecula.

Nevertheless, the Prima Casa (FirstHome) state-guaranteed loan programwill remain an important element of thelocal residential market in 2015 as well,but its contribution will not grow, sheadded. At present it is estimated thatPrima Casa loans represent about half ofthe total number of mortgages in thecountry.

As for the overall evolution of themarket in 2015, Necula reckons that thisyear will be one of stabilization. “Westrongly believe that we are heading to-wards a mature and stable market withno sudden upswings from one year toanother but with constant positive evo-lution – a sustainable market,” she pre-dicted.

More Prima Casa loans to betaken out in 2015The government said it wants to allo-cate some RON 2.5 billion (approxi-mately EUR 557 million) this year toPrima Casa to which will be addedfunds left unused from 2014 for stateguarantees under the loan scheme. Bycomparison, last year a total of RON 2.3billion was allocated as guarantees for25,000 mortgages.

The government-backed Prima Casa(First Home) scheme was set up in 2009as a means to support the residentialmarket by encouraging first-time buy-ers to get on the property ladder. Overthe following five years approximately130,000 mortgages were taken out

under this program with a combinedvalue of more than EUR 4.8 billion.

Over the years the program has un-dergone several changes and since 2013it is only available for loans in the localcurrency, a measure that also con-tributed to last year’s surge in RON-de-nominated mortgages. Unlike a regularmortgage, Prima Casa beneficiaries canbuy an apartment or a house with a de-posit of only five percent and half thecredit risk is guaranteed by the state.This means that a total of at least EUR 5billion of mortgages could be given in2015 by the 18 banks participating in theprogram.

This year the scheme could bechanged to also include home-ownerswho want to upgrade to a larger prop-erty, announced finance minister Dar-ius Valcov earlier this year. However,market representatives argue that thiswould have little impact on the totalnumber of Prima Casa loans. Moreover,it could prove difficult to implementwithout creating a blockage, said Nec-ula.

While expanding the program to in-clude more beneficiaries is a welcomemeasure, the government should con-sider other measures that could have adirect impact on the construction ofnew homes. “The government couldturn its attention to an aspect thatwould clearly support real estate devel-opments – expanding the 5 percent VATthreshold over the current RON 385,000limit (e.n. approximately EUR 86,000),for example,” she recommended.

simona.bazavan@business-review.ro

More than 25,000 state-guaranteed Prima Casa mortgages will be taken out in2015, surpassing the average of recent years. Moreover, after the number of regu-lar mortgages in the national currency saw a substantial increase last year in re-sponse to falling interest rates, the trend is expected to continue in 2015, fuellinghopes of a new growth cycle for the residential market.

NePi plans to extendPromenada mall inbucharest by 25,000 sqmSouth African New Europe PropertyInvestments (NEPI) is aiming to extendthe surface of its Promenada mall inBucharest by 25,000 sqm but gave notimeline for the project. The real estateinvestment fund is planning similarextensions for other commercial prop-erties in its portfolio – City Park inConstanta, Deva Shopping Centre andSeverin Shopping Center in Drobeta-Turnu Severin, all of which are sched-uled for completion this year.

investor pays eUr 1 mlnfor 32 apartments in CosmopolisAn investor paid around EUR 1 millionfor 32 double studios in the Cosmopolisresidential project in Bucharest earlierthis year, according to developer OpusLand. The apartments were purchasedto be later leased for a minimum periodof three to five years. A similar trans-action was closed in 2013 by an investorwho bought an entire building withinCosmopolis for over EUR 2 million.

bucharest’s Mega Mall toopen on April 23The EUR 165 million shopping malldeveloped by New Europe PropertyInvestments (NEPI) in Bucharest willofficially open on April 23, the com-pany has announced. Mega Mall isthe largest investment the SouthAfrican investment fund has made inRomania so far and the largest modernshopping mall to be delivered in thecountry this year. It covers 72,000sqm (GLA) and is located in easternBucharest, close to the Arena Nationalastadium.

bucharest apartment asking prices down by 2.7 pct in January, saysimobiliare.roAsking prices for Bucharest apartmentsdropped by 2.7 percent on averagethis January compared to the previousmonth and reached an average of EUR1,037/sqm , according to data fromreal estate platform Imobiliare.ro.Compared to the same month last year,the fall was 2.3 percent. This downwardtrend affected both “old apartments”(mainly properties built before 1990)and new properties. Outside the capital,owners increased asking prices in mostcities this January.

Afi europe buys land inbrasov for mall AFI Europe has signed a preliminaryagreement to purchase land ownedby the retailer Cora in Brasov’s civiccenter, where the company wants tobuild a mall. The first phase of themall developed by Immochan in thecity will be delivered this March.

briefs

Old vs. new: most of the First Home mortgage loans have been used to buy properties built before 1990

reAl estAte 9www.business-review.eu Business Review | February 2015

bucharest’s new office supply to increase by 30 percent in 2015Some 154,000 sqm of office space will be delivered this year in Bucharest out of which 28 percent has alreadybeen pre-leased, according to a DTZ Echinox report.

∫ siMoNA bAzAvAN

After some 12 office buildings totaling117,000 sqm were delivered in 2014,Bucharest’s modern office stock in-creased to approximately 2.16 millionsqm at the end of the year, according todata from real estate services firm DTZEchinox. Another 154,000 sqm isscheduled for completion in 2015 aspart of office projects such as BucharestOne, developed by Globalworth, thesecond building of Skanska’s GreenCourt project, the final two develop-ment phases of AFI Business Park andthe third building of Sema Office. Mostof these developments are located inthe Barbu Vacarescu area of Bucharestand in the western part of the capital.

Office take-up is also expected to in-crease in 2015 after last year it went upby 38 percent y-o-y. Overall, the totalleasing activity involving office space in

Bucharest stood at 298,000 sqm in 2014,of which take-up comprised 221,000sqm.

Out of this, new demand repre-sented more than half. Defined as ex-pansions, relocations from old stock toclass A & B office space, existing tenantsopening new operations or new compa-

nies entering the market, it was up by60 percent on 2013, according to DTZEchinox data.

“Considering that Bucharest is themost developed office market in Roma-nia and that given the overall occu-pancy costs and workforce productivityit continues to be an attractive destina-tion in the CEE region, we estimate thatnew demand will represent a significantshare of the total leasing activity thisyear as well,” said Madalina Cojocaru,head of the office department at DTZEchinox.

In the new demand structure, relo-cations within modern office stockamounted to 108,000 sqm (with pre-leases representing 61 percent), reloca-tions from old stock to class A&B officespace represented 40,000 sqm, whilethe volume of expansions and new en-tries stood at 74,000 sqm.

Most of the take-up was registered inthe central-north submarket (46 per-

cent), followed by Pipera south (24 per-cent) and west (13 percent). Comparedwith 2013, renewals and renegotiationsdropped by 23 percent.

Pre-leases represented the largesttransactions by size in 2014.

The report also reveals that betweenQ1 and Q4 2014, Bucharest’s average va-cancy rate for class A & B office spacedropped from 16.7 percent to 13.3 per-cent. The lowest levels were reported inCBD (the central business district), fol-lowed by the west and Pipera south(Dimitrie Pompeiu area).

The prime headline rent remained“stable throughout the first three quar-

ters of 2014. A slight increase of EUR 0.5was recorded in Q4”. The prime head-line rent at the end of last year was EUR18.5/sqm/month, however, “net effec-tive rents continue to be 10-20 percentlower”.

simona.bazavan@business-review.ro

The final two buildings of AFI BusinessPark will be completed in 2015

10 TAx & lAw www.business-review.euBusiness Review | February 2015

At the end of lastyear, a law waspassed the mainpurpose of which is

to dissolve the Rasdaq and unlistedsecurities markets; such purpose shallbe achieved on 27 October 2015. Thislaw is important for its addressees, butalso for their suppliers, sponsors, con-tractual partners, considering the po-tential significant disruptions that mayoccur in the activity of the companiestargeted by this law.

Rasdaq is neither a regulated market,nor an alternative trading system, but itis a market presently operated by theBucharest Stock Exchange under pre-carious and interpretable rules. It hasalso stirred up numerous controversies,when the European Union Court of Jus-tice has issued a decision clearing outthe status of this market and also dueto the legal consequences of various op-erations carried out on this market.

The law and its application regulationissued by the Financial Supervisory Au-thority requires the board of directorsor the management board of issuerslisted on the Rasdaq or on the unlistedsecurities market to convene and holdthe extraordinary shareholders meeting

by 26 February 2016, having on theagenda the adoption of a resolution tocarry out all necessary measures to listthe shares on a regulated market (e.g.the regulated market operated by theBucharest Stock Exchange or by Sibex)or on an alternative trading system (e.g.AERO – the alternative trading systemoperated by the Bucharest Stock Ex-change). In respect of companies listedon the Rasdaq market, in all caseswhere no resolution for listing on a reg-ulated market or on an alternative trad-ing system is adopted, all shareholdershave the right to withdraw from thecompany and request the company topurchase the shares at a price deter-mined by an independent authorised ex-pert appointed by the trade registry.Such cases when shareholders are en-titled to withdraw from the company are:

the management board/board of di-rectors fails to convene the sharehold-ers meeting within the prescribed period(i.e. the convening notice was not pub-lished by 26 January 2015);

even if convened within the pre-scribed period, the shareholders meet-ing does not take place in the 120 day-period (i.e. by 26 February 2015), due tofailure to meet the legal quorum re-quirements to pass valid resolutions;

even if convened and assembledwithin the prescribed period, the share-holders meeting does not pass any res-olution due to failure to meet the legalmajority requirements;

even if convened and assembledwithin the legal period, the shareholdersmeeting validly passes a resolution notto take measures to apply for admissionto trading on a regulated market or listthe shares on an alternative trading sys-tem.

A large number of companies listedon the Rasdaq market are already in theposition where they are required togrant their shareholders the withdrawalright.

If withdrawal right is exercised for alarge number of shares, the companymay face an urgent need of liquidity inorder to pay the shares in respect ofwhich withdrawal right has been exer-cised, which could result into a materialdecline of the financial indicators of thatcompany.

Both the banks and the contractualpartners of such companies shouldkeep an eagle’s eye on the developmentof the companies. The impairment ofthe financial indicators can determinethe banks to accelerate financing agree-ments, in order to limit, as much as pos-sible, the risk of a potential insolvency.Due care must be paid in respect of for-malities that need to be fulfilled, if theshares that are subject to exercise ofthe withdrawal right are pledged to se-cure the shareholders’ obligations un-der various financing arrangements.

In case Rasdaq companies willchoose the path of the regulated marketor of the alternative trading system, thelaw does not raise any specific concernsin respect of the financial soundness ofthe respective companies. However, fail-ure to adopt such decision (includingwhen there is a corporate inertia toadopt such decision) may raise certainissues; this is why each such case mustbe individually assessed by the stake-holders taking into consideration theshareholders’ goals, the potentialshareholding structure after the exer-cise of the withdrawal right, as well asthe arrangements to which the compa-nies are part of.

The dissolution of rasdaq market – potential unwanted effects on companies

TAX&LAWBy

Veronica Alexeev,Lawyer,

Schoenherr si Asociatii

Cristina Dumitrascu,

Lawyer, Schoenherr si Asociatii

Government announces ambitious plansto cut taxes, including vAT and flat tax∫ simoNA bAzAvAN

The government wants to cut the gen-eral level of VAT from 24 percent to 20percent and slash it to 9 percent formeat, fish, vegetables and fruit fromJanuary 2016, according to the mostrecent changes to the draft Fiscal Codeannounced on February 18.

The beginning of next year shouldalso see the elimination of the tax ondividends paid by Romanian compa-nies (currently 16 percent), the elimi-nation of the special constructions tax(currently 1 percent), the introductionof a reverse taxation system for thedelivery of buildings, excise tax cuts

for fuels, alcohol, and other productsand the introduction of a new taxationsystem for micro-companies based ontheir number of employees. Also, localadministrations will be able to hiketaxes for property owners.

The government plans further taxcuts beyond 2015. The biggest movesare expected to be a social securitycontribution cut for both employers(from 15.8 percent to 13.5 percent) andemployees (from 10.5 percent to 7.5percent) from January 2017, the re-duction of VAT to 18 percent from Jan-uary 2018 and a flat tax cut from 16percent to 14 percent in January 2019.

These cuts are projected to have anegative budget impact of RON 6.8

billion (EUR 1.53 billion) in 2016 alone.For the next four years the measurewill generate a RON 37 billion drop inrevenues but half of this is forecast tobe recovered through the positive ef-fects the measures will have in theeconomy.

While it is still unclear how thegovernment will fill the holes left bythese cuts, it estimates the easing ofthe fiscal burden will help the econ-omy grow by an additional 1.7 percentin 2016 (giving a total of 4.7 percent),0.6 percent in 2017 (a total of 3.9 per-cent) and 0.7 percent in 2018 (4.2 per-cent).

simona.bazavan@business-review.ro

Proposed ‘culture tax’will increase price ofbooks, warn publishersThe Federation of Publishers from Ro-mania (FER) predicts that the shelfprice of books will go up by between7 and 10 percent should Parliamentpass a bill on the introduction of a taxon all cultural products including nov-els, films, concerts, exhibitions andtheater plays. The tax would be similarto the one applied to cigarettes andalcoholic drinks and collected revenueswould be directed towards creators’unions and organizations. FER com-plains that in the case of books theonly beneficiary would be the Unionof Romanian Writers.

Generic drugs producerscall for CNAs control after clawback tax hikeThe Association of Producers of Gener-ic Drugs in Romania (APMGR) is urgingthe government to verify the dataused by the National Health InsuranceHouse (CNAS), after the hike in theclawback tax during the last quarterof 2014, which it calls unjustified. Thep-value used in the calculation of theclawback tax rose to 25.23 percent inQ4, 2014 compared to 20.92 percentin Q3, 2014. However, Vasile Ciurchea,president of the CNAS, said the claw-back tax had gone up because thenumber of insured individuals whoreceived treatment for seasonal dis-eases was 200,000 higher in Q4 thanduring other quarters.

Clarifying legislationwould encourage voluntary tax complianceby rich, says PwCRomania should clarify its legislationso that high net worth individualswith foreign-based financial assetswill feel encouraged to declare themto the Romanian tax authorities with-out the risk of being prosecuted, ac-cording to Mihaela Mitroi, tax andlegal services leader at PwC Romania.Should this be done, there would bemore high net worth individuals will-ing to comply with the tax legislation,which in turn would lead to highertax revenues, she argued.

shoppers can report retailers not issuing taxreceipts on free hotlineShoppers will be able to report retailerswho do not issue tax receipts using afree telephone number provided bythe National Agency for Fiscal Admin-istration (ANAF), which stores willhave to display from March 1, accord-ing to finance minister Darius Valcov.Plaintiffs should report by phone thestore where they bought the productfor which the retailer refused to issuea tax receipt and the date and time ofcall will be recorded automatically.

briefs

12 HealtHcare www.business-review.euBusiness Review | February 2015

National health insurance card becomes compulsory this month

∫ Otilia Haraga

Until April 30, the card can be used inparallel with the current system. Afterthis date, it will become the only proofof entitlement to medical services in thepublic health insurance system, accord-ing to information from the NationalHealth Insurance House (CNAS).

Citizens who wish to check whetherthey are still insured in the public healthsystem can do so simply by applying tothe CNAS: only a personal ID card codeis required to check eligibility. The ap-plication gives the date when the per-son became insured but does not giveany details regarding the name of thefamily doctor or medical background.The system will also return the InsuredIdentification Code, which is printed onthe health card.

The national health insurance cardserves to prove that the person is in-sured and also confirms their presenceat the provider of medical services. Theintroduction of the cards is intended toreduce red tape and corruption in themedical sector. Those in need of emer-gency medical services will not need toprovide a national health insurancecard. These services are part of the min-imum package of medical services thatare provided both to insured and non-insured individuals.

In the event of continuous hospital-ization, the card will be used twice,upon admittance and discharge fromhospital, so that the insurance benefi-ciary’s length of stay is clearly stipulated.During this time, no other services out-side the hospital unit will be covered.

Anytime the health card is used, thesystem will record the time and place.

Children will not be provided with ahealth card and will receive medicalservices based on their parents’ card.Pregnant women, who do not pay socialhealth contributions, will only be in-sured during their pregnancy.

People who decline, for religious orother reasons, to use the national healthcard must submit a statement to thehealth insurance house they belong to,together with the national card that wasdistributed to them. Such patients mayprove their eligibility through an insur-ance certification with a three-monthvalidity which will be released by theirhealth insurance house at their request.

If the insured person loses the cardor has to change the personal data on it,

a new one will be provided. The usermust go to the insurance house to sub-mit a request, a copy of their ID card andthe cost of the card and postal deliveryservices. The production cost of thecard is EUR 2.2 plus VAT, and the cost ofdistribution is RON 2.74 plus VAT.

Within a month of submitting thesedocuments, the beneficiary will receivea new card at home. During this time,the card will be inactive in the systemand the holder can only access medicalservices based on a certificate that stip-ulates that the card is being replaced.

The Romanian Post and the CNAShave signed an agreement for the distri-bution of health cards across the coun-try. The RON 37.5 million (EUR 8.5million) contract runs for four years, ac-cording to Romanian Post officials.

The delivery of the health cardsstarted on September 18. In total, ap-proximately 13.6 million cards will besent out over the four-year period.

National health insurance cards notdelivered by post will be distributed byhealth insurance houses. The insuredperson needs to either go to the healthinsurance house they belong to or topick up the card from their family doc-tor when they show up for an appoint-ment. The national health cards areprinted solely with the personal identi-fication data of the insured person.There is no medical information printedon the card, but this can be added by thefamily doctor, at the request of the pa-tient. The card chip contains the follow-ing information: name and surname ofthe insured person, the unique code foridentification in the social insurancesystem, the card identification number,

the birth date of the beneficiary and thevalidity period, which is five years.

The card can be activated by anyprovider of medical services, with theexception of pharmacists. The insuredperson does not need to go to the doctorto activate the card.

According to the president of theCNAS, activation takes about 30 sec-onds and consists of replacing the card’sdefault PIN with a four-digit PIN chosenby the insured. The new PIN is intro-duced and confirmed personally by thepatient. The insured person mustchange the PIN, or else the card remainsinactive and cannot confirm eligibilityfor medical services in the system.

Once activated, the card must beused for every doctor’s appointment orvisit to the pharmacy. The PIN will beintroduced each time the insured per-son benefits from a medical service, forthe validation and coverage of servicesfrom the public health insurance fund.

But even though things appear sim-ple on paper, the situation on theground is different. Some family doc-tors have complained about problemsin the activation of patients’ healthcards. “We have not managed to use thehealth cards, because the application isnot working. The system is blocked,” afamily doctor in Bucharest told Medi-afax newswire. The president of the Na-tional Society for Family Medicine,Rodica Tanasescu, said that activationof the health cards burdened GPs.

“This is just another burden. We haveactivated several hundred cards, butthere were days when the system sim-ply did not work or there were problemswith the card. For the problems that we

could not solve, we sent the insuredpersons to the Health Insurance House,”she told Mediafax newswire.

According to GPs, the activation ofthe card takes longer than announcedby the CNAS management. Tanasescusaid that card activation takes betweenthree and five minutes. “We need sev-eral minutes for the activation of thecard. We also agreed to activate the cardof the husband, wife and child whereone family member comes to the con-sultation with the others’ cards,” shesaid.

According to the CNAS president,Vasile Ciurchea, in the cases where thecard could not be activated, this wasdue to an incompatibility issue.

“The providers using a different ap-plication than the one placed at theirdisposal free of charge by the CNASmust make their personal system com-patible with that of the CNAS. In all therules on validating the contract for theprovision of medical assistance, it isstipulated clearly that all reports mustbe submitted into a system that is com-patible with the CNAS application. Sothey should either take the applicationfree of charge from us or bring a special-ist to make the two systems compatible,”said the president of the CNAS.

The health card is blocked when thePIN code is entered wrongly five con-secutive times. In this situation, thedoctor should call the helpdesk on 021202 69 95 or send an e-mail tosuport.ceas@casan.ro, and give thenecessary information regarding theblocked card.

The phone number printed on thehealth card, 0800 800 950, is for in-sured people who have questions abouttheir health card. Providers of medicalservices must call the helpdesk to re-ceive the necessary support.

According to the CNAS management,a unified and centralized helpdesk solu-tion will be implemented in order to op-timize and simplify all proceduresrelated to the CNAS IT system. The na-tional health insurance card does notwork when the user is in another EUcountry. Romanians intending to travelelsewhere in the bloc are advised to ob-tain the European health insurance cardbased on which they will receive med-ical assistance, but only in certain stateclinics and hospitals in the public sys-tem of the country in question.

otilia.haraga@business-review.ro

As of this month, Romanians can start using their national health insurance card. From now on, patients will beable to use it whenever they see their doctor, go to the hospital or pharmacy. The card can also be used byproviders of medical services and equipment. From May, the card will be the sole validation instrument for peo-ple insured in the public health system.

Romanians must hold on tight to their health cards because from now on it willbecome the only proof of entitlement to medical services in the public system

14 cover sTory www.business-review.euBusiness Review | February 2015

Ten and counting: the survivors of a decadeon the local marketSeveral major companies are marking ten years of presence in Romania this year, having responded to thechallenges brought about by the economic crisis to cope with the leaner modern marketplace.

∫ ANdA sebesI

Auchan Romania, Continental Auto-motive Systems, Strabag, Ikea, Gen-pact, BCR Asigurari de Viata,Bitdefender, SAP Romania and BalkanPetroleum. What do all these compa-nies have in common? They are allcelebrating ten years on the Roman-ian market this year, and rank amongthe most significant brands thatstarted out on the local scene in 2005.They are also among the top 50 com-panies founded in 2005 ranked byturnover in 2013, based on data pro-vided by the National Trade RegisterOffice (ONRC).

The cumulated turnover posted bythe top ten players in the 2013 rankingis RON 9.5 billion (EUR 2.15 billion)*while the companies making up thetop 100 had a total turnover of RON19.7 billion (EUR 4.4 billion). Produc-tion and commerce are the industrieswith the most representatives in thetop 100, while automotive, finance,electrical equipment manufacturing,energy, construction, consultancyservices, services, transportation, IT& telecom, food and real estate havethe fewest players on the list.

About half of the names in the top100 have their registered office inBucharest (45), while Sibiu, Ilfov,Arges, Alba, Timis, Bihor, Brasov,Braila, Dambovita, Vrancea, Hune-doara, Alba, Salaj, Iasi, Tulcea, Con-stanta, Satu Mare, Arad, Bacau, Cluj,Galati, Giurgiu, Suceava, Botosani,Prahova and Ialomita also host regis-tered offices of top 100 firms.

MAcroecoNoMyBetween 2005 and 2014 Romaniawent through a complete economiccycle. The economic boost between2005 and 2008 based on the favorableinternational context and accession tothe European Union was followed bythe economic crisis between 2009and 2012 and a slow recovery that isstill unconsolidated. There were years when foreign investments andmoney sent by Romanians workingabroad seemed set to help Romaniaclose the gap with other EU countries.

“To sum up, these ten years broughtthe macroeconomic indicators to abalance, a sustainable and solid

level,” says Dragos Cabat, manager atRisCo.

Daniela Nemoianu, executivepartner at KPMG Romania, says thatEU membership and the strategicNATO alliance are Romania’s mainachievements in the last decade.

“These two essential vectors have trig-gered the modernization of the coun-try, structural economic reforms,implementation of international andEU standards in all business sectors,and application of certain guidancerules and parameters meant to gener-ate stability and development,” shesays.

Back in 2005 many analysts agreedthat Romania was about ten years be-hind Poland economically. It is wellknown that the first ten years afterthe ‘89 Revolution that Romania fellwell behind. “Poland was particularlyefficient in attracting European fundsand private foreign investments, andencouraging domestic capital. I thinkthat the gap between the two coun-

tries remains at about ten years and itwill be difficult to recover it now inthe new economic conditions whenthe GDP increase is not so big any-more,” adds Cabat.

In addition, Poland has had thealigned political and leadership driveto implement modern strategies, poli-cies and measures, including neces-sary corrections and protectivechanges to allow better positioningwithin the EU and a boost for theeconomy. All of these still put Polandfar ahead of Romania.

Companies have had a rough ridein the last decade as they needed toadjust their businesses. While somefirms saw their sales and profits fall orwere forced to declare insolvency,others consolidated their position onthe market thanks to their more sta-ble financial structure. They haveended up being more competitive atEuropean level now. Cabat says that alack of capacity to attract Europeanfunds, corruption in the local busi-ness environment and the lack of anational strategy to influence thecourse of the local economy are someof Romania’s failings. “The structureof our economy still depends signifi-cantly on the strategies of our eco-nomic partners from the EU rather

than on the internal capabilities,” saysthe manager of RisCo.

But there is no doubt that the busi-ness environment and the economyin general have progressed in terms ofdiversity, complexity, EU and interna-tional standards and global intercon-nectivity. The difficulty is thediscrepancies between urban andrural areas, certain regions as well asfields of activity and the public sector(including privatizations and stateowned companies). “The local busi-ness environment is still far from alevel playing field. In the absence ofstrategic priorities and a solid andsustainable country model, the econ-omy is distorted by corruption, taxevasion and low tax collection, as wellas the lack of sufficient financing (in-cluding the low level of EU funds),”says Nemoianu. She adds that the in-crease of taxation translates into com-pression of investment volumes andappetite for businesses for Romaniaas such an unpredictable environ-

ment can only cause business distressand pressure on consumers. “Addingthe massive bureaucracy, incidentsaffecting the rule of law and the au-thorities’ lack of administrative ca-pacity, the poor infrastructure andthe ‘brain drain’ phenomenon, it isobvious that we currently face signifi-cant risks in terms of decreasing competitiveness, an imbalanced lowlevel growth, and unstable future de-velopment,” says the KPMG represen-tative.

Pundits say that much more couldhave been achieved during the pastten years in terms of a level playingfield for the business environment,predictability of regulations, meas-ures to encourage direct investmentsand modern infrastructure. Insteadthere has been a significant loss of op-portunity (the lowest EU funds ab-sorption rate in CEE) and anaggravation of systemic problems likecorruption and poor infrastructure.

“The Romanian state has proved to beweak, disorganized and inconsistentfor obvious causes and reasons. Theincentives granted in the past helpedraise investors’ interest; however thecurrent status is not likely to compet-itively attract or encourage invest-ments in Romania. Changes needed

pertain to integrated programs for en-trepreneurs and SMEs, acceleration ofEU funds absorption, building qualityinfrastructure, prioritizing key indus-tries and projects, tax and legal pre-dictability and the elimination ofcorruption,” says Nemoianu.

During the last decade we havehelped bring about a change in theway businesses were focused on thehealthy growth of their businessrather than short-term profitability.We can also see the maturing of bothbusinesses and consumers,” addsCabat.

According to Nemoianu, the busi-ness environment has proven its resilience to the turbulence of thelocal and international markets.

“The absence of a long-term strategiccountry model and the frequentchanges in legislation, especially intaxation, combined with the com-plexity of the challenges mean com-panies, investors and entrepreneurshave had to re-invent themselves and adapt to endure. This struggle forsurvival can have a selective role, butnot if impacted by corruption,” sheadds.

As for the SMEs segment, it hasbeen under significant pressure as ac-cess to financing, human capital andbusiness opportunities was challeng-ing. Also, disruption of market flows,in terms of payment discipline, qual-ity of products, services and works,and delays of EU-funded projects hada negative impact on competitiveness,business continuity and potential togrow size and capabilities. Cabat saysthat SMEs need to become a source ofproducts and services efficiently of-fered both to end consumers andlarge companies. In his opinion, thedownturn has significantly cleanedup the SMEs sector, eliminating thosecompanies with an incoherent busi-ness model or a weak foundation.

“From this perspective, the maturationof the SMEs sector is one of thebiggest advantages of the last tenyears,” says Cabat.

FINANcIAL sysTeMsThe last decade was split almost inhalf by the greatest economic and fi-nancial crisis in recent history.

cover sTory 15www.business-review.eu Business Review | February 2015

Madalina Rachieru, counsel at Clifford Chance Badea

Daniela Nemoianu, executive partnerat KPMG Romania

Source: ONRC

Top 5 manufacturing companies foundedin 2005 ranked by 2013 turnover (roN)Position company 2013 turnover (roN)

1 Continental Automotive Systems SRL 2,228,473,646

2 Makita EU SRL 488,400,427

3 Leoni Wiring Systems Pitesti SRL 406,024,627

4 Benrom SRL 303,535,335

5 Kromberg&Schubert Romania ME SRL 259,556,521

16 COvER STORY www.business-review.euBusiness Review | February 2015

The financial markets were affected ac-cordingly, Romania included. The yearsbefore 2008-2009 saw considerablegrowth, which came to an abrupt stop,with the modern Romanian financialindustry facing its first crisis. “What fol-lowed was a period of deep restructur-ing, with new challenges and priorities.The current strategies are mostly fo-cused on cleaning up balance sheetsand consolidation,” says MadalinaRachieru, counsel at Clifford ChanceBadea.

Compared to 2005, commentatorsnow talk about a more cautious and so-phisticated industry addressing an in-

creasingly educated and demandingmarket. On the downside, financial in-stitutions face increased competition,accumulating bad debt and intensifyingregulatory pressures. The capital mar-kets have also been adversely affectedby the difficult market conditions andhave been characterized by volatility.

“Romania moved quickly from accel-erated growth and a sense of abun-dance to an abrupt awakening, whichrevealed that the fundamentals of theprevious growth were not that strong.The financial industry has mirroredboth these stages, initially fuellinggrowth and then echoing the decline,”says Rachieru. In her opinion, therehave been many achievements over theyears, including the RON re-denomina-tion (July 2005); the establishment ofthe Central Depository (in 2007) and theIMF stand-by agreement (March 2011).

In addition, in June 2011, Romaniasuccessfully launched a Medium TermNote (MTN) Programme on interna-

tional markets, initially worth up toEUR 7 billion and updated to EUR 15 bil-lion in 2014. Plus, October 2013 saw thedual listing of shares and GDRs (a firstfor Romania) by Romgaz on theBucharest and London stock exchangeswhile Electrica followed almost a yearlater, with its dual listing of shares andGDRs on the Bucharest and Londonstock exchanges. “I would also add thecurrent focus on cleaning up balance sheets, with banks selling ordiscussing the sale of non-performingloans (NLPs) portfolios,” adds Rachieru.

Specialists say that the Romanian fi-nancial system has strong fundamen-tals and has fared much better duringthe crisis than other economies, alsodue to the sound supervision and rulesof the National Bank. However there arestill steps to be made. “The banking sec-tor, currently undergoing a long-awaited consolidation, is still the mostdeveloped sector and the number onefinancing source for both retail andbusiness clients. Amid continued ef-forts to strengthen banks’ position onthe market and manage risks, we expectnew agreements for NPLs portfolio salesto be announced in the near future,”says the representative of CliffordChance Badea. She believes that furtherdevelopment of the capital market isneeded, as it can be a major driver forthe local economy. “Successful transac-tions recently launched by Romaniancompanies have confirmed the interestof international investors and such mo-mentum should be taken advantage of.We also expect reputational risks tocount more and more on top executives’

agendas, along with further consolida-tion of the industry,” concludesRachieru.

FISCAL FRAMEWORKSpecialists say that the last decade hasbrought an advancing and maturationprocess of the taxation, taxpayers andauthorities that create and implementthe fiscal legislation. “The evolution ofthe fiscal framework has been signifi-cant. Both the Fiscal Code and FiscalProcedure Code began to be clearer dur-ing this period. There could be writtena history of the Fiscal Code between2005 and 2015 as new concepts ap-peared, with the flat tax (16 percent) im-plemented in 2005 probably the mostimportant one,” says Miruna Enache,partner in fiscal assistance at EY Roma-nia. She says that the lack of stabilitygenerated by the frequent changes tothe fiscal legislation was one of thebiggest challenges for the local businessenvironment. “There were at least fivechanges in each of the previous yearsbut there were also years with a recordof more than ten changes,” says Enache.

“Some changes brought clarifications orfiscal incentives. But in the financialand economic field any legal changeneeds time to be implemented and gen-erates costs.”

The EY representative urged the Fi-nance Ministry to consult the local busi-ness community about tax laws. “Thiscooperation can be improved and webelieve that its results are alwayshealthy.” In her opinion Romania’s leg-islation could be better and has provi-sions that support investments like thereinvestment of profits. “However inpractice the fiscal system needs to bemore predictable since tax inspectionsstill spring surprises even on those tax-payers that are well prepared,” addsEnache. As for incentives for SMEs,Enache says that the fiscal system con-tains some significant improvementsfor them like the flat tax and tax-freereinvested profit under some condi-tions while the R&D and IT fields are en-couraged. “More can be done especiallyif the open dialogue with the businesscommunity is continuous and encour-aged,” concludes the EY representative.

ENTREPRENEURSHIPThe last decade was tough for the ma-jority of entrepreneurs active on the Ro-manian market regardless of their sizeor field of activity. Seven out of tenyears were marked by the impact of theglobal economic crisis and its negativeeffects. There were a lot of bankruptcies,changes and a steep learning curve forthose entrepreneurs who took theirbusiness to the next level. “There wereyears that consolidated the entrepre-neurial environment so today we havea series of successful Romanian entre-preneurs that can talk on an equal foot-ing with businesspeople around theworld,” says Madi Radulescu, managingpartner at MMM Consulting and execu-tive coach & learning architect.

In her opinion entrepreneurial spirithas been refined and became profes-

sional and mature. “I don’t know if any-one rushes to launch a business. Butthose who have a better business planevaluate the risks, look for solid part-nerships, think global and train theirpeople to use a common language withthe corporations to which they offertheir services or supply their products,”says Radulescu. She also thinks thatthere has been a fundamental change inthe way local entrepreneurs do business.

“I refer to the mass of Romanian entre-preneurs who work hard, take care oftheir employees and as a principle re-spect the law. At present we have manyRomanian entrepreneurial companiesas customers that have understood andrun training and coaching programs, or-ganize projects that lead to learning andgenerate results in their business andform both leaders and managers.”

According to Radulescu, while in2005 the Romanian entrepreneur wasoften directive, autocratic and a controlfreak, in 2015 he or she is virtual, inter-national and charismatic. “I think thatthe need to hold on in business has gen-erated strong leadership in the Roman-ian entrepreneurial environment. Plus,in the past ten years many managershave decided or were forced to leave thecorporations they worked for andstarted businesses. They came withskills and a way of understanding workwith people. In essence, they came witha different and more modern manage-ment style adapted to the current stage,”says the MMM representative. “I thinkthat in 2015 many entrepreneurs dis-covered that the market is global andthey can compete everywhere in theworld and dare to develop business thatthey hadn’t thought about in 2005. Backthen development was oriented to-wards the local market, real estate de-velopment, increased business volumesand employment. Since the crisis, theentrepreneur who managed to get outof the downturn is the one who hasproven to be agile, flexible and hasgrown his or her business throughoutthe crisis,” concludes Radulescu.

TECHNOLOGYThe last decade was a fruitful period forthe technology field in Romania. Itbrought both the transition of analogcommunications to those based on thenewest digital such as 3G, LTE, WiMAX,

Miruna Enache, partner in fiscal assistance at EY Romania

Madi Radulescu, managing partner atMMM Consulting and executive coach& learning architect

Mihai Rada, director at KPMG, advisory

Top 5 retail companies founded in 2005ranked by 2013 turnover (RON)

Source: ONRC

Position Company 2013 turnover (RON)

1 Auchan Romania 2,300,730,369

2 Procter&Gamble Distribution SRL 1,217,167,184

3 Ikea Romania SRL 360,598,913

4 Rodbun Grup SRL 305,812,251

5 Picara Trading SRL 152,806,050

COvER STORY 17www.business-review.euBusiness Review | February 2015

DVB-T and the mobilization of manyproducts and services in the local econ-omy such as electronic commerce, theimplementation of online and mobilepayments and mobile banking. “Thetelecommunication sector underwentdynamic changes in the last decadecharacterized by liberalization, privati-zation, restructuring and the develop-ment of a very competitive environment.All of these elements generated andsupported significant technological de-velopment,” says Mihai Rada, directorat KPMG, advisory. He adds thattelecommunications are no longer con-sidered a luxury or a difficult to accessservice. On the contrary, they are a com-ponent of day-to-day life both for per-sonal and business interests.

The IT & telecommunication sectorcontinued to develop in the last tenyears despite the crisis, becoming oneof the main factors of an increased pro-ductivity that supported economic de-velopment as a whole. Rada cites theimplementation of the last generationtechnologies by some of the largest in-ternational companies in the field(Vodafone, Orange, Deutsche Telecom).In addition, the Romanian IT sector cre-ated many brands with internationalexposure (RAV, Bitdefender and eMAG).

“In this period we witnessed major con-solidations on the IT&C market,” says

the KPMG representative, referring toZapp and the merger of Romtelecomand Cosmote.

Zapp, the first local mobile phoneoperator and the initiator of internetand wireless telephony in Romania,was drafted by OTE and Cosmote intothe integrated operator Telekom. As forthe merger between Romtelecom andCosmote, Rada says that it was a verybig move. “Actually it was a merger be-tween a company with operations inthe fixed telephony, TV and internetwith one that provided mobile teleph-ony and Internet,” says the KPMG offi-cial. He adds that district networksmarket reached a high level of maturityas larger companies showed interestedin extending their customer portfoliosby both gaining new subscribers andtaking over those of smaller companiesby acquiring them. “Offers to take overthe district networks by larger players inthe field became more frequent,” saysRada.

The telecommunication field re-mains a dynamic market where the di-versity of content and applications andthe combination of services have a cru-cial influence on the decisions made bybusinesses. “Telecom operators face agrowing pressure to offer diversifiedservices at a higher quality and lowertariffs. And this takes place in a more

dynamic economic context for the tele-com market, where incomes generatedby conventional services only, like voiceor data are decreasing,” he adds. In hisopinion this is the result of fiercer com-petition generated by the emergence ofcommunication convergent technolo-gies and Next Generation Network net-works where the differences betweenvoice, data and video services becamemore and more insignificant while thefight to gain and retain customers is evertougher. “Technological developmentsfrom the past ten years contributed to anincrease in the efficiency of economicactivities boosting the competition inthe Romanian business environment.Plus, the behavior of online buyers ismore and more based on other users’opinions so we can talk about a newmarket profile,” concludes Rada.

EUROPEAN FUNDSThe current mechanism for accessingEuropean Funds has been in place sinceJanuary 1 2007 when Romania accededto the European Union. Prior to thatdate the country had at its disposal onlypre-accession funds such as Phare,SAPARD and ISPA. “The overall absorp-tion rate of EU funds increased everyyear for each of the seven operationalprograms available for Romania from2007-2013. However, the absorptionrate was 55.86 percent at the end of De-cember last year, according to the offi-cial data published by the Romaniangovernment through the Europeanfunds minister. The stats indicate thatthe average absorption rate increasedconstantly after 2012 from under 20 per-cent to 55.86 percent in December lastyear,” says Georgiana Trandafir, manag-ing partner at Trandafir&Asociatii. Sheadds that despite this about EUR 8 bil-lion of EUR 19.21 billion in total has yetto be spent.

Agriculture, human resources, ITand energy were among the fields thatbenefited greatly from EU funds in thisperiod. According to public data, the ab-sorption rate in agriculture was about87.33 percent at the end of last Decem-ber. Tourism benefited from significantresources while major progress hasbeen made in agro-tourism, local andnational infrastructure. “In the ruralsector mainly through POR (Programul Operational Regional) investments

were made that connected local com-munities to water alimentation and san-itation, the internet and natural gases,”says Trandafir. Meanwhile, POS Envi-ronment (POS Mediu) had an absorp-tion rate of 42.28 percent of the total EUfunds followed by POSDRU (46.53 per-cent), according to the public data.

The economic crisis that startedaround 2007-2008 in Romania showedthe value of EU funds in supporting thesectors from the local economy thatwere hit hard by the economic contrac-tion. “Building contractors needed toreorient their business from privatebeneficiaries to public ones that imple-mented projects financed through Eu-ropean funds,” says the representativeof Trandafir&Asociatii. In her opinionthe financial programs are more acces-sible now than in the past as manage-ment authorities had the chance torespond to the defects that appeared inthe process of accessing and using EUfunds. “There was a difficult period ofaccommodation for both public admin-istration and private beneficiaries,”Trandafir says. She adds that the guidesfor applicants are clearer now and canbe more easily understood by thosewho intend to access non-refundable fi-nance. “The process of evaluation ofprojects has improved from one call toanother while the waiting period has di-minished. This reduced the period toget the money from EU funds,” addsTrandafir. But she says that the projectimplementation generates the biggestdifficulties for beneficiaries becausethere are specific rules on how to spendfunds from European Commission. Plus,beneficiaries need to spend somemoney in advance and then wait for re-imbursement from the managementauthorities, which makes this phase themost difficult one. As a consequence, itinvolves substantial management ef-forts from both the beneficiaries andauthorities. “The reimbursement of themoney spent requires strict analysis bythe responsible management authority.Unfortunately little progress has beenmade so far in reducing the bureaucracyof this process,” says Trandafir. “How-ever we notice that management au-thorities decided to outsource theevaluation services and this shouldallow them to respect the reimburse-ment schedule by reducing the periodof analysis.”

In her opinion the European fundsallotted for the next period should havea bigger impact on the development ofthe local economy than in 2007-2013. “Ithink that Romania has learned from itsmistakes. It has improved the proce-dures to access European funds andconsolidated the expertise of the au-thorities from this field. In addition,professionals in the private field havealready been trained to offer at a highlevel of professionalism the consul-tancy needed for applicants to accessEuropean funds and implement theprojects successfully,” concludes theTrandafir&Asociatii representative.

anda.sebesi@business-review.ro

The main milestones in localtechnology in the last decadel Development and implementation of fixed and mobile broadband elec-tronic communication standards such as 3G, 4G and NGN;

l The evolution of smart terminals: smartphones, tablets, portable mediaplayers;

l Triple Play and 4 Play: transmission of voice (telephony), image (televi-sion, teleconferences) and data (internet) can be done now through aunique and highly effective network;

l Geo positioning technologies: positioning services allowed the develop-ment of some web and mobile applications with high social utility:

l Cloud: the change of an IT paradigm that will impact significantly otherfields of activity, including education;

l Social media development: social media became the fastest and most ef-ficient method to distribute information, promote products and even in-crease the number of potential customers.

Source: KPMG Romania

Georgiana Trandafir, managing partner at Trandafir&Asociatii

Source: ONRC

Top 5 services companies founded in 2005ranked by 2013 turnover (RON)Position Company 2013 turnover (RON)

1 Global E-Business 336,675,269Operations Centre SRL

2 Genpact Romania SRL 315,374,493

3 BCR Asigurari de Viata 293,176,043Vienna Insurance Group SA

4 Regiotrans SRL 223,990,487

5 Duvenbeck Logistik SRL 208,947,611

18 INTERvIEW www.business-review.euBusiness Review | February 2015

Octagon aims to enter top tenconstruction companies

∫ ANDA SEbESI

What has ten years of presence on theRomanian market meant for Octagon?We can only have a view of the devel-opment of Octagon in the context ofthe market on which we have oper-ated during the last decade. From thisperspective our presence was a con-stant fight in a hostile environment,dominated by multinational compa-nies, corruption, political interferenceand an acute crisis that generated acontraction of about 40 percent inconstruction industry turnover. If wewere to sum up this period we couldsay that it was a “Montagne rousee”journey with fewer survivors.

What have the company’s most impor-tant achievements been over these tenyears?Consolidation of the managementteam and human resources – a crucialfactor for any construction company– and creation of both a portfolio ofsignificant projects and experienceneeded to position us on the markethave been two of our major achieve-ments. Plus we won the trust of somesignificant customers – local bluechips and international companies.So we managed to earn the reputationof a quality constructor and as a resultcustomers came back to us to signcontracts for new projects.

How would you describe the develop-ment of the business environment inyour ten years of presence on the Ro-manian market? We can say that the business environ-ment has grown in the past ten yearsthrough an increase in the volume offoreign investments and the emer-gence of local entrepreneurs that areindependent from the political environment and businesses with theRomanian state. We can also notice apattern of accusations against thewhole business environment. We seeevery day arrests, raids of firms and announcements of cases againstmajor businessmen. Without speaking about the merit of suchcases I would say that the spread ofthis phenomenon paralyzes thewhole economy, as lenders don’t have the courage to finance busi-nesses because they are afraid thattheir reputation might be damaged.In addition, state institutions are par-

alyzed and the whole economic envi-ronment is poisoned because somebusinessmen are considered no betterthan thieves.

How would you describe the develop-ment of your industry throughout thisperiod?From 2005 to 2015 the constructionindustry has faced a complete cycle of

“boom and bust” that included thingslike the unhealthy and rapid growthof companies with uncontrolled cor-ruption, unsustainable real estate in-vestments, legal flux and a negativepolitical involvement. The “bust”part was characterized by the de-cap-italization of local companies andmany bankruptcies with the numberof companies halved. To sum up, theconstruction industry is now on itsknees.

How do you see the Romanian economynow compared to 2005?If we look at the Romanian economyin its European context, we can saythat it is in a better position now thanten years ago. The economic down-

turn and the massive collapse ofeconomies in Southern Europe alongwith the problems that countries suchas Greece, Portugal and Spain havefaced have improved Romania’s cur-rent economic perspectives. At themacroeconomic level, Romania is in abetter economic situation than thesecountries.

What have been your company’s mostimportant projects in the last decade inRomania?All the projects we were and still areinvolved in are important in terms ofprofessionalism and the great atten-tion we pay to our customers. Octa-gon is a “service contractor” not a

“litigation contractor”. I will mentionthree projects that have had a specialsignificance in our evolution. First,the infrastructure developments forSky Tower – Floreasca Park, the high-est building in Romania, developedby Raiffeisen Evolution. Second, theexecution as general sub-undertakerof the civil developments at the 867MW cogeneration power plant forOMV-Petrom, under the GE-Metka

consortium. Third, the constructionas general building contractor ofBuilding B from the Hermes BusinessCampus office complex for the Bel-gian developer Atenor Group.

Octagon develops projects both in Ro-mania and Iraq. When did this expan-sion abroad start and what was thereason behind it?During the crisis and in the context ofthe European economic decline wedecided to look for new markets that offer perspectives for growth and resources to finance infrastruc-ture developments. This was the idea that led us to Iraq back in 2012.Unfortunately, despite correct economic analysis, the volatile politi-cal situation in the Middle East re-strained the predicted evolution. Weare seriously analyzing the possibilityof extending our activity on matureEU markets like France, Belgium andGermany.

How do you see Octagon ten years fromnow from the development perspec-tive? What about the local economy? We intend to put Octagon in the topten construction companies in Roma-nia. Capitalization through an IPO onthe Bucharest Stock Exchange is an-other plan and we aim to extend onother European markets. As for Ro-mania’s economic future, there arevery good conditions for this countryto grow within the European Union ifwe manage to protect the economyfrom direct political interventions,reach political and legal stability andget an independent and professionaljustice system.

anda.sebesi@business-review.ro

Alexandros Ignatiadis, CEO and majority stockholder at Octagon Contracting & Engineering, tells Business Re-view about the company’s major achievements over the last decade and its plans for the future on the local andinternational market.

Octagon Contracting &Engineering Established: 2005Field of activity: civil and geotechnicalconstructions2013 turnover: EUR 19.6 million2014 turnover: EUR 12 million2015 estimated turnover:EUR 24 millionNumber of employees:178 (in Romania), 26 (in Iraq)

19www.business-review.euBusiness Review | February 2015

One year in the technology world isthe equivalent of ten years in other in-dustries. The technological progressin the past decade is unbelievable andis reflected in our everyday personaland professional lives, from the de-vices we use and the seamless con-nectivity they ensure, to instant accessto data from anywhere, anytime andto the various ways we use and benefitfrom this data.Cloud computing was indeed

just a buzzword six or seven years agobut now, even in Romania, we’re see-ing that more and more businessesare starting to rely on cloud environ-ments, both public and hybrid ones.The synergy between cloud and mobilehas allowed new concepts like IoT (In-ternet of Things) and Big Data tospread globally now that people areconnected to the internet though bil-lions of applications and devicesworldwide.It is estimated that by 2025, cloud

technology will have an economic im-pact of up to USD 6.2 trillion per year,according to a McKinsey Global Insti-tute whitepaper published in 2013. Thebulk of this will be attributable to in-ternet applications and services de-pendent on cloud computing technol-ogy. Cloud offers access to hugeamounts of data without the hassle ofthe necessary storage, while allowingboth companies and public institutionsto access the latest generation tech-nologies that drive productivity and ef-ficiency. Besides that, cloud makesroom for business managers to be-come more creative, driving innovationand economic growth. The worldwide cloud market is rap-

idly growing. Gartner predicts stronggrowth across all public cloud serv-ices market segments, with a CAGRof 17.3 percent from 2013 through2018. End-user spending on publiccloud services is expected to reach al-most USD 250 billion by 2017, includ-ing cloud advertising. The Romanian cloud market is still

in an early stage of development, butthe potential for growth is significant;in this respect, the local market is ex-pected to outstrip the advance fore-casted for the worldwide cloud market.By using cloud solutions, Romanianorganizations gain quick and easy ac-cess to cutting-edge IT resources thatsupport operational efficiency, an en-hanced business performance and theconsumption of IT without significantinvestments.

In 2014, approximately 12-15 per-cent of SMEs in Romania were usingat least one cloud solution as a service(SaaS), according to a SMBs whitepa-per published by the National Councilof Small and Medium Private Enter-prises in Romania. As for corporations, it is estimated

that by 2017, all big companies in Ro-mania will use cloud solutions, ac-cording to a survey by CIO Council. Themarket is also confirming growing in-terest in cloud business solutions suchas CRM (Customer Relationship Man-agement), ERP (Enterprise ResourcePlanning), communication and collab-oration solutions and content and doc-ument management solutions.When it comes to cloud, customers

are generally looking for simplicity,quality and support. Since they cameto believe that cloud can indeed helpthem drive new business and innova-tion within their companies, their ex-pectations have also risen. A visibletrend in the Romanian market is theexpansion of cloud computing capa-

bilities for medium and large compa-nies, most commonly linked with pub-lic, private or hybrid cloud models. In terms of expectations, we’re see-

ing similar behaviors as in the moredeveloped cloud markets. For exam-ple, a study released in 2014 by EMA(Enterprise Management Associates)identifies among the top reasons forpursuing cloud, business agility, ap-plication scalability and budgetaryconsiderations. Customers are be-coming increasingly demanding fromthe cloud offerings available on themarket, directly linking their require-ments to their main selection criteria. As the first cloud broker in Roma-

nia, Ymens has continuously investedin developing its product portfolio inorder to meet the market require-ments and to deliver mature, solid andproven cloud solutions to its cus-tomers. Trying also to bridge the gapbetween people and technology, wehave developed a broad range of serv-ices. We provide our customers withtraining, business and technological

consultancy, customization and devel-opment services, as well as IT man-aged services. In terms of cloud business solu-

tions, we have built our portfolio basedon the market trends. According toour studies, over 30 percent of SMEentrepreneurs are considering usingnew technologies to develop new busi-ness opportunities. The solutions hosted on the Ymens

platform respond to various businessneeds and benefit from an intuitive in-terface, which makes them easy to useby any organization, from the smallestto the largest, regardless of the in-dustry. With 11 cloud applications inthe platform and a wide range of serv-ices, Ymens’ offer includes: the CRMsuite of solutions for the efficient man-agement of customer relationships,the ERP suite of solutions, dedicatedto the planning and optimization of theresources and processes within thecompany, and the productivity suite,with a direct impact on improving re-sults in the collaboration and commu-nication area.The future of technology is limitless.

Everything we see in science fictionmovies could become reality. Thepower and the synergy between cloudand mobile will certainly conclude ininnovating technologies within the IoT.Research & development plays a keyrole in this technological evolution andintelligent objects, M2M, predictive an-alytics and big data tools are just someof the new things the global tech in-dustry will exploit in the coming years.Personally, I believe that in the nextdecade we have a great chance of see-ing a world fully connected to the in-ternet. Today, there are still some parts of

the world where the internet that issuch a commodity for most is actuallya distant concept. I think that amazingtechnological advancement andprogress will start once that last bil-lion people are connected to the in-ternet. From that point we can starttalking about a truly spectacular tech-nological advance and the globaltransformation of society through in-novative technologies. Once any formof technology is connected to the In-ternet – TVs, smartphones, robots,ATMs, vertical applications, securityservices, analytics platforms and manyothers – we will witness new meansof storage, usage and sharing of in-formation in our everyday lives as wellas our businesses.

OPINIONCostin Matache, Executive Director, Ymens

One year in the technology world equalsten in other industries

20 INTERvIEW www.business-review.euBusiness Review | February 2015

Biso RomaniaEstablished: 2005Field of activity: imports of agricultural equipmentNumber of employees: 91Number of products in portfolio: 350(international brands and company’sbrand, Biso)Number of branches in Romania: 10Number of customers in Romania:1,900Estimated growth of turnover in thefirst semester of 2014 on the sameperiod of 2013: 7 percent

More ups and fewer downs on a difficult market

∫ ANDA SEbESI

What do ten years on the Romanian mar-ket mean for biso Romania?For Biso, ten years of presence on theRomanian market have meant constanthard work in the name of our customers.This period might be nothing comparedto the development of the world, but itwas a time when we grew from zero toa value that is recognized by our cus-tomers. And we did it our way. For surethere were ups and downs, but the im-portant thing is that we had more upsthan downs. We are ranked among thetop five players active in the agriculturalequipment field now.

What are the company’s main achieve-ments of the last decade? The 2008-2009 period was a very diffi-cult one. The worldwide crisis com-bined with decreasing cereal pricesforced us to struggle hard in order tosurvive. But such transitional periodsmotivate us to work harder in order tobe prepared for the next difficult time.In addition, 2013 was a challenging year,both because of the significant rainfalland the very low cereal prices, plus thedifficult context in some EU countrieslike Greece. All these factors directly in-fluenced the market. The result is thatBiso came out stronger than before.While in 2014 our company focused onimproving processes in order to meetthe needs of farmers better and morequickly, in 2015 we are determined tocontinue this strategy and benefit fromthe power that affiliation to the AustrianBiso Schrattenecker Group offers us.

2015 is an anniversary year for BisoGroup and we are preparing to make anannouncement to farmers and ourbusiness partners that will change theway agriculture is done today. In thelast few years we have managed toopen new Biso branches in Romania, inorder to be closer to the farmers. Nowwe are present in ten counties – Calarasi,Tulcea, Constanta, Ialomita, Buzau,Galati, Teleorman, Dolj, Neamt andArad. In addition, in the last years wehave invested about EUR 7.5 million inthe development of our main offices inDrajna (Calarasi), which have a verymodern showroom, and the serviceand spare parts departments.

How has the business environment de-veloped in these ten years? The business environment has changed

from a very poor to medium-qualityagricultural equipment market to amore and more diversified one, withsmall, medium and large farmers. Eachof them has his or her place on the mar-ket while the development of this fieldcontinues. It is important that the agri-cultural sector is growing while farmersare becoming more and more skilled infarm management. This shift towards amore mature industry is supported byvarious other factors. For example,local universities have adjusted theirlearning program in order to meet theneeds of more modern agriculture. Also,several specialized international com-panies are present in Romania and offerconsultancy on agricultural operations.Things are moving much faster than inWestern Europe, which requires con-stant adjustment to the market.

How have agriculture and the agricul-tural equipment industry developed inthis period? The Romanian agricultural equipmentindustry has grown constantly, mainlydue to imports from countries such asAustria, Germany, Hungary and even

the United States, so the farmers’ per-spective has been changed. They are in-vesting more and more based on along-term vision and looking moreclosely at modern technologies. Atpresent, there are farmers who use thelatest technology and equipmentlaunched at international level. All ofthis should be seen in the context of thefluctuations of international cerealprices which we cannot avoid, as 95percent of our industry depends onthem. The difficult subsidies mecha-nism also influences this market. For-tunately, Biso Romania has launchedsome financial solutions in order to al-leviate farmers’ dependence on them.

When you marked ten years of presenceon the Romanian market you conducteda study on the concept of employerbranding at biso Romania. What were itsmain conclusions? The Biso Romania Employer BrandingStudy evaluates how the company isperceived by its employees. The initia-tive identified flexibility, professional-ism and competitiveness as the topthree qualities that best define Biso Ro-

mania as an employer, compared withother agricultural equipment compa-nies present on the Romanian market.Vision, courage and strategy are the topthree company values, according to ourteam.

The HR market in the agriculturalequipment industry has a marked needfor professional development, whilethe opportunities in this direction re-main minimal – few specialized train-ing programs and projects offer thepossibility of career development. Inthis context, the study shows that op-portunities for professional develop-ment, the team of professionals and theworking conditions have a special im-portance to the company’s employees.Forty percent of them gave the maxi-mum score (five points) in answer tothe question, “How proud are youworking for Biso Romania?”. The re-sults of the study confirm the com-pany’s efforts towards permanentdevelopment and being in line with thelatest trends on the international agri-cultural equipment market, in order tohelp farmers choose the right equip-ment for their farm. This perspectiveoffers our employees an ongoing devel-opment context.

How do you see biso Romania in tenyears? What about the Romanian econ-omy? We will focus on increasing profession-alism, and creating value for farmersand our business partners. The projec-tions for the end of this year depend onour team and external factors we can-not control or predict, like the cerealprices and weather conditions that arecrucial in agriculture.

anda.sebesi@business-review.ro

Andreas Feichtlbauer, executive director at agricultural player Biso Romania, tells Business Review how thecompany has overcome challenges such as adverse weather and low cereal prices and shares the results of anHR study conducted to shed light on its employer branding.

22 iNtERviEW www.business-review.euBusiness Review | February 2015

CEZ Romania: over EUR 2 billionof investments in ten years

∫ ANdA SEbESi

What do its ten years on the Romanianmarket mean for CEZ Romania?CEZ Romania has a decade long story inRomania including more than EUR 2.2billion of investments and constantportfolio growth. Every year in Roma-nia has brought new projects, new in-vestments and solid partnership withthe community. We entered the Ro-manian market in 2005 when, based onthe sound local regulatory framework(distribution tariff methodology), CEZdecided to bid for 51 percent of Elec-trica Oltenia, the largest distributioncompany in Romania, with its approxi-mately 1.4 million consumers.

The main objective after thetakeover was to improve services forcustomers, while aiming for efficient,defined and optimized processes, al-ways acting according to legislation andheavily investing in the grid (2.5 timesmore than Electrica Oltenia previouslydid). An important success factor hasbeen our team of specialists and ex-perts who have kept a close eye on themarket’s opportunities and evolution.

Ten years after that, CEZ Group inRomania means eight local companiesinvesting in green energy generation,distribution and the supply of electric-ity and related services, based in ninecounties around the country, in whichit has already rolled out social projectsworth more than EUR 3.9 million.

What have the company’s biggestachievements been over these tenyears?CEZ was the first to implement the un-bundling process on the Romanianelectricity market. As a result, in 2007,Electrica Oltenia divided into CEZ Dis-tributie and CEZ Vanzare, each with itsown specific activity. Every year, tar-gets were seriously approached andachieved. After ten years of heavy in-vestments, the distribution grid is 29percent renewed with top technologiesmostly produced by Romanian compa-nies and implemented by local contrac-tors. As a result, the electricitydistribution service has undergone sig-nificant improvements, adjusting tothe community’s new developmentneeds.

In 2008, CEZ entered the green en-ergy generation field with the acquisi-tion of a wind farm project in theDobrogea region. In 2012, CEZ com-

pleted the largest onshore wind farm inEurope, a EUR 1.1 billion investmentand a technological first in Romania,which it had started from scratch. CEZWind Farm has a 600 MW installed ca-pacity, approximately 10 percent of Ro-mania’s target of energy productionfrom renewable sources, and com-prises 240 wind turbines of 2.5 MWeach. The construction site was an im-pressive achievement for a Romanianand international team of more than400 specialists which built 240 founda-tions, 215 km of underground electricalcircuit, seven substations and onetransformer station plus more than 190km of access roads.

In 2009, CEZ became the sole share-holder of CEZ Distributie and CEZ Van-zare by purchasing the remainingshares from Electrica. This was also theyear when the capital process restruc-turing inside the two companies wasconcluded with positive results interms of cost and operational efficiency.

The highlight of 2010 was anotherexpansion of CEZ’s portfolio in Roma-nia: the purchase of TMK HydroenergyPower – the hydropower system northof Resita, in Caras Severin. CEZ en-larged its green energy generation as-sets with a group of four microhydropower plants and the relatedhydro amenities with the clear target ofcomplete refurbishment. The refur-bishment project meant an additionalEUR 30 million investment and a mod-ern hydropower generating systemfully preserving the cultural and histor-ical value of the secular components(hydropower plant buildings, the dams,the channel system etc.).

Operational achievements were re-

flected in the financial results. 2012 wasthe year when the largest onshore windfarm in Europe became fully opera-tional and also the year of the highestvalues at group level for CEZ in Roma-nia.

In 2013, several client services wererefined and optimized and the refur-bishment project in Resita was success-fully completed. In 2014, the jury of theRomanian Energy Award Gala selectedthe project as the best renewable proj-ect of the year. Another very importantaward for us in 2014 was Best CorporateCitizen for our contribution to the com-munity’s welfare under the platform

“Energie pentru Bine”.

How would you describe the develop-ment of the business environment in thecompany’s ten years of presence on theRomanian market? The Romanian market is nowadaysconsidered one of the most attractiveemerging markets in Europe, in termsof potential. For the past ten years, CEZhas constantly increased and devel-oped its portfolio, adding energy gener-ation to its distribution and salesactivity, while optimizing its processesand reaching operational excellence.We have therefore accumulated signifi-cant experience operating in the Ro-manian market and obtained vitalknow-how about the local business en-vironment. The energy business puzzlein Romania can be easily applied to alllocal economic sectors sharing thesame key drivers with specific roles andchallenges.

In terms of stability, predictability,investment prudence and governancestrategy, I would describe the businessenvironment in Romania first of all asemerging and in the process of matur-ing, growing at the same tempo as themarket. It can be considered transpar-ent and EU aligned, following EU direc-tives and business legislation ingovernment strategies and influencinginvestors to act more prudently in theirapproach. In short, an open market ofopportunities. The international crisisheavily impacted Romania between2009 and 2011 and the effects weremost obvious in cash flows, falling con-sumption, the value of receivables andremuneration of investments. A seriesof business constraints derived fromthe crisis had to be faced wisely by allbusiness players. CEZ managed to sur-pass the crisis period by means of per-formance-oriented management,

adjusting the business strategy to thereality of the business environment,the context of the energy market andthe macroeconomic background. How-ever, we are always looking towardsconstant challenges like more demand-ing consumers, the free market, com-petition and tariff liberalization byturning challenges into opportunitiesfor success.

Which have been the company’s mostimportant projects in its ten years in Ro-mania?In chronological order, I would men-tion the unbundling process (2006-2007), the new large optimizationprojects for the newly established CEZDistributie and CEZ Vanzare (2007-2011) targeting all processes in bothcompanies, the impressive construc-tion site at CEZ Wind Farm (2008-2012),the refurbishment project at the hy-dropower system in Caras Severin(2011-2013) and last, but very impor-tantly, the loss reduction program atCEZ Distributie (2010-2014).

How do you see CEZ Romania in ten yearsfrom now from the development point ofview? What about the local economy? I am very confident in Romania’s eco-nomic potential and progress. I believethe market will gain stability and pre-dictability and will become a credibleenvironment for investors. That com-bined with the country’s natural re-sources, know-how and opennesstowards foreign investors will turn Ro-mania into a very attractive market forall business sectors. In the next decade,I see CEZ as one of the key players in theRomanian energy market and a consol-idated integrated business in local de-velopment plans.

anda.sebesi@business-review.ro

Martin Zmelik, country manager and president of the board at CEZ Romania, tells Business Review about thelocal economic climate over the past decade and outlines the company’s main investments and achievementssince its entrance on the Romanian market.

CEZ RomaniaEstablished: 2005Field of activity: production, distribution and supply of electric energy 2013 turnover: RON 2,371,291,000CEZ Distributie, CEZ Vanzare, TomisTeam, TMK Hydroenergy Power, MW Invest, Ovidiu Development, CEZ Romania SA 2014 turnover: RON 2,089,579,000Number of employees: 1,787

tOP 100 23www.business-review.euBusiness Review | February 2015

Source: ONRC

RA

NK

COMPANy COUNty/City 2013 tURNOvER(RON) FiELd OF ACtivity CONtACt

1 Auchan Romania Bucharest 2,300,730,369 Mainly retail of food, bever-ages and tobacco products

13 Barbu Stefanescu DelavranceaStreet, ground floor, 1st District, phone:

021 317 79 19, fax: 021 317 85 00

2 Continental Automotive Systems

Sibiu(Sibiu) 2,228,473,646

Manufacturing of electricand electronic equipmentfor motor vehicles and their

engines

8 Salzburg Street, phone 0369 433 002,0369402005, fax: 0369 433 029

3 Fondul ProprietateaSA bucharest Bucharest 1,311,202,217 Mutual funds and other sim-

ilar financial entities

78-80 Buzesti Street, 7th floor, 1st District, phone 021 200 96 16,

fax: 021 200 96 31

4 Procter&Gamble distribution SRL Bucharest 1,217,167,184 Wholesale trade

ofother household goods

9-9A Dimitrie Pompei Avenue, Building 2a, 2nd District, phone 021 301 11 10

5 Makita EU SRL Ilfov(Branesti) 488,400,427 Manufacturing of electric

mobile machine tools 164 I.C. Bratianu Street, phone 021 200 01 21

6 Leoni Wiring SystemsPitesti SRL

Arges(Brasov) 406,024,627

Manufacturing of electricand electronic equipmentfor motor vehicles and their

engines

19 Serelor Street, phone: 0722 667 751

7 Energy Financingteam Romania SRL Bucharest 403,442,746 Retail of electric energy

24 Mircea Voda Avenue, 2nd floor, Room 205, 3rd District,

phone 021 302 36 23, 021 302 36 25

8Strabag AG Austria

Sucursala bucurestiRomania

Bucharest 400,689,829Construction of residentialand non-residential

buildings

90 13 Septembrie Avenue, 3rd floor, Room 3 01, 5th District,

phone: 021 403 43 57, fax: 021 403 43 50

9

Societatea ComercialaFiliala de intretineresi Servicii Energetice

Electrica Serv SA

Bucharest 388,867,047Construction of utility proj-ects for electricity andtelecommunications

1A Stefan cel Mare Avenue, 1st Districtphone: 021 306 50 02,

fax: 021 306 50 04

10 ikea Romania Bucharest 360,598,913Retail of furniture, lightingand household goods inspecialized stores

42A Bucharest-Ploiesti Road, 1st floor Office Space, 1st District,

phone: 021 308 81 00, fax: 021 308 81 25

11 Global E-business Operations Centre SRL Bucharest 336,675,269 Management and business

consultancy services

6 Dimitrie Pompei Street, Building D,ground floor, 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th floors,

2nd District, phone: 021 317 79 19

12 Genpact Romania Bucharest 315,374,493 Other support activities forcompanies

9-9A Dimitrie Pompei Avenue, P floor,Iride Business Park, 19th Building, 1st,2nd and 3rd floors, 2nd District

phone: 0728 887 596

13 Rodbun Grup SRL Bucharest 305,812,251Wholesale trade of cereals,seeds, fodder and un-processed tobacco

10 Topolovat Street, Td21 Building, 9th floor, 57 apt, 6th District,

phone: 0757 115 502

14 benrom SRL Sibiu(Sibiu) 303,535,335 Manufacturing of other clothing

items (exclusively underwear)1-3 Metalurgistilor Street,

phone: 0269 501 600, 0728 137 673

15bCR Asigurari de viata

vienna insuranceGroup SA

Bucharest 293,176,043 Life insurance activities21 Rabat Street, 2nd, 3rd and 4th floors,1st District, phone:021 206 90 40, 0745

854 436, fax: 021 230 63 49

top 100 companies founded in 2005 ranked by 2013 turnover

24 tOP 100 www.business-review.euBusiness Review | February 2015

* This is the turnover reported only by CEZ Romania SA, one of the companies part of the CEZ Group in Romania; Source: ONRC

RA

NK

COMPANy COUNty/City 2013 tURNOvER (RON) FiELd OF ACtivity CONtACt

16 Kromberg & SchubertRomania ME SRL

Sibiu(Medias) 259,556,521

Manufacturing ofelectric and elec-tronic equipmentfor motor vehiclesand their engines

186 Sibiului Road, phone: 0269 807712, 0269 807 724

17 Pehart tec SA Alba(Pitesti) 243,237,584 Manufacturing of

paper and cartons1 1Mai Street, phone: 0258 743 624

18 Mahle Componente de Motor SRL

Timis(Timisoara) 235,637,821

Manufacturing ofother automotivecomponents

Aradului Road, National Road 69 KM6+625 STG, phone: 0725 560 332

19 Faist Mekatronic SRL Bihor(Oradea) 233,689,145

Manufacturing ofmetal structuresand related components

32 / I Borsului Road, phone: 0359 803 600, fax: 0359 803 602

20 Regiotrans SRL Brasov(Brasov) 223,990,487

Inter-city railwaytransportation forpassengers

2 Oltului Street, 2nd Office, phone: 0268 310 697, 0730 190 433

21 Ezpada SRL Bucharest 221,584,133 Retail of electricenergy

24 Sevastopol Street, ground floor,Room P02, 1st District,

phone: 0311 805 659, 021 312 58 88

22 total Romania Brasov(Cristian) 215,612,374

Manufacturing ofproducts obtainedthrough crude oilprocessing

2 Stejarilor Street, phone: 0268 401 720, 0268 401 711,

fax: 0268 401 726

23 Gefco Romania Bucharest 210,378,456Other activities connected withtransportation

2C George Constantinescu Street,4th floor, Building Multigalaxy II, 2nd District, phone: 021 300 88 92,

0723 259 564

24 duvenbeck LogistikSRL

Brasov(Cristian) 208,947,611 Road transport of

commodities1 Duvenbeck Alley, phone: 0729 500 040, 0368 405 051

25 ERb Leasing iFN SA Bucharest 207,753,335 Financial leasing

6A Dimitrie Pompeiu Avenue, 5thfloor, Room 5 04, 2nd District,

phone: 021 308 61 21

26 bitdefender SRL Bucharest 196,513,222 Other software editing activities

24 Delea Veche Street, 7th floor, Office Building A, 2nd District,

phone: 021 206 34 70, 0723 144 943

27 vFS iNt Romania iFN SA Bucharest 179,259,609 Financial leasing 646-648 Iuliu Maniu Avenue, 1st

floor, Building C, 6th District

28 digital Cable Systems SA Bucharest 167,553,057

Telecommunicationactivities throughcable networks

10A Dimitrie Pompei, 4th floor,Building Conect 1, 2nd District,

phone: 021 529 60 01, 021 529 60 02,fax: 021 589 34 52

29 Stabilus Romania Brasov(Sanpetru) 157,314,086

Manufacturing of pumps and compressors

National Road 11, KM5+862,85,phone: 0729 50 07 98, 0368 308 900

30 Picara trading SRL Bucharest 152,806,050Wholesale trade ofpharmaceuticalproducts

9 Srg. Gheorghe Letea Street, Building C74, 2nd floor, 16th apt, 6thDistrict, 021 322 85 00, 021 320 22 26

31 Simea Sibiu SRL Sibiu(Sibiu) 151,350,590 Manufacturing of

electronic modules4 Florian Rieger Street, phone: 0269 20 68 06

32 * CEZ Romania SA Bucharest 142,333,431

Business and management consultancy services

2B Ion Ionescu De La Brad Street, 1st floor, 1st District, 0720 555 897

tOP 100 25www.business-review.euBusiness Review | February 2015

Source: ONRC

RA

NK

COMPANy COUNty/City 2013 tURNOvER (RON) FiELd OF ACtivity CONtACt

33 Ximena distributie SRL Braila(Braila) 141,624,619

Unspecializedwholesale trade offood, beverages and

tobacco

26A Miron Costin Street, BuildingC1, phone: 0239 620 242

34 Cogeme Set Ro SRL Arges(Micesti) 136,806,553

Manufacturing ofautomotive components

76B Calea Campulungului, phone: 0248 549 101, 0248 234 250,

fax: 0248 549 100

35 Nimet SRL Dambovita(Lazuri) 132,683,374

Manufacturing ofmetal structuresand related components

103 Targului Street, phone: 0727 722 078, 0245 606 010,

fax: 0245 606 011

36 duPont Romania SRL Bucharest 129,873,104 Unspecializedwholesale trade

42-44 Bucuresti-Ploiesti Road, Building B, 2nd floor (Wing B2), 1st District, phone: 021 314 02 00

37 MGi Coutier Rom SRL Timis(Ghiroda) 124,104,138

Manufacturing ofautomotive components

16 Aviatorilor Road, phone:0256 309 555, fax: 0256 274 065

38 integra SRL Ilfov(Chitila) 121,359,226 Processing and

preserving meat2,2A,2B Cartierului Street, phone: 021 436 49 95

39 SAP Romania SRL Bucharest 120,231,463 Other software editing activities

11-15 Tipografilor Street, BuildingA1, 1st and 2nd floor, 1st District, phone: 0745 294 645, 312 00 40

40 Artifex SRL Vrancea(Focsani) 118,434,126

Manufacturing ofother clothing items

(exclusively underwear)

12 Bucuresti Avenue, phone: 0237 213 200, 0337 401 241

41Assa Abloy EntranceSystems Production

Romania SRL

Hunedoara(Hunedoara) 104,587,540

Manufacturing ofmetal structuresand related components

363 Pestisu Mare, phone: 0354 808 380, 0354 808 383

42 borealis L.A.t Romania Bucharest 101,676,111

Other support services for companies

8A Maria Rosetti, 3rd floor, 2nd District, phone: 0744 567 218,

021 212 32 68

43 Simpe SRL Alba(Sebes) 101,085,240

Manufacturing ofother carpentrycomponents forconstructions

8 Alunului Street, C16, phone: 0358 401 545, 021 305 57 57,

fax: 0358 401 548

44 Hanna instruments SRL

Salaj(Nusfalau) 98,069,436

Manufacturing oftools and devicesfor measurement,control, navigationand inspection

Hanna Street, phone: 0260 607 700,fax: 0260 670 353

45 bihore SRL Bihor(Oradea) 95,721,036 Manufacturing of

shoes 2 Paleului Street, phone: 0722 367 246

46 Efes Export SA Arges(Maracineni) 95,279,060

Processing and preserving of fruits and

vegetables

579A Cimpulung Avenue, phone: 0248 610 600, 0748 155 067

47 Electronic Arts Romania SRL Bucharest 90,123,036 Editing computer

games

4F Vasile Milea Avenue, Afi Park 2Building, 6th District, phone: 0317 810 100

48 Reropam SRL Bihor(Santion) 89,854,855 Manufacturing of

shoes phone: 0259 316 096, 0259 316 154

49 balkan Petroleum SA Bucharest 89,031,493Real estate

development (andpromotion)

4-6 Stelutei Street, 1st floor, Room 1,1st District, phone: 021 667 79 61,

021 667 24 50

26 TOP 100 www.business-review.euBusiness Review | February 2015

Source: ONRC

RANK

COMPANY COUNTY/CITY 2013 TURNOVER (RON) FIELD OF ACTIVITY CONTACT

50 E.ON Business Services Iasi SRL

Iasi(Iasi) 88,586,821

Management activities of

computing systems

38 Petru Movila Saint Street, 3rdfloor, Room 312,

phone: 0232 205 763, 0232 205 702

51 Octagon Contracting &Engineering SA Bucharest 87,362,861

Construction of res-idential and non-residentialbuildings

20P Smaranda Braescu Street, 1stfloor, 1st District,

phone: 021 232 39 20

52 ING Lease Romania SA Bucharest 83,364,389

Activities of collect-ing agencies andcredit reporting

offices

48 Iancu de Hunedoara Avenue, 9thfloor, Lease Office, 1st District,

phone: 0728 966 939, 0372 297 183

53 Brodrene Dahl SRL Tulcea (Tulcea) 82,118,729

Wholesale trade offorge equipment forsanitary and heating

installations

22 Dumitru Ivanov Engineer Street,phone: 0240 536 743, fax: 0240 536 744

54 Infineon TechnologiesRomania & Co. SCS Bucharest 82,089,031 Editing of other

software products

6 Dimitrie Pompeiu Avenue, Buildings B+C, Ground floor, 3rd and4th floors and Building E, 5th floor,

2nd District

55Grup Servicii

Petroliere ShipyardSRL

Constanta(Constanta) 81,729,720

Manufacturing ofmetal structuresand related components

Constanta Harbor, Mol I South,phone: 0372 753 330; 0372 753 331;

fax: 0372 737 222

56 Iulius Mall Timisoara Timis(Timisoara) 81,236,834

Leasing and sub-leasing of real es-tate, owned or

leased properties

Aristide Demetriade 1 Street, phone: 0722 836 067

57 All Cargo Expres SRL Timis(Chisoda) 80,182,435

Other activities connected to transportation

59 National Road KM 8 + 550 M, Left,phone: 0731 660 371

58 Polipol Mobila SRL Satu Mare(Foieni) 80,162,448 Manufacturing of

furniture631 Foieni village phone:

0261 807 600, fax: 0261 807 609

59 Galaxy DistributionSRL Bucharest 80,142,127 Wholesale trade of

tobacco products

2 Regiei Avenue, Building M, 6th District, phone: 021 317 44 00,0744 305 150, fax: 021 317 44 01

60China Shipping

Romania Agency Co.Ltd SRL

Bucharest 78,627,111Other activities con-nected to trans-

portation

86 Splaiul Unirii Street, 1st and 2ndfloors, 4th District, phone: 0720 720

535, 0311 006 892

61 Gold Plast ProductionSRL

Arges(Topoloveni) 77,954,199 Manufacturing of

other plastics 1 Garii Street, phone: 0248 666 116

62 Textile Medicale SRL Arad(Arad) 77,300,861

Manufacturing ofmedical and dentaldevices, equipment

and tools

1 III Street, West Industrial Area,phone: 0257 272 100

63 Lavira Transport SRL Bucharest 76,096,046Retail of pharmaceuti-cals in specialized

stores

13 Laceni Alley, Building PM84, Apt 38,3rd District, phone: 0745 120 387

64 Rohrer Servicii Industriale SRL Bucharest 75,063,296 Collecting and

cleaning used water

1 Tablitei Street, Ground floor, 1stand 2nd floors, 1st District, phone:021 410 09 46, fax: 021 410 09 46

65 H&E Reinert SRL Brasov(Feldioara) 73,849,759 Manufacturing of

meat products

National Road 13 KM 11, phone: 0368 101 077, 0268 47 75 94,

fax: 0368 101 078

66 Ionescom Colect SRL Constanta(Constanta) 69,005,079 Wholesale trade of

waste

50 George Enescu Street, 1st floor,room 2, phone: 0722 466 079, 0745

754 590, 0726 645 778

TOP 100 27www.business-review.eu Business Review | February 2015

Source: ONRC

RANK

COMPANY COUNTY/CITY 2013 TURNOVER (RON) FIELD OF ACTIVITY CONTACT

67 EL&Cab Bizz SRL Bucharest 68,194,967

Wholesale trade ofelectronic and

telecommunicationcomponents andequipment

8 Barbu Lautaru Street, Building23, 9th floor, apt 49, 1st District,phone: 0730 786 813, 0735 852 681

68 Toyo Motor LeasingIFN SA Bucharest 66,957,217 Financial leasing 283 Splaiul Unirii Street, 3rd District,

phone: 0722 295 743, 0728 859 050

69 Ser Transnav SRL Constanta(Constanta) 66,881,477

Wholesale trade ofcereals, seeds, fod-

der and un-processed tobacco

1 Maior Sofran Street, Building C1,ground floor, apt.3,

phone: 0241 485 813, 0241 485 574

70 Sonoma SRL Bacau(Bacau) 66,173,754

Manufacturing ofother clothing items

(exclusively underwear)

283 Republicii Road, phone: 0234 582 400

71 Orbit Polymers SRL Bucharest 65,457,426 Wholesale trade ofchemical products

55C Pipera Road, room 5, 2nd District, phone: 021 230 87 70,

fax: 021 230 87 60

72 Nordic Petfood Distribution SRL Bucharest 64,326,243

Specialized whole-sale trade of food,including fish, shell-fish and cockles

240 A Vitan Road, 3rd District, phone:0722 392 248, 021 346 53 40

73 Evolution Prest Systems SRL Bucharest 64,258,904

Wholesale trade ofcomputers andsoftware

20 1 Decembrie 1918 Avenue, Build-ing 2, 7th floor, apt 31, 3rd District,phone: 0723 304 605, 0746 079 704

74 Euro Gepeto SA Constanta(Lumina) 63,581,750

Wholesale trade ofmeat and meatproducts

148 Tulcei Road, Office No.1, phone: 0241 585 152, 0731 500 979,

fax: 0241 629 100

75 Metalicplas Distribution SRL

Cluj(Dej) 63,525,243

Wholesale trade ofmetals and metallic

minerals

113 1 Mai Street, phone: 0747 028149, 0264 211 967

76 New Kopel Romania SRL

Ilfov(Otopeni) 62,920,460 Rent and car

leasing

201-203 Calea Bucurestilor Road, 1st floor, phone: 0723 252 599,

fax: 021 317 85 00

77 City Gas SRL Galati(Galati) 62,477,650

Wholesale trade ofsolid, liquid and gasfuels and derived

products

Free Zone Sector, Lot 03,04,05, P1,P3, phone: 0236 314 234,

0747 126 015, fax: 0236 448 551

78 Kranz Eurocenter SRL Arges(Pitesti) 61,364,730

Construction of res-idential and non-residentialbuildings

92 Craiovei Street, Building V1, D1floor, phone: 0752 239 949,

0248 250 135

79 UCO Tesatura SRL Giurgiu(Giurgiu) 60,418,144 Manufacturing of

fabrics

351 Bucuresti Road, Building A,phone: 0721 228 676, 0246 210 017,

fax: 0246 403 004

80 Dell InternationalServices SRL Bucharest 60,163,480

Business and manage-ment consultancy

services

10A Dimitrie Pompeiu Avenue, BuildingC3, 2,4,5 and 6 floors, 2nd District,

phone: 021 314 02 00

81 Cosmos Mobile SRL Bucharest 59,143,677

Retail of telecom-munication equip-ment in specialized

stores

32A Alexandru Ioan Cuza Avenue, 4thfloor, Offices 1-4, 1st District, phone:

021 313 99 92, 0731 494 562

82 Rotiemme Impex SRL Bihor(Oradea) 58,714,708

Wholesale trade ofwood and construc-tion materials andsanitary equipment

2 Garoafei Street, phone: 0740 575 606

83 Schlemmer RomaniaSRL

Satu Mare(Vetis) 57,995,576

Manufacturing ofplastic panels,sheets, tubes and

profiles

8A Careiului Street, phone: 0261 717443, 0744 701 374

28 TOP 100 www.business-review.euBusiness Review | February 2015

Source: ONRC

RANK

COMPANY COUNTY/CITY 2013 TURNOVER (RON) FIELD OF ACTIVITY CONTACT

84 United Grain ConsultSRL Bucharest 55,929,827

Brokerage in retailof agricultural rawmaterials, cattle,fabric raw materialsand semi-products

20-22 Dr. Ottoi Calin Street, Building C2, 2nd District, phone: 0722 543 689

85 Prolisok SRL Suceava(Negostina) 55,291,327 Brokerage in retail

of various products375 Balcauti Village, phone: 0743 200 025

86 Inter-Gas Trading SRL Bucharest 54,944,025

Wholesale trade ofsolid, liquid and gasfuels and derived

products

38-40 Prelungirea Ghencea Street,1st floor, Room 4, 6th District,

phone: 0734 00 11 40, 0722 22 34 54,fax: 021 311 90 02

87 Dadycom SRL Botosani(Rosiori) 54,233,103

Manufacturing ofmeat products

(including chickenmeat)

Postal Code 717 313, phone: 0231534 222, fax: 0231 534 222

88 S.A. I. Raiffeisen AssetManagement SA Bucharest 54,216,393 Asset management

246D Calea Floreasca Street, 2ndfloor, Room 2, 1st District, phone:021 306 17 11, fax: 021 312 05 33

89 Martifer ConstructiiSRL Bucharest 53,967,593

Manufacturing ofmetal structuresand related compo-

nents

12 Stelea Spataru Street, groundfloor, 3rd District, phone: 0314 056862, 0728 118 239, fax: 021 310 68 64

90 Royal Computers SRL Bucharest 52,978,302Wholesale trade ofcomputers andsoftware

32 General Ioan Culcer Street, 6thDistrict, phone: 021 410 21 00

91 Tecsa Meccanismi SRL Cluj(Apahida) 52,079,062 General mechanic

operations296 Libertatii Street,

phone: 0264 417 885, 0730 707 508

92 Vikingprofil SRL Prahova(Filipestii de Padure) 50,557,348

Manufacturing ofmetal products ob-tained throughplastic bending,

powders and metal-lurgical engineering

19A Principala Street, phone: 0724 316 492, 0749 127 720

93 Cramele RecasGroup SRL

Timis(Recas) 50,432,707 Wholesale trade of

alcohol drinksComplex Vinificatie CP 1, phone: 0256 330 296, fax: 0256 330 241

94 Cassidian Romania SRL Bucharest 50,299,206

Management andbusiness consul-tancy services

3 George Constantinescu Street, 6thfloor, 2nd District, phone: 021 312 2056, 0727 773 714, fax: 021 312 20 55

95 Thimm Packaging SRL

Sibiu(Sura Mica) 50,010,322

Manufacturing ofpaper and corru-gated board,

paper and cartonpackaging

Parcuri Industriale Street, P12,phone: 0269 541 210, fax: 0269 541 240

96 Omco Romania SRL Iasi(Iasi) 49,186,954

Manufacturing ofequipment for general use

43A Chisinaului Road, phone: 0720 550 050

97 Tomadi SRL Timis(Timisoara) 48,545,368

Manufacturing of meatproducts (includingchicken meat)

8-10 Circumvalatiunii Road, Room 1,phone: 0722 204 126

98 Uni-Recycling SRL Bucharest 47,089,875 Collecting of non-dangerous waste

2B Ion Ionescu de la Brad, 3rd floor,Gabrielle Center Building, 1st District, phone: 0721 358 031,

0728 887 773

99 Klevek Factory SRL Ialomita(Fetesti) 47,027,097

Processing andpreserving of fruitand vegetables

505 Calarasi Street, phone: 0723 209317, 0243 361 240, fax: 0243 361 199

100 Vitrarom SRL Brasov(Lunca Calnicului) 46,979,710

Manufacturing ofother carpentrycomponents forconstructions

1 IC Frimu Street, Building 1, phone: 0744 334 719, 0722 523 276,

fax: 0268 515 282

30 inteRvieW www.business-review.euBusiness Review | February 2015

Storience: making its name onthe London branding market

this rebranding project with two otherUK-based agencies, and that our port-folio is what convinced them.

How was this first experience for you?Stefan Liute (SL): Rebranding Activatehas been a great experience. Thanksto the client, who was very focusedand responsive, this was probably oneof the smoothest projects we’ve beeninvolved in so far.

The success of the project was themain reason we opened an office inLondon.

How did you choose your space and theteam? prior to this step, did you haveother UK-based clients? AL: We chose the Bethnal Green area

for its proximity to the creative hubsof Shoreditch and Hackney, and to theCity of London. We (Stefan and Adri-ana Liute) are now based in London,traveling frequently between thereand Bucharest. Our team in Londonalso includes Ioana Jago, who success-fully coordinated the Activate re-branding project. Activate was ouronly client in the UK when we openedthe office.

What can you tell us about your secondinternational project – the University ofGeneva? SL: For the University of Geneva weare currently developing a digital presence for a digital humanities project. That means a modern,

responsive website that showcasesdigital versions of unique ancientmanuscripts. This project will launchin a few days.

What persuaded you that moving toLondon was the right path for you?SL: London is the world’s largest and most competitive market forbranding services. So, for someonetruly passionate about this field, London is a magnet. Working in this market can only improve thework we do for all our clients worldwide. We know that making it here is neither guaranteednor easy, but we never really had a doubt that we wanted to do this.

In July 2012, Stefan andadriana Liute left Grapefruit and started their own branding agency – Storience. Thename (a portmanteau of story and experience) sums up what the duo sees as the main ingredients in the con-struction and communication of a brand. In two years of activity, the company has signed up such brands as Acti-vate, Clothier, Avenor Collage, Shakespeare School, Unica pharmacy, Honeywood, Alevia, Bookster, Nedcon andMcCann PR. It has also won gold at the A’Design Award 2014 and bronze at the Transform Awards 2013. At thebeginning of the year the firm launched a new venture, opening an office in London and trying to gain more inter-national clients.

∫ Romanita opRea

How did the opportunity to work for aUK client come about (who foundwhom)? How did you edge out the com-petition? Adriana Liute (AL): Our client in the UK approached us via a referral. Infact, all our foreign clients have cometo us through referrals, and only re-cently have we started also to get prospects who say they “stumbledupon our website”. I think that havingan office in London helps with the perception that we are a suitableagency for a Western company. Our UK client, Activate Event Management, told us we competed for

inteRvieW 31www.business-review.eu Business Review | February 2015

How has the local competition receivedyou? How are you seen by the brandingagencies in the UK? AL: It is too early to tell how our competitors here regard us. We are not yet well known locally. However, our storytelling skills (Zam-buri-style) are very noticeable and appreciated in London, even by other branding agencies. Althoughgift cards are very diverse and popular in Britain, our creative concept (ultra-short stories for

grown-ups inside gift cards) is freshand unique.

What is your business target for thefirst year in London (number of clients,turnover, etc.)? AL: We want to dedicate 2015 to exploration and networking, so our objective is not about turnover or number of clients. Right now we are trying to plant the right seeds for a very productive2016.

When you started your company andwent it alone, did you foresee this tra-jectory? SL: The gates didn’t open themselvesfor us, we pushed them. We admitthat opening a Storience office in Lon-don did not cross our mind when westarted Storience in Bucharest. Butwhen the idea came up, we decided togo for it. The truth is, we are an inter-nationally awarded agency so, sincewe already operate at internationalstandards, why not open up for the in-

ternational market?

What will happen with the local Stori-ence office? Who will be in charge forRomanian clients?AL: We continue to be involved and to oversee the projects in Roma-nia, with the support of our teamthere. We do that on a day-to-daybasis, and we also travel there when-ever needed.

editorial@business-review.ro

32 BR Awards www.business-review.euBusiness Review | February 2015

BR Awards the nominees

∫ ANDA SEBESI

SUSTAINABLE BUSINESS PRACTICES

JUDGING CRITERIA Incorporation of sustainable businesspractices: environmentally friendlyproducts or services; proven socialimpact of the business (communityimpact); developing long-term pro-grams or projects for the local com-munities (long-term commitment tothe local community); program’spractices meet a real need of the com-munity; implementation of an inno-vative system in the production anddistribution process that reduces theuse of water, waste or carbon foot-print; adoption of a solution for theefficient energy management.

Unilever South Central Europefor Zero Waste to LandfillUnilever ProgramThe company identified the green solu-tion of converting obsolete productsthat cannot be sold (as they are expiredor deteriorated) into biomass. The bio-mass is converted into biogas and theninto green energy. Last year the com-pany announced the successful imple-mentation of the Zero Waste to Landfillprogram from its factories in Ploiesti.The program is part of the company’sstrategy that puts sustainability at thecore of its business and incorporates itin its brands value proposition.

Skanska Property Romania forGreen Court Bucharest The three-building development in-cludes Building A, which was com-pleted in autumn 2014, and Building Band Building C, which are scheduled forcompletion in 2015 and 2016. GreenCourt Bucharest’s Building A and Build-ing B are pre-certified to LEED Gold cer-tification (Core & Shell). LEED is avoluntary US Green Building Councilcertification process intended to en-courage the construction of green build-ings. Some 33 percent financial savingsdue to energy efficiency, 40 percent lessenergy use than the Romanian energycode, 95 percent construction waste di-verted from landfill, 50 percent lesspotable water use than a conventionalRomanian office building, good safetypractice during construction and

healthy indoor environments are someof the project’s sustainability highlights.

Raiffeisen Bank for RomanianClean Business CoalitionThe project is a result of a strong part-nership between a multinational com-pany and civil society (RomanianBusiness Leaders). Expected outcomesare: effective implementation of thenon-financial new reporting frameworkat national level, increasing trans-parency within the business commu-nity, increasing the number ofcompanies reporting non-financial is-sues; extended application of the provi-sions of non-financial reporting tostate-owned companies, public-privatepartnerships and the consequent in-creasing of their transparency and in-tegrity by the means of the EU newregulation; ensuring an optimum envi-ronment for the transfer of good prac-tices from the private/business sector tonational investments and state-ownedcompanies.

Brain Institute for its non-profitendeavour Brain Institute is a neurosurgery centerinside the Monza Hospital which func-tions as a not for profit organization. Itwas set up as a surgery center but it isnow developing into a neurosciencecenter that will be capable of treating allneurological affections. Its target is totreat 1,000 patients a year from 2017.Out of these, 20-25 percent should besocial cases. In 2014 the Brain instituteperformed 450 interventions out ofwhich 50 were social cases – free orbased on consumables only. About EUR60,000 was spent on development andEUR 30,000 went into the foundation.

Danone for the A Chance for AllprojectThe project addresses the reduced ca-pacity of Romanian small farmers tomeet EU quality standards to producemilk and the need to build sustainableeconomic development models for thesmall and disadvantaged communitiesthey are part of. It started in 2012 and isbased on a partnership betweenDanone Romania, the associationHeifer Romania and the internationalinvestment fund Danone Ecosystem. Itfocuses on three disadvantaged com-munities for a period of three years andconsists of giving cows to families wholack the means to invest in purchasing apurebred animal under the conditionthat the first born cow is donated to an-

other member of the community. Ben-eficiaries also receive milking equip-ment and training. The pilot project wasimplemented in three communities forthree years, and over EUR 2 million wasinvested.

Schneider Electric for Solar Decathlon&Energy UniversitySchneider Electric Romania has sup-ported the Romanian student team thatparticipated in Solar Decathlon Europein 2014, an international competitionthat challenges students to build sus-tainable hou er distribution and au-tomation equipment and solutions, anelectric vehicle charging station), as wellas technical support and training fromthe company’s experts. Schneider Elec-tric has also supported the members ofthe team by offering them the chance tobecome professional energy managers,after graduating for free from a specialprogram on the company’s Energy Uni-versity platform.

ONLINE STRATEGY FOR BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT

JUDGING CRITERIA The response generated by the projectin terms of revenue, public awareness;investment in the online strategy, plat-form; innovative character of the onlineproject in reference to the local marketand the respective industry; potentialfor growth in the future in order to be-come a target for investors, venture cap-italists or international buyers; retailmarkets involved (local vs. interna-tional ones) – whether the company isreaching/creating a new marketthrough its online presence; asses mar-keting online, not just selling online.

BCR for BCR Financial AssistantBCR Financial Assistant is an innovative

From greening their business to training the next generation of entrepreneurs, from funding SMEs to bringingan ailing company back from the brink, some players on the local market defied the tough trading conditions toshine in 2014. This year’s Business Review Awards celebrate these high achievers. Who are they, and what didthey do?

personal finance manager (PFM), avail-able for PC and mobile devices (iOS andAndroid apps) that provides financialassistance through an automated 360degree overview of the financial statusto the customers by categorizing morethan 90 percent of the transactions. Itgenerates a global perspective of thebudget with the possibility of quicklychecking all the personal incomes andspending split per transaction category.With the BCR Financial Assistant cus-tomers can have an overview how theirmonthly spending is divided by cate-gory or how they have spent theirmoney or set spending targets. All thisin a friendly way, with a rich set of user-friendly charts.

Lidl for WineTunes - vinuri caresuna bine WineTunes is an online application thatenables consumers to pair their per-sonal music with a complementarywine. The user drags and drops a songor a song link on the app page where itwill be analyzed and paired with theperfect bottle of wine for it. The appli-cation scans the music (mp3 file,YouTube link or simply by typing in thename) and pairs it with the correct wine– a high alcohol wine for a metal lover, ahigh-end wine for classical music orrose for R&B. The company intended toraise awareness for its wine rangethrough this project. The awarenesscampaign has had over 1.5 million con-tacts since its launch.

Carrefour for www.Carrefour-Online.ro Carrefour-Online.ro is the first onlinehypermarket with more than 20,000products available at the same processas in the bricks–and-mortar Carrefourhypermarkets. The assortment devel-oped from 7,000 products in 2013 tomore than 22,000 in 2014. The websitehas been improved with new featureslike a revolutionary shopping list, fastand complex search tool, editable andreusable shopping carts, and socialmedia login. In terms of results in 2014the business grew by 500 percent yearon year.

BRD Asigurari for My MedCareSmartphone Application – Yourpersonal health assistant!The application has been developed byBRD Asigurari de Viata, in partnershipwith a dynamic Romanian company, asan innovative additional service to itshealth insurance offer dedicated serv-

ices to BRD company customers. It is afree application giving the employees ofBRD customers easy and permanent ac-cess to numerous added value healthservices. It provides direct access to acall center for appointments, accountstatements such as claims and reim-bursements, including direct contact todoctors in case of need. The applicationallows the customer to easily find theimmediate geo-location of the closestmedical center in case of need.

Also available are alerts for medica-tion and medical appointments. Thecompetitive advantage is that BRDAsigurari de Viata is the only insurer inRomania to provide such tool.

Mega Image for “Supermarketla tine acasa”

“Supermarket la tine acasa”(www.emag.ro/supermarket) is the on-line shopping platform launched byMega Image in collaboration witheMAG. The approach was to build apartnership with the e-commerceleader in Romania, in order to combineforces and allow each company to focuson their key strengths: eMAG on ecom-merce and infrastructure (IT & logistics)and Mega Image on products and retailaspects. Three key points of differenti-ation that set the eMAG-Mega ImageSupermarket apart from the competi-tion are: home delivery everywhere inRomania; same day delivery in selectedareas; pick-up points. In 2014, over10,000 orders were placed onwww.emag.ro/supermarket, withabout 65 percent of them coming fromoutside of Bucharest.

INNOVATION IN TECHNOLOGY

JUDGING CRITERIA Innovation and research-driven orien-tation of the strategy implemented; in-vestment made, amount and againstother markets where the company ispresent; HR effort of the company;added value brought to the business en-vironment and/or community.

Avangate for the Avangate Digital Commerce SolutionReleased in the fall of 2014, the com-pany’s Digital Commerce Solution is de-signed for the new services economyand provides software and online serv-ices companies with over 200 new en-

hancements to get to market fasteracross any customer touch point, tomove to recurring revenue models eas-ily, and to sell more, globally. The mostsignificant addition was the RevenueRecovery Tools (RRT), which improveconversion and retention for recurringrevenues lost due to passive churn andlimitations of working with just a lim-ited set of processors. RRT brings to-gether extended credit accountupdaters, retry logic, gatewayfailure/intelligent payment routing, aswell as bundled advanced third-partytools leveraging direct bank integrationsand big data analysis. Typical recoveryhas averaged 20 percent of lost orderswith early adopters recovering over 40percent of churned revenues.

iRewind for iRewind OnAirCameraiRewind OnAirCamera automaticallycaptures, edits and delivers personal-ized video memories. It simplifies theprocess of capturing, editing and deliv-ering video. The company says it aimsto standardize the technology in allmajor sports, starting with timed sportmarkets (marathon and cycling races)and slowly expanding into other marketsuch as golf, skiing and tourism. The ini-tial investment is estimated at aroundEUR 200,000 to EUR 300,000.

Ubervu for the uberVU SocialMedia Analytics software solu-tionThe uberVU Social Analytics dashboardis consistently rated as one of the topfive products of its kind in the world. Itsbiggest differentiator is that it targetsnon-analysts inside large enterprises.The uberVU competitors provide morepowerful social analytics tools that aretargeted at data scientists and businessanalysts and they are complex to useand very slow. The benefits to the busi-ness environment relate to the fact thatuberVU is one of the first Romaniantechnology companies to address a new,global market category that it alsohelped shape. It is a great example thatRomanian entrepreneurs can go afternew categories, not just try to competein existing ones.

Softronics for building the firstelectric train in Romania – HyperionHyperion is the first electric low-floortrain ever built in Romania, aiming toreduce costs and increase efficiency.Comfort and safety are key aspects ofthe four-wagon train offering open-space compartments, free internet ac-cess, diffused lighting systems andcomfortable seats. Internal and externalmonitoring systems ensure passengersafety, providing direct views andrecordings to the driver’s cabin.Thetrain was running on maximal parame-ters on the Craiova - Bucharest - Con-stanta route, 160 km/h, during thesummer and is now running on theCraiova - Bucharest - Brasov route. Itwas manufactured using the latest tech-nologies and was assimilated according

to the European norms TSI. It was thesecond train in Europe certified accord-ing to ERA Brussells. The investmentwas over EUR 5 million.

BEST START-UP SUPPORTERSTo what extent does the project/servicesupport the activity of start-ups. Theadded value for the entrepreneur; num-ber of start-ups/individuals supported; resources and strategy employed to support start-up activity (infrastructure, consultancyservices); ease of access to the solution/service/product for start-ups.

Banca Transilvania for FirstYear Free AccountFor up to 12 months following their es-tablishment, companies which becomeBanca Transilvania’s customers havethe following benefits: zero charges forpayments via BT24 and cheque/promis-sory note, no charges for incoming pay-ments, zero costs for opening andmonthly management of accounts andfree subscription to BT24 InternetBanking. The objective in launching thisproduct was to attract 20 percent of thecompanies newly established in 2014.The goal was achieved successfully asthe lender attracted 21 percent of them.

Connect Hub for Open ConnectOpen Connect is a networking andpitching event, started in a Starbucks in2012 and with more than 100 editions sofar, more than 400 pitches and over 80mentoring sessions. The communitycreated around Open Connect has nowmore than 5,000 members from Roma-nia and abroad. The event was repli-cated and is currently happening (witha lower frequency) in seven other cities:Sibiu, Brasov, Bacau, Galati, Constanta,Cluj and Iasi. Open Connect intends togenerate consistent and relevant feed-back, in a sustainable form, to youngfreelancers, entrepreneurs and self-em-ployed. It supports entrepreneurs, of-fering exposure to relevant feedbackand mentors, networking, early valida-tion (or invalidation) of ideas, commu-nity building and soft skills building.

Impact Hub for its solutions de-signed to support start-ups inBucharestImpact Hub Bucharest hosts a spacewith all the tools and trimmings neededto grow and develop innovative ven-tures for the world. It invites entrepre-neurial individuals into a space ofmeaningful encounters, exchange andinspiration. It helps create scalable busi-ness models so that ventures developedat Impact Hub Bucharest become finan-cially sustainable and create real impact.The Hub’s community hosts 180-200members every month, with 500unique members throughout the year.Going into the third year, 40 percent ofits members are in the idea develop-ment phase, and 70 percent of them

have accelerated and are now startupsand running established operations.

Spherik Accelerator for its intensive program for entrepreneursSpherik Accelerator is a four-month in-tensive program that supports aspiringentrepreneurs to bring their start-up tolife and generate investment. It pro-vides selected teams with weekly work-shops and in-person and remotementoring from business leaders andentrepreneurs from Romania and techhubs from around the world. The accel-erator model has been brought from Sil-icon Valley to Romania, while adaptingit for local conditions. Spherik Acceler-ator also acts as an ambassador, bring-ing interesting people in technologyand business from other tech hubsaround the world to showcase Cluj andRomania. It has also initiated a "ThinkTank" of program leaders from aroundthe community to share their experi-ences, learning, and challenges as wellas share resources.

BEST SME FINANCINGPROGRAM

JUDGING CRITERIA Amount of financial commitment andlending terms; innovative character ofthe financial product or service; the im-pact of the product/service within thetarget (number of customers).

Raiffeisen Bank for Funding FinancialInstrument with Risk Sharing element,co-financing and risk sharing rate of 50percent provided by European Invest-ment Fund (EIF) under the JEREMIEinitiative

Following the success of the previ-ous JEREMIE Program implemented byRaiffeisen Bank (launched in April 2011)and having in mind the current marketdemand for programs facilitating accessto loans for SMEs, the bank expressedits interest in entering into a new facilityagreement under the JEREMIE initia-tive. The second program launchedwith the EIF allowed the bank to sup-port the development of its SME cus-tomers, granting them credit facilities ataffordable prices and lower collateral re-quirements. The new limit allocated toRaiffeisen Bank SME customers is EUR40 million, based on the new agree-ment signed by the bank in December2013. Through this program, the tar-geted objective was approximately 700loans.

Banca Transilvania for its rapidloans platformBanca Transilvania offers loans forworking capital and for medium-terminvestment. Their main characteristicsconsist of fast approval, accessibility (ei-ther no material guarantees or partialmaterial guarantees required) and flex-ibility (financing granted as credit lineof medium-term loan). The initial ob-

34 BR Awards www.business-review.euBusiness Review | February 2015

jective was to grant 5,000 loans. Theproduct is different from others on themarket due to its specific characteristics.

BEST MICRO FINANCING PROGRAM

JUDGING CRITERIA Amount of credit offered; diversity offinancial products portfolio; types ofbusinesses financed.

Patria Credit for EUR 7 millionaccessed from EFSE for sus-taining the financing of microenterprises, agricultural busi-nesses and farmers in rural ar-easIn December 2014, the European Fundfor Southeast Europe (EFSE) granted anew loan to Patria Credit wotth of EUR7 million in the local currency. Themain purpose is for Patria to continueto address the financing needs of microand small enterprises (MSEs) as well assmall agricultural businesses and farm-ers in rural Romania. Another aim is re-ducing the currency risk for its clientsby financing in the local currency(RON), thus is lowering their vulnera-bility with respect to global macroeco-nomic fluctuations. From the end ofJanuary 2014 to mid December 2014the lender deployed 320 loans fromnew EFSE loans for 26 MSEs and 295agro producers.

The amount credited was aboutEUR 2.1 million while the credit desti-nation was 26 percent for working cap-ital, 26 percent mixed destination and48 percent investments.

Good.bee Credit IFN for the in-novative character of its loansfor agricultural entrepreneursand farmers.The main objective of good.bee Creditis to ensure access to quality financialservices for small entrepreneurs fromrural and small urban areas in helpthem carry out and extend their activi-ties successfully. It developed two spe-cific methodologies and productswhich allow access to loans even for ap-plicants with no collateral: group lend-ing methodology – using the moralguarantee of group members as collat-eral and peer pressure for on-time col-lection. This is applicable in areaswhere there is a large interest in gettinga loan for running economic activitiesbut there is a lack of hard collateral; de-

sign special products for types of cus-tomers running agricultural activitiesand who do not own valuable enoughassets to get a loan. These products areavailable for individual customers, whoare not part of the groups mentionedabove.

Agricover Credit for “Creditulcorelat cu Matif”

“Creditul corelat cu Matif” is a lendingproduct that allows the correlation ofthe interest rate with the price of thegrain on the Matif Commodities Ex-change in Paris (a landmark for trade ingrain). Farmers may thus receive a loanthat guarantees them lower financingcosts in the event that grain price fallsbelow the price estimated by farmersfor the harvesting of their crops, cou-pled with the safety and reliability of athe win-win partnership. AgricoverCredit has seen rapid growth, becomingin just a few years one of the majorplayers in farmer financing. The totalvalue of lending it granted in 2014amounted to over RON 800 million andcovered 1,550 farmers working around11 percent of the total cultivated agri-cultural lands in Romania.

Opportunity Microcredit Roma-nia for supporting small entre-preneurs in TransylvaniaThe main objective of Opportunity Mi-crocredit Romania for 2014 was to sup-port small entrepreneurs and farmersin Transylvania. In terms of client out-reach the objective was to serve morethan 1,750 active clients (50.4 percentagribusinesses, 48.2 percent non-agribusinesses, 1.4 percent home im-provement). In 2014, by providingfinancial services (loans for agri andnon-agri businesses for investments,working capital or home improve-ments) Opportunity Microcredit Roma-nia disbursed 778 loans, worth RON17.9 million. Over the years, Opportu-nity Microcredit Romania has grown toeight branches serving clients in 18counties of Transylvania, having 1,751active customers at the end of 2014.

BEST TURNAROUNDPERFORMANCE

JUDGING CRITERIA Strategy employed to achieve the turn-around; time taken to achieve it; finan-cial and non-financial results of thecompany before and after.

Cemacon for management in-novation in applying turn-around measures The ceramics factory was founded backin 1969 in Salaj county and more than20 years later it was privatized underthe name of Cemacon Zalau. In 2007, ithas a portfolio of old regular productsand the distribution was inefficient. Asa result Cemacon applied for a EUR 30million credit, with a strategic purposeof investing in a brand new factory in

order to boost production. But with theeconomic crisis the repayment of creditbecame a critical issue. As a result,Cemacon became insolvent. 2010 wasthe turnover moment for Cemaconwhen the entire management waschanged and the headquarters wererelocated from Zalau to Cluj Napoca.The production facility was moved toRecea (Salaj county) and became oneof the most advanced in South-East-ern Europe. In 2013 Cemaconlaunched Evoceramic bricks, a revolu-tionary range of products. The nextstep was the reconfiguration of thedistribution network. Last year Cema-con was in profit and has big plans forthis year. In 2015, the company aimsto increase its business by 30 percentand becomes the second biggest brickproducer in Romania.

Telekom for the operationalintegration and rebranding offormer Romtelecom and Cos-mote Romania into TelekomRomaniaOn September 13 last year, Romtele-com (the second biggest telephony,broadband Internet and TV provider)and Cosmote Romania (the thirdbiggest mobile operator) were re-branded under Telekom, a DeutscheTelekom brand. The rebranding in-volved a EUR 15 million investment,over 2,000 people and 35,000 workinghours. It involved a complex opera-tional integration process, meant tocapture the fixed-mobile synergiesacross the value chain. The opera-tional integration and the rebrandingof the two operators are part of busi-ness strategy, meant to create thenumber one integrated operator onthe Romanian market, with an effi-cient and focused operating model.

Posta Romana for postingprofit in 2014 after five yearsof lossesPosta Romana posted an operatingprofit of EUR 22 million (RON 100 mil-lion) at the end of 2014 after five yearsof losses. The company’s overall ob-jective for 2014 was “to return from itsdistressed stage to normal, in terms ofprofitability, solvency, liquidity andefficiency”. To achieve this, in the firsthalf of 2014 the management came upwith and implemented a financial, op-erational and commercial sustainabil-ity plan (this included among othersmeasures meant to improve cash flow,maintain monthly operational profit,the devising of a medium-term actionplan to raise revenues and decreasecosts and the optimization of its retailnetwork) while in the second half itfocused on stabilizing the company inmonthly profit (this included a strictcontrol of the balance between costsand revenues, strict cash flow man-agement and winning several largecontracts).

Softelligence for its reinven-tion processThe strategy involved in the reinven-

tion process of Softelligence has fol-lowed different dimensions: financial,operational and internal processes,sales & product. Regarding the finan-cial area the focus was on strategic in-vestments such as the takeover of theKazier software solution, which en-sured the company a significant shareof the Romanian banking and finan-cial services market. The financial re-sults are correlated with theenlargement of the customer portfolioboth on the internal and internationalmarkets. The company registered 50percent turnover growth at the end of2014, a revival of the brand and arepositioning of the company on themarket. Moreover, the sustained ap-plied strategy and growth has broughtSoftelligence a place in Deloitte’s top50 and top 500 technology companiesin Europe and EMEA and a distin-guished nomination in Ernst &Young’s “Entrepreneur of the year”title.

Apulum Alba Iulia for reor-ganizing the production lineand increasing product qualityand production capacity2010 was the first year with profit aftersix years of losses for Apulum AlbaIulia. From 2010-2014 its turnover in-creased by 100 percent, due to thenew customers that appreciated posi-tive changes in quality, capacity of in-novation and production capacity.The internal market is suppliedthrough a network of local distribu-tors covering the entire territory. Thecompany pays great attention to find-ing new customers from different for-eign markets.

Cris-Tim for its turnaroundstrategy in 2014

Cris-Tim posted an increase inturnover of up to 15 percent last yearon 2013. Plus, last year, the companyinvested over EUR 8 million in up-grading production technology andfood safety systems in parallel with in-creasing efficiency. In 2014 it also de-veloped a range of products withoutadditives and preservatives (with ashelf life of approximately 30-40 days).It also extended certain brands andcategories to better cover the Cris-Timproduct demand in segments withhigh growth potential, namely in therange of sliced and raw-dried products.

BEST EMPLOYMENTINITIATIVE

JUDGING CRITERIA Training programs and retaining HRpolicies; turnover patterns in the com-pany; HR policies meant tomaintain/increase the competitive-ness and workforce productivity; netpersonnel increase vs. the net of theindustry (percentage also) and the in-dustry growth and its importance forthe Romanian economy.

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Bosch for building up morethan 600 associates in a greenfield investment of EUR 77 millionIn January 2014, the number of associ-ates of Bosch Group in Romania totaled1,700. At the time when the projectstarted, the company had 152 associ-ates and to achieve the proposed target,it made 698 new hires, representing a560 percent increase. In Romania, theBosch Group had total sales of EUR 212million, representing an 18 percentsurge on the previous year. Employeesare rewarded following a plan for theimplementation of individual perform-ance-related benefits. They also havethe opportunity to climb the ladder inthe company’s structure based on ex-cellence assessment.

Pirelli for reducing its employ-ee turnoverAt present, the company has 2,400 em-ployees in Romania. Pirelli also man-aged to reduce its employee turnoverby an average of 2.7 percent during theperiod 2012-2014. The Pirelli invest-ment in Romania is a greenfield projectand the reason behind the recruitmentcampaign was the increase of invest-ments in the Slatina Tire Factory. Thenew investment plan launched in 2012will create more than 500 new addi-tional jobs by 2017. In order to con-tribute to the development ofworkforce skills, Pirelli is helping localuniversities to develop programs de-signed to meet the skills needs of theautomotive sector. In then social area,the company set up a range of projectsfor the local community in the Olteniaregion, in order to contribute to re-gional development.

Stefanini for increasing its localteamFrom 840 employees, IT company Ste-fanini ended 2014 with more than 1,100,marking 30 percent growth in the teamon a yearly comparative basis. Thisstrategy is part of the goal to give aboost to the local team making it one ofthe biggest Stefanini delivery centersworldwide. Overall, last year the com-pany viewed more than 10,000 re-sumes.

The company also decreased its em-ployee turnover from over 40 percentin 2011 to around 20 percent in 2014,and is running an employee retentionprogram which includes investment intheir development (training, mentor-ship, certifications), motivation, em-ployee recognition programs,client-funded programs and variousbenefits.

Radisson Blu Hotel for its in-ternship program for studentswith special needs and hearingand speech impediments The Radisson Blu Hotel in Bucharesthas run this program for four years al-ready for children in need who want tocomplete their school studies. One ofthe main objectives of the program is toincrease the hiring potential of young

employees, especially those with dis-abilities, in the hospitality market byadapting the internship programs tobusiness needs. The internship traineeswho took part in the Radisson Blu train-ing programs gained experience infields like front office and operational.The future internship trainees were ac-cepted in the recruitment program likeany other employees, by going throughtwo interviews. In 2014, Radisson had82 internships trainees.

ENTREPRENEUR OFTHE YEAR

JUDGING CRITERIA Development of the business over thepast two years; unique characteristicsof the business; results achievedagainst investment and the overall in-dustry; the ethics and values exempli-fied in the business; the added value ofhis/her business on the market; nobusiness with the state.

Dan Isai, CEO & founder of SaladBoxSaladBox was created from the desireto promote a healthy lifestyle and tooffer an alternative to fast food. The ob-jective is to create the first and thebiggest healthy food network of restau-rants in Romania and Europe. SaladBoxhas a network of 30 locations in Roma-nia, Hungary and Germany and for themoment is the first and the largesthealthy network of restaurants in Ro-mania. As it is a new concept on themarket, the company managed to ex-tend in a very short period of time: 30locations in three years, two abroad and28 in Romania. The company posted aEUR 500,000 turnover in 2012, whilelast year it was EUR 8.5 million.

Ionut Patrahau, co-founder ofthe Brain InstituteThe main objective of the Brain Insti-tute was to establish a neurosurgeryclinic as a not for profit organization.Later, it grew into a neuroscience insti-tute. The market approach had threepillars: great medical quality at mini-mum prices; a multidisciplinary ap-proach centered on the patient'sproblem instead of medical specialties;to expand social access based on the

added value generated by the mainbusiness. As a business principle, theBrain Institute has put medical leader-ship in front of any strategy. The insti-tute has performed 450 interventionsin 2014 out of which 50 were socialcases.

Teodor Blidarus, managingpartner strategy & business development at SoftelligenceTeodor Blidarus co-founded Softelli-gence Romania with his brother AdrianBlidarus. The company develops andimplements competitive business soft-ware solutions that stand alongsidegiant software producers worldwide forindustries such as financial services(banking and non-banking), retail anddistribution. Softelligence has distin-guished itself on the Romanian marketby developing and selling its own soft-ware products (intellectual property),such as Softelligence EBS. Also, Softel-ligence is the first and the most impor-tant partner of Microsoft Azure inRomania serving over 1 million endusers from the cloud. The companyregistered 50 percent turnover growthat the end of 2014, a revival of the brandand a repositioning of the company onthe market.

Vladimir Oane, Dan Ciotu, Dragos Ilinca, uberVUThe uberVU Social Analytics dashboardis consistently rated as one of the topfive products of its kind in the world. Itsbiggest differentiator is that it targetsnon analysts inside large enterprises.uberVU competitors provide morepowerful social analytics tools that aretargeted at data scientists and businessanalysts and are complex to use andvery slow. uberVU's innovative ap-proach, on the other hand, takes ad-vantage of the consumerization of theenterprise and of the fact that more andmore non-technical people need to usesocial analytics to get their job done.From that standpoint, uberVU is theonly product of its kind poised to takeadvantage of this emerging trend: theproliferation of social media through-out departments of enterprise compa-nies.

Andrei Dunca, CTO at LiveRailAndrei Dunca has been CTO of LiveRailsince 2007, when he co-founded thecompany. LiveRail provides a suite ofonline video advertising technologyproducts and is a leader in the onlinevideo advertising industry. The com-pany was acquired by Facebook, Inc. in2014. As CTO of LiveRail, Dunca led theglobal engineering team responsible forbuilding LiveRail’s product and tech-nology, and provided leadership andvision for the company during the pasteight years. As co-founder and CTO,Dunca was instrumental in successfullyclosing the acquisition of LiveRail byFacebook.

Ruxandra Hurezeanu forIvatherm Ivatherm posted a turnover of RON

7,047,045 and a 10 percent marketshare in Romania in 2014. The com-pany is ranked fourth among the Ro-manian dermo-cosmetics producersand is the first and sole Romaniandermo-cosmetic company. Recently itstarted to extend its activity abroad,being present on markets in Asia, theMoldova Republic and China (onlineonly). Last year it participated in fourinternational fair trades: ShanghaiBeauty Expo, Beauty Eurasia (Istanbul),CosmeTokyo and Beyond Beauty Abu-Dhabi. The company is now in discus-sions to find partners to distribute andpromote its products in other foreigncountries.

DEALS OF THE YEAR

JUDGING CRITERIA Value of the transaction; impact withinthe industry/local business scene andeconomy as a whole; new elementscharacteristic to the transaction.

Electrica for its IPO The Electrica IPO was the biggest in thehistory of the Romanian capital market.Electrica sold 177,188,744 shares andGRDs (about 51 percent of the totalshares after a capital increase) in theIPO which took place between June 16and June 25, 2014, for approximatelyEUR 444 million. The impact withinthe industry was very. Moreover, theIPO also caught the attention of foreigninvestors and was much discussed inthe international arena. Finally, the IPOunderlined commitment of the Ro-manian government to continue struc-tural reforms and the opening of theeconomy.

Getin Holding for buying VBLeasing Romania and Poland On 9 September 2014, Getin Holdingclosed the deal to buy 100 percent inVB Leasing Poland and VB Leasing Ro-mania from VB Leasing InternationalHolding. The transaction was to en-hance the holding's position in theleasing sector and to carry on with itsexpansion in the Romanian market.VB Leasing Poland will strengthenIdea Bank-controlled Idea Leasing,whereas VB leasing Romania will be-come part of Romanian InternationalBank Group. Merging the thriving Ro-manian lease company into the groupwill reinforce the holding's position inthis promising market and will allowfor building foundations for a strongcapital group concentrated round Ro-manian International Bank.

UniCredit Tiriac Bank for buy-ing RBS RomaniaAfter successfully acquiring the retailportfolio of RBS Romania in 2013, Uni-Credit Tiriac Bank also integrated thecorporate portfolio from the samebank in 2014. The integration willallow UniCredit Tiriac Bank to consolidate its leading position in themarket.

36 BRAwards www.business-review.euBusiness Review | February 2015

The lender posted a EUR 346 millionturnover in 2014.

Arbis Capital Partners for Cargus - Urgent Curier dealAbris Capital Partners, the leading mid-market private equity fund for Centraland Eastern Europe, acquired UrgentCurier at the end of May 2014, one ofRomania’s leading domestic couriercompanies. The deal comes 20 monthsafter Abris Capital Partners first enteredthe Romanian courier segment by buy-ing Cargus, one of the country’s biggestcourier companies, in October 2012. Theacquisition was followed by a merger ofequals between Cargus and UrgentCourier, creating Urgent Cargus, a part-nership that will give the two compa-nies synergies that will allow Romaniancustomers to benefit from the bestproducts and services of both membersof the merger.

uberVU acquisition by HootsuiteMedia Inc.The major objective was integratingboth the team and product so the newcompany could go to market with ajoint offering as soon as possible. Interms of product integration, uberVUreleased an integrated app within threemonths of the acquisition. It also re-leased the new Boards technology (real-time social media dashboards)within the same time-frame. This ac-quisition makes Hootsuite the leadingintegrated social relationship platformin the world, with 11 million users andofferings for both small businesses andenterprises. By filling a huge gap withinHootsuite's offering, uberVU helped in-crease Hootsuite's market valuation toUSD 1 billion. Hootsuite was also able tocompete and win several Fortune 50 deals against huge competitors suchas Salesforce and Oracle by offering amore user-friendly, better integratedproduct.

LiveRailLiveRail provides a suite of online videoadvertising technology products and isa leader in the online video advertisingindustry.

The company was acquired by Face-book, Inc. in 2014. As CTO of LiveRail,Andrei Dunca led the global engineeringteam responsible for building LiveRail’sproduct and technology, and providedleadership and vision for the companyduring the past eight years. As co-founder and CTO, Dunca was instru-mental in successfully closing theacquisition of LiveRail by Facebook.

BUSINESS LEADER OFTHE YEAR

JUDGING CRITERIA Main achievements during a year oftenure (strategy development, achieve-ments, improvements of the company’sresults, bold targets); to be involved inthe community.

Ludwik Sobolewski, CEO ofBucharest Stock Exchange(BVB)Following Ludwik Sobolewski’s vision,for the last year and a half, the BVB hasbeen becoming an interest point on in-stitutional investors’ radar. He managedto create a working group, initiated atthe end of 2013, of various capital mar-ket stakeholders, working together withthe aim of eliminating the barriers thatare obstacles to the domestic capitalmarket development. The goals of thisworking group have been further inte-grated into the strategy of the FinancialSupervisory Authority under theSTEAM project, and assumed by thecapital market force of Coalitia PentruDezvoltarea Romaniei. All these deci-sion makers have been working to-gether, since 2014, to push Romania upthe ladder to emerging markets status,in indices such as FTSE, S&P Dow Jonesand MSCI.

Nicolai Beckers, CEO ofTelekom RomaniaNikolai Beckers was appointed CEO forRomtelecom and Cosmote Romania inApril 2013. From this position, he coor-dinated the rebranding and the opera-tional integration of the two operators,Romtelecom and Cosmote Romania.Under his helm the operator imple-mented a series of measures meant tolay the basis of a sustainable perform-ance such as the development and de-ployment of a three-year plan; therestart of the investment plan; the im-plementation of the biggest outsourcein the SEE region, the Blue Bird projectand the development of a new businessphilosophy.

Nicolas Maure, CEO of Dacia, MDof Renault RomaniaDacia became the automotive brand of-fering the youngest vehicle range on theEuropean market with five new passen-gers models manufactured locally(Logan, Sandero, Sandero Stepway,Logan MCV and Duster) and three newmodels manufactured in Morocco(Lodgy, Dokker and Dokker Van). Thecompany continued to invest in indus-trial projects which enabled Dacia to in-crease production capacities of in thevehicle and mechanical plants (such asAluminum Foundry, TL gear boxes, me-chanical parts, SKDs for new plant in Al-geria). Dacia is the leader of Romanianautomotive market with a 31.2 percent

market share, the largest company inRomania (in terms of turnover) and themain exporter (8 percent of Romania’sexports). In October last year it revealednew versions the Lodgy Stepway andDokker Stepway at the Paris Motorshowwhile in June in launched the LimitedSeries Logan 10 years for Romanianmarket.

Steven van Groningen, CEO atRaiffeisen Bank RomaniaSteven van Groningen is an expert onthe Central and Eastern Europe bankingmarket and over the past 20 years hasheld top management positions in sub-sidiaries of Western European banks inRomania, Hungary and Russia. Over theyears van Groningen has become one ofthe most prominent figures in the Ro-manian business community. He is uni-versally credited for the successfulmerger between the former loss-mak-ing Banca Agricola and Raiffeisenbank.Under the leadership of van Groningen,the bank that resulted after the merger– Raiffeisen Bank S.A. – soon developedinto one of the most successful banks inRomania. For years in a row, RaiffeisenBank has been one of the most prof-itable banks in the country.

Xavier Piesvaux, general manager of Mega Image He has been general manager of thecompany since 2008. Since then, MegaImage has grown as a profitable busi-ness through expansion and the betterperformance of existing stores, provid-ing a safe and stable place to work for itsemployees and associates and keep de-veloping a sustainability policy, relevantfor the market and the environment.The company focuses on four areas:customers, communities, its associatesand sustainability.

EXCELLENCE IN BUSINESS

JUDGING CRITERIA Business growth over the previous year;sustainable development strategy; topmarket position; quality HR policies;development of new best-practices in aspecific industry; adoption/ implemen-tation of industry best-practices; excep-tional business growth compared withpeers.

Dacia Dacia became the automotive brand of-

fering the youngest vehicle range on theEuropean market with five new passen-gers models manufactured locally(Logan, Sandero, Sandero Stepway,Logan MCV and Duster) and three newmodels manufactured in Morocco(Lodgy, Dokker and Dokker Van). Thecompany continued to invest in indus-trial projects which enabled Dacia to in-crease production capacities of in thevehicle and mechanical plants (such asAluminum Foundry, TL gear boxes, me-chanical parts, SKDs for new plant in Al-geria). Dacia is the leader of Romanianautomotive market with a 31.2 percentmarket share, the largest company inRomania (in terms of turnover) and themain exporter (8 percent of Romania’sexports). In October last year it revealednew versions the Lodgy Stepway andDokker Stepway at the Paris Motorshowwhile in June in launched the LimitedSeries Logan 10 years for Romanianmarket.

eMAGeMAG is currently present in three mar-kets (Romania, Bulgaria, Hungary), withPoland operations opening in 2015 andother markets launching in the periodto come. By the end of 2014, eMAG hadlaunched its own dedicated mobile app,currently installed by more 200,000users. More than one third of total traf-fic on eMAG.ro comes from mobile de-vices. The company achieved the fastdevelopment of eMAG Marketplace: inDecember 2013 11 different vendorswere integrated on the eMAG platform.Just a year later, by the end of 2014, 234vendors were integrated. Also, in 2014eMAG launched four new categories:auto, supermarket, home&deco, andsport. The opening of the software de-velopment hubs in Iasi and Craiova, theeMAG IT Research center, but alsoeMAG Academy, the first online busi-ness school in Romania, are just a fewexamples of operating agilely on an in-creasingly difficult market to address,especially for technical resources. Thecompany posted a turnover of EUR 295million last year.

Mega ImageMega Image continued its acceleratedexpansion rate in 2014, by opening 118new stores and achieving a network of410 stores at the end of the year, whichpositioned it among the largest retail su-permarkets chain, with a leading posi-tion. The expansion mainly focused onBucharest and the surrounding cities,with two brands of stores: Mega Imagefor proximity and Shop&Go for conven-ience stores. One of the main achieve-ments in 2014 for Mega Image waslaunching its first online store, in collab-oration with eMAG, under the name

“Supermarket la tine acasa”, having na-tionwide coverage. The second largeachievement was the acquisition of 19Angst stores. This takeover is part ofMega Image’s development strategy byincluding stores that are very well posi-tioned in urban areas.

anda.sebesi@business-review.ro

IT 37www.business-review.eu Business Review | February 2015

Where to draw the line with the Big Brother laws?

∫ OTILIA HARAGA

The Big Brother laws will be reanalyzedat the request of Romanian presidentKlaus Iohannis, who called for author-ities to “find a balance between re-specting individual freedoms andpreventing terrorism, cybercrime andfighting corruption.”

In January the Romanian Constitu-tional Court rejected three bills – thedata retention bill, the prepay card billand the cyber-security law. Followingthe president’s plea, the laws will be re-analyzed by the Operative Council ofCybernetic Security.

“This initiative aims to surpass theblockage registered at the moment, toreach alignment with the decisions ofthe Constitutional Court and informpublic opinion better regarding thelegal measures and their effects. Thenew analysis of the legislation in thisfield will also include consultationswith civil society, before starting a newlegislative process at the level of Parlia-ment, since the participation of repre-sentatives of civil society isindispensable for meeting those whohave in the past been reticent aboutsome stipulations,” ran an officialstatement from the president’s office.

The law on Romania’s cyberneticsecurity was rejected by the Constitu-tional Court on the grounds that it goesagainst stipulations in the RomanianConstitution.

“The rapid reaction of the Romanianauthorities shows us that they hadused a moment when human rightswere violated in order to push forwardagain some ideas of generalized sur-veillance that are disproportionate,”Bogdan Manolea, founder of the web-site www.legi-internet.ro and a mem-ber of the Association for Technologyand Internet, told Business Review, inrespect to the cybercrime and the pre-pay card laws.

The Court was reluctant to approvesome of the stipulations of the laws in-

volving the personal data of telecom-munication users in Romania, sincethe local authorities have not yet founda formula that both ensures that citi-zens’ rights are respected while alsostrengthening national security.

“All the four fundamental aspectsraised by NGOs regarding the cyber-se-curity law, such as access to data, therelevant authority, very loose defini-tions and unclear obligations, wereconfirmed by the Constitutional Court,which ruled them unconstitutional. Infact, the Constitutional Court has de-clared unconstitutional many other as-pects that were not raised at all by civilsociety,” Manolea told BR. “Before talk-ing about the law, we need to clarifythe principles underlining it, and havea real public consultation with the pri-vate, academic sector and civil society.”

The cyber-security law did not passthe Supreme Council for the Country’sDefense, which is one of the reasonswhy it was rejected by the Constitu-tional Court.

In that form, the bill required own-ers of cybernetic infrastructures to putdata at the disposal of the RomanianIntelligence Service (SRI) but also otherinstitutions, upon request. However,since the SRI is a military institution,the court decided that this flouted Eu-ropean norms.

According to the Court motivationfor the decision, “the option to appointa civil body as national authority in thefield of cyber-security, instead of a mil-itary entity with intelligence activity, isjustified, in order to prevent the risk ofdefying the purpose of the cyber-secu-rity law. The secret services should notuse the law’s provisions to obtain dataand information that violate the con-stitutional rights to privacy, a privatefamily life and the privacy of corre-spondence. This is precisely what thesubmitted draft does not observe, byputting the Romanian IntelligenceService and its military structure, theNational Center for Cybernetic Security,in charge.”

Recent events threatening the safety of EU citizens insome countries have again put the so-called BigBrother laws, concerning cyber-security, data reten-tion and the registration of prepay cards, on the publicagenda in Romania. The heated debate around someof the stipulations of the laws invite questions aboutwhere the line should be drawn as far as individual pri-vacy is concerned and where fighting crime begins.

Change the gamewith XPLAIN!by Stefanos Karagos, Founder& CEO of the Leading DigitalMarketing Agency XPLAIN

Stefanos Karagos, Founder & CEOof the Leading Digital MarketingAgency XPLAIN (www.xplain.co),

“challenges” Brands and Compa-nies to seriously invest in theirdigital presence, aiming at movingfrom Social Media to Social Busi-ness.

Mr. Karagos, could you give us anoverview of XPLAIN and its serv-ices?XPLAIN is a Leading Digital Mar-keting Agency, focused on Brands’Business Results.

Our main focus and scope is aholistic Digital Strategy for brands’performance, and not merely theSocial Media environment, which isa vital part of the mix but not theonly one. The Strategy and AdvisoryServices include extensive researchleading to Business IntelligenceAnalysis, as well as Consumer Be-haviour and Pattern Analysis.

Additionally, XPLAIN offers awide array of services like LeadGeneration, Reputation Manage-ment and Content Marketing.

We are specialized in a numberof industries like: Retail, Auto-in-dustry, Fast Moving ConsumerGoods, Travel / Tourism, ShoppingCenters, Luxury Goods and Tech-nology with more than 130 great lo-cal and multinational clients, in 10countries.

From your experience with somany different Clients / Brands,what do they ask from their webpresence?

Consistency, innovation, effective-ness and a precise roadmap. Ofcourse, they need a partner that hasthe deep knowledge to guide themtowards a successful digital pres-ence. The… magic with the web andthe social media is that now wehave the resources to implementhighly targeted and personalizedactivations. For example, out of 7.6million Facebook Romanian ac-counts, 6.74 million users (88,7%)have selected location for their pro-files. The potential of this fact interms of personalization is enor-mous! Brands can have qualifiedreach of micro-segments that fit ina predefined profile, interactingwith them and succeed in the con-version funnel.

What part does Romania play atXPLAIN’s overall strategy?Romania, for XPLAIN, is a key mar-ket, which plays a vital role for itsfurther development and evolution.That's why we have a fully-staffedoffice in Bucharest with DigitalMarketing Experts, and we aremore than sure that in the near fu-ture XPLAIN’s presence will be fur-ther empowered.

Romania has a unique combina-tion of elements that differentiatesit from most of the region’s coun-tries, with extrovert companies thathave deeply understood theessence of Digital in the Marketingmix, eager to utilize the strength ofnew online opportunities.

Why a Marketer should chooseXPLAIN? Where does it differ?Our main differentiating factor isthat XPLAIN integrates brands intopeople’s everyday lives, through thehumanization of their nature. Wecreate Experiences worth sharingfor the Brands’, positioning them-selves in Consumers’ considerationlist, through innovative marketingvalue propositions, that aim at con-version from mere fans to cus-tomers.

At the same time we are the onlyresults- driven Marketing Agencyand we fully commit on the successand pre-defined KPI’s at the begin-ning of every cooperation.

ADVERTORIAL

38 IT www.business-review.euBusiness Review | February 2015

"The rapid reaction of the Romanian authoritiesshows us that they had used a moment whenhuman rights were violated in order to pushforward again some ideas of generalized surveillance that are disproportionate,” Bogdan Manolea, founder of thewebsitewww.legi-internet.ro

The law does not protect the rightsof the citizens enough, said the Consti-tutional Court in its motivation. “Therequest for access to the retained data,to use it according to the purpose of thelaw which is formulated by the state in-stitutions designated as authorities incyber-security, is not dependent on au-thorization or approval from the judge,so there is no warranty regarding effi-cient data protection against the risk ofabuse or against any access or illicit useof these data. This represents interfer-ence in the fundamental rights to pri-vacy, a private family life and privatecorrespondence,” stated the court.

The Constitutional Court concludedthat the law is “not precise and pre-dictable enough; the state interference

in the constitutional rights to privacy,private family life, and the secret of cor-respondence, even though predictedby the law, is not formulated clearly,rigorously and exhaustively, to give cit-izens confidence in it, which is essentialin a democratic society.”

Asked by BR, Manolea said there arecountries that have no cyber-securitylaw and others that do. “The UnitedStates is only proposing to have onenow. Germany has also been discussingit but I believe most European states arewaiting to see the result of the Euro-pean directive that will probably beadopted in 2015, in order not to do thework twice.”

Meanwhile, the Romanian Intelli-gence Service protested against the de-

cision of the Constitutional Court,claiming that the law does not allowstate access to data related to the pri-vate life of individuals without previ-ous authorization from a judge.

The SRI dismissed the “fears, spec-ulation and accusations formulated inthe public space” as lacking “any realgrounds”.

At that time, George Maior, formerchief of the SRI, lashed out against theConstitutional Court. “I wish to give avery serious warning that there is amoral responsibility somewhere, in thisstate, regarding the national security ofRomanian citizens – not from the state,because I am no longer speaking aboutthe state – but at the time when a catas-trophe hits, I will know at whom I willpoint the finger,” he said.

Regarding the law on prepay cardregistration, Maior said it offers “an ab-solutely vital analysis capacity” to in-vestigate certain national securitythreats, but since it was rejected, thiscreated “a unique legislative void” andnow the only alternative is to use theother instruments at their disposal.

“In Romania debates have startedagain in Parliament on the matter ofthe informatic law, but we are forget-ting to talk about the principles thatshould underline the law. In the UnitedStates President Obama is barely dar-

ing to open discussion about this sub-ject after the NSA failure,” commentedManolea on the website http://pri-vacy.apti.ro/.

“This week I have learned that Ger-many is also discussing a law regardingcybernetic security. The first differenceis that instead of hidden text and justten days for comments, they do it ex-actly the other way round – the firstdraft has been out since March 2013,and the latest since December 2014. Allare public. And they have not reachedcompletion; they have not yet involvedthe states, since Germany is a federalstate, so it will take at least another year.So what could they discuss for twoyears while we are preparing a law injust six months?” he wondered. “Thepurpose is the protection of IT securityin companies that are considered criti-cal infrastructure and the protection ofcitizens and their personal data.”

The analyst told BR that, with theexception of the necessary correctionof article 152 in the Criminal Code,nothing is “urgent or immediately nec-essary”.

“Germany has been discussing a lawon informatics security for two yearsand their IT systems are just fine,” hecommented.

otilia.haraga@business-review.ro

Romania is one of the countries discussing a cyber-crime security law but so far the lawmakers have not managed to pass a viable version of the law

39www.business-review.eu Business Review | February 2015

PITECH+PLUS makes big bet on experiencedteam by enabling business to innovate Instead of assuming thatthere is only one route tofreedom, explore all pos-sible routes.In Greek mythology, Theseus usedAriadne’s thread to defeat the Mino-taur and crack the labyrinth. Insteadof assuming that there was only oneroute to freedom, Theseus exploredall possible routes, as many timesas needed, knowing that the threadwould always lead him back to thestart.

Behind every game-changingidea there is a leader who managesto find the right solution regardlessof the overall context. Today the mostsuccessful companies are the oneswho manage to adapt to an environ-ment by choosing strategies thatovercome worldwide challenges.

PITECH+PLUS is a group of digi-tal companies specialized in consul-tancy & outsourcing. Established inDecember 2005, by businessmanBogdan Herea, the group will cele-brate ten years of activity at the endof 2015.

Headquartered in Cluj-Napoca,with offices in Targu Mures,Bucharest, Paris, Brussels, andBerlin, PITECH+PLUS started itsjourney with 10 employees, and nowhas 250. Experts in their field, andable to deliver complex projects, theyaim to make a significant contribu-tion to the industry development inRomania in two areas: education inthe field of computer programmingand innovation.

PITECH+PLUS’s goal is tocreate a framework forpassionate young peoplein order to unlock talent,and create more value,faster.The call for more than IT servicesderives from the context. Last year,in a public conference, the formerminister of the Romanian ministryof communications and informa-tional society declared that the IT&Csector was the third biggest GDPcontributor in 2014.

The main reasons are probablyinvestments and human resources.Each year we hear about Romania’ssuccessful team at the InternationalOlympiads in Informatics. In a coun-try striving to develop and align toEuropean standards, valuable hu-man resources are our country’ssuccess factors.

PITECH+PLUS’s goal is to createa framework for passionate youngpeople in order to unlock their talent,and create more value by increasing

the speed of innovation.Nevertheless, innovation is effec-

tive if one can master the concept ofrelevance. Working on several mar-kets, with different clients,PITECH+PLUS’s team found its way torelevance by dealing with challengingprojects around the world.

Innovation is effective ifone can master the conceptof relevance.When asked about his secret, WayneGretzky, the famous hockey player,nicknamed “the Great One” said, “Iskate where the puck is going to be,not where it has been.” And that’s ex-actly the mind-set of a game-changer. To evolve, PITECH+PLUS understoodthat it must be adaptive to changes. Inthe last decade, the domain it worksin has changed dramatically. In orderto succeed the firm had to becomefaster, more flexible and more open.This is how it transformed a threatsuch as the lack of human resourcesin the field of computer programminginto an opportunity for every interestedstakeholder, by launching a vocationalschool that teaches passionate peoplehow to program according to industrystandards.

Developed in partnership withSchool 42, founded in Paris by the telecom magnate Xavier Niel,

ACADEMY+PLUS brings a brand newconcept in education. It focuses on thepositive impact that a teaching methodcan have on apprentices, and also ona tailored learning mix.

“The academy is designed to equiptalented young people with the toolsthey need to lead innovation at theirfuture work place or as entrepreneursof tomorrow,” says Bogdan Herea,founder of ACADEMY+PLUS.

It’s on us to understandthat we have to think backto the future. (BogdanHerea)With the proliferation of technology,we hear all the time about new busi-ness models, about behavioralchanges in terms of new media con-sumption, about how the world can bemore connected. Bogdan Herea,founder of PITECH+PLUS says, “It’son us to understand that we have tothink back to the future, and take de-cisions that can have a meaningful im-pact either on our clients or on societyoverall.”

The second area where he aims tomake a significant contribution is inthe way companies and individuals ap-proach innovation. For PITECH+PLUSthis term has solid grounds, nurturedfrom the very beginning of the com-pany.

PITECH+PLUS has a divisiondealing with more than 25 start-upcompanies that have technology atthe core of their business model. Theteam is working hand in hand withthe client. Internal stories call it “theLand of Hope”.

“This segment of clients is strate-gically for us. Since the very begin-ning I knew that I want to grow ateam of free people. Free to think ina creative sense, free to investigatemany pathways and to pick the rightsolution, free to have the courage tosay ‘No’ to a potential client for var-ious reasons. My belief was that theentrepreneurial spirit is like this,free and bold. Having entrepreneursaround my team I could observe howthe two cultures merge in such apositive manner for all the company,”says Herea.

Although PITECH+PLUS has beendelivering high quality services since2005, two start-ups developed inter-nally, as part of the group, are to belaunched in the last quarter of 2015.

While adding products to services,PITECH+PLUS team remains enthu-siastic about the future, and able tocreate bold, innovative and neces-sary products.

PARKING+PLUS is a parking so-lution, developed in partnership withthe IT Cluster of Cluj-Napoca. Thepurpose of this app is to help driversfind available parking places whilesaving time for more important ac-tivities.

Another innovative product forthe Romanian market is an invoiceremittance solution that connectsutility providers with banks andclients. The goal of Youssef Hautier,general manager of SONIC+PAY, and a former graduate of HEC Uni-versity of Lausanne, is to deliver aplatform that will enable its usersto save time when paying their in-voices while keeping total control –and saving trees by ditching the pa-per invoice.

PITECH+PLUS is a group of com-panies specialized in consultancy &outsourcing for the IT industry. Thebusiness started in 2005, when aPHP development office wasfounded in Cluj-Napoca, Romania.The first new business line wasRODEAPPS, a company specializedin mobile applications and mobiletechnology. In 2014, the grouplaunched ACADEMY+PLUS, andstarted to work on developing twointernal start-ups: PARKING+PLUSand SONIC+PAY.

ADVER

TOR

IAL

Bogdan Herea, CEO & Founder

40 mediA www.business-review.euBusiness Review | February 2015

Group consolidation to shapeadvertising sector in 2015

∫ RomAniTA opReA

In this context, following an interna-tional trend, the big advertisinggroups are starting to consolidatetheir position on the market, gather-ing their resources under one roof.The main example is Publicis Groupe,which took major steps in 2014. Thelatest move came in November, whenPublicis Groupe and CentradeSaatchi&Saatchi announced that theSaatchi & Saatchi brand in Romaniawould be consolidated under a solelegal entity, Lion Communication,which has as its main shareholderPublicis Groupe. The group’s threelocal brands, namely Publicis, LeoBurnett and Saatchi&Saatchi, will bebrought under the Lions Communica-tion umbrella. The real transfer ofSaatchi started on January 1. Sincethen, the agency and the teamheaded by Radu Florescu continue tofunction as an independent entity,keeping their portfolio of clients.

“We had a very good relationshipwith Centrade Saatchi & Saatchi andRadu Florescu. Our decision doesn’treflect in any way any dissatisfactionwith the agency’s performance, as ithandled a large range of clients andbore the name Saatchi & Saatchi in anadmirable manner. Publicis Groupewill continue the partnership with theFlorescu brothers for Zenith Media,”

said Justin Billingsley, COO at Saatchi& Saatchi EMEA, at the time.

Radu Florescu, CEO of CentradeSaatchi & Saatchi, remains confidentthat the agency’s workflow and list ofclients will not change and the agencywill function as before, and time willtell if this is the case.

Centrade was one of the first ad-vertising agencies launched in Roma-nia, in 1992, since when it has wonover 40 prizes at local and interna-tional creative festivals such asCannes Lions (with Saatchi Germany),Clio Awards, the New York Film Festi-val, Golden Drum, EFFIE and WorldLuxury Awards.

Publicis Groupe’s consolidation inRomania started in November 2010when the company announced it hadacquired three long-term affiliatecompanies in Romania, merging theminto an integrated agency, PublicisCommunications Services Bucharest.The move led to the creation of a sin-gle agency encompassing Publicis Ro-mania, Focus Advertising and PublicisEvents, managed by Teddy Du-mitrescu as CEO.

In September 2013, PublicisGroupe acquired Zenith Romania,taking majority control of the agency,according to company officials. A

month later, Publicis Groupe an-nounced a further big move by buyingthe majority stake (51 percent) in affil-iate agencies on the local market,namely Leo Burnett & Target, Star-com MediaVest Group, Optimedia,The Practice and iLeo. The companyintegrated Publicis CommunicationServices Bucharest and the thennewly acquired agencies under thePublicis Romania umbrella. Du-mitrescu and Stefan Iordache becameco-CEOs and Dumitrescu countrychairman, reporting to Tomasz Paw-likowski, CEO of Central and EasternEurope, Publicis Worldwide. Laterthat year, also as part of PublicisGroupe’s plans for consolidation, Ro-manian company The Practice joinedPublicis’ PR network MSL and turnedinto MSLGroup The Practice.

Publicis Group was not the onlyadvertising international group tomake a statement last year. In May,TBWA Bucharest, part of TBWAWorldwide and the local independentagency Friends Advertising, an-nounced that they would combinetheir operations in Romania. Thenewly created agency, FriendsTBWA\Bucharest, was to take respon-sibility for TBWA’s existing local andinternational client base in Romania,

Probably one of the most dynamic and interesting industries on the Romanian market, the advertising sectorsuffered a big downshift in power and budgets when the crisis engulfed the local economy. Since 2013 it hasbeen said that the industry is starting to recover and get its mojo back, but the positive projections have yet tomaterialize. Still, independent agencies are forming and trying to get a piece of the big companies’ pie. Some ofthem are even succeeding. The competition is getting ever fiercer, even though budgets and the projects are stillsome way from the 2008 golden era.

governed by an affiliation agreement.The business is headed by Friends’

management team and a substantialnumber of TBWA employees movedto Friends Advertising’s office.TBWA’s managing director inBucharest, Doris Danner, continuedto assist with the transition of busi-ness to Friends Advertising. The Ro-manian Friends Advertising agencywas an independent agency foundedin 2003 by Bojan Spasic and SorinTranca. Spasic and Tranca form oneof the most garlanded creative teamsin Romania and certainly the one withgreatest longevity, having been work-ing together for almost 16 years now.

The business of changeSo will this trend continue and

what will happen to the local agencies,even those with long traditions?Manuela Necula, CEO at Ogilvy &Mather Romania, considers the com-munication industry a perfect reflec-tion of the economic situation, bothat a macro and a micro level. “As weobserve more and more often, glob-ally, the mergers & acquisitionsprocess between companies in di-verse domains, from financial andFMCG to pharmaceutical, retail andtechnology, has accelerated in the

Roxana Memetea, managing partner at DDB Romania

Cristina Blanaru, editor in chief at AdHugger

Manuela Necula, CEO at Ogilvy & Mather Romania

“At a global level, situ-ations that we couldn’thave thought of a fewyears ago have ap-peared. Some are con-solidation exercisesand others will godown in history as failures” Manuela Necula, CEO at Ogilvy &Mather Romania

mediA 41www.business-review.eu Business Review | February 2015

past few years. It is the same in thecommunication industry. Behindthese big moves these is always astrategic, economic and financial in-terest. At a global level, situations thatwe couldn’t have thought of a fewyears ago have appeared. Some areconsolidation exercises and otherswill go down in history as failures,”said Necula.

Last year brought much discussionabout the possibility that WPP wouldlose its global supremacy, followingthe merger between Publicis and Om-nicom. “But, at the end of an ex-tremely complex period, huge energyand financial investments, the mergerwas abandoned and WPP kept thenumber one spot in the rankings. Peo-ple do business with people. Weshouldn’t forget that communicationis, probably more than any other sec-tor of activity, a ‘people business’,”added the CEO.

Roxana Memetea, managing part-ner at DDB Romania, part of the group,believes that this trend is in line withthe needs of clients, who, after manyexperiences and market develop-ments, have reached the point whenthey are looking for partners/agenciescapable of delivering very well exe-cuted brand strategies on any type ofmedia (including digital). “We are inthe situation of going ‘back to the fu-ture’, towards the ‘umbrella’ typeagency, like it was 20 years ago. Theeconomic changes in the last seven-eight years, along with the technicaldevelopment, have reset things onthe market. We are referring to theconcentration of effort and specializa-tion under a consolidated and bigbrand,” said Memetea.

What was known as integratedservices offered by multiple special-ists has been reoriented towards the

“umbrella” concept, which gives com-plete “one voice, multiple services”.

“The full service agency is reborn in anew formula,” concluded Memetea.

As a representative of one the localagencies, the DDB managing partner

doesn’t foresee any real threat. “Beingpart of an international agency givesyou a ticket to the ‘elite club’, but itdoesn’t guarantee you success inbusiness. Time identifies the real tal-ent and we see lots of well performing,creative and efficient Romanian agen-cies.”

Local independent agencies –small and medium ones – always hadto prove themselves more than theother agencies, when it comes to bothreaching/being considered for agen-cies’ roster of big clients and attract-ing their budgets. “Not surprisingly,local small and medium agencies donot have a problem in the creativitydepartment – as they deliver flaw-lessly when they have the chance towork with a big client – but they justcan’t make the big players invite themto the party,” said Cristina Blanaru,editor in chief at AdHugger, a veteran

media & advertising journalist. According to her, the problem for

local agencies was always reachingthe client and managing to get an in-vitation to a certain pitch. In Romania,the top ad budget spenders aremostly multinational corporations; inmost cases, they do not have a say inchoosing agencies to work with lo-cally, as advertising and marketingpolicies come from their internationalor regional headquarters. “Usually,when it comes to a big client, an ad-vertising network takes over the ac-

count at regional level and coordi-nates it in a centralized manner: itdrafts the overall communication andadvertising, then commissions itslocal offices from particular marketsto localize and adapt the existing con-tent locally. Joining forces regionallyor worldwide and forming networksto provide services to companies withcommunication needs on specificmarkets is one of the ways to counterthe big players. Or they become subcontractors to the main agencies,handling parts of the accounts which match their skill set,” said Blanaru.

Necula recalls a telling event,which happened two years ago, at theCannes International Festival of Ad-vertising. After a spectacular con-frontation between the twocommunication titans, Dan Wiedenfrom the famous independent agencyWeiden&Kennedy and Sir JohnHegarty, from BBH, who gave the au-dience a real show, followed by longrounds of applause, Wieden receivedthe Lion of St. Mark award, for “out-standing contribution to creativity incommunication”. He gave a strikingspeech, which ended by calling on allthe independent agencies not to selltheir business. He was followed onstage by Martin Sorrell, who receivedthe trophy for Holding Company ofthe Year for the third time in a row.The Ogilvy network, owned by WPP,which also won for the third year in arow the title of Network of the Year,had contributed a lot to Sorrell’s win .A few weeks later, Hegarty an-nounced that he had sold the rest ofhis shares in his company BBH toPublicis.

“Looking back at this story, which Ifound very interesting, I am not surethere is a reason for independentagencies to fear the future. Personally,I hope not. Consolidation under an in-ternational brand can also have disad-vantages for both parties. One thing isfor sure, though: in order to achievesuccess, both organizations need toadjust to each other and to be in tunewith each other. And that takes ironstrength,” said Necula.

Freedom can make or break abusiness

Although there are fewer andfewer independent, long-time adver-tising agencies on the Romanian mar-ket, those that are still thriving afterall these years look set to be here tostay. A pertinent example is Headver-tising, which recently celebrated 17years on the market. The agency, runby Serban Alexandrescu, has beencourted over the years by several in-ternational groups, such as Young &Rubicam and McCann. “Given thatthey only wanted from us what we al-ready asked of each other, we didn’tconsider that a good strategic move.Still, in the horrible economic situa-tion over 2010-2011, Alexandrescuwondered many times if he had reallymade the best decision. “What we re-

ally wanted was to have the chance toreach wider international expertise,because we knew it really worked.Therefore, we decided to be part for awhile of a network of local, independ-ent agencies – WorldWide Partners –that were trying to help each otherwhen in need, with ideas, change ex-perience, resource tips and newclients. We are still in touch with theagencies that we liked,” said Alexan-drescu, creative director & managingpartner at Headvertising.

He believes that local agencieshave a more pragmatic view of thebusiness, but does not see big differ-ences between the local and the inter-national agencies based in Romania.

“Since the financial crisis we are fight-ing over the same local clients. Theclients that arrived via the networkstill exist, but things are not as inter-esting for the multinationals as theyused to be. The reason is, in my opin-ion, that some networks acted self-ishly by opening regional hubs, wherethey adapt and translate the commer-cials, a process that used to be donelocally. Therefore, the network keepsthe client, but the money they used tofund the local agencies remains at thecenter,” added Alexandrescu. Thelocal network office has to fight forsurvival with experienced industrypeople, a situation in which they tendto lose. The main advantage, but alsodisadvantage, of being a local com-pany is the freedom. Not being forcedby network policy or a change of heart,you can work on your daily clients notworrying that you might be “dis-missed” because of a budget cut or

“packed” from two networks in one.“You don’t have to share the same

building with an agency that is yourcompetition or to fire people, becausesomeone else, far away, over theOcean, has decided so,” Alexandrescusaid.

editorial@business-review.ro

Serban Alexandrescu, creative director& managing partner at Headvertising

“Being part of an in-ternational agencygives you a ticket tothe ‘elite club’, but itdoesn’t guarantee yousuccess in business.Time identifies thereal talent and we seelots of well perform-ing, creative and effi-cient Romanian agen-cies” Roxana Memetea,managing partner atDDB Romania

“Since the financial cri-sis we are fighting overthe same local clients.The clients that arrivedvia the network stillexist, but things are notas interesting for themultinationals as theyused to be”Serban Alexandrescu, creativedirector & managingpartner atHeadvertising

“not surprisingly, lo-cal small and mediumagencies don’t have aproblem in the creativ-ity department – asthey deliver flawlesslywhen they have thechance to work with abig client – but theyjust can’t make the bigplayers invite them tothe party” Cristina Blanaru, editor in chiefat AdHugger

42 cIty www.business-review.euBusiness Review | February 2015

fILM

Director Radu Jude takes silver Bear

MuseuM

Romanian Peasant Museum marks 25th anniversary

∫ tAtIANA LAZAR

Local movie Aferim! impressed Berlin atthe beginning of the month, winningthe Silver Bear for best director at the65th Berlin International Film Festival.

The movie, set in the 19th century,tells the story of a local policeman, Co-standin, who is hired by boyar Iordacheto find Carfin, a Gypsy slave who hadrun away from the boyar’s estate afterhaving an affair with his wife, Sultana.Costandin sets out to find the fugitive,beginning an adventurous journey.

Reuters news agency notes, “Whilesome search for the origin of Romania’ssocial troubles in its communist past,director Radu Jude returns to the early19th century in Aferim!, to show a pitifulworld of cruelty and deep prejudice,which he believes still informs attitudestoday.”

According to the same source, mod-ern Romania is home to around 2.5 mil-lion Roma, or roughly a sixth of thepopulation, many of whom are still thevictims of extreme poverty, prejudiceand social exclusion.

Costing EUR 1.25 million to make,the movie was produced by HiFilm Pro-ductions and co-produced by Klas Film(Bulgaria), Endorfilm (Czech Republic)and EZ Films (France). Shooting tookplace in July 2014. The movie will bescreened in Romania from March 13.

editorial@business-review.ro

∫ tAtIANA LAZAR

The Romanian Peasant Museum hascommemorated a quarter of a centuryof operations with a series of freeguided tours of its permanent collec-tions and a traditional fair where pop-ular artists came to sell their products,from traditional clothing to tradi-tional homemade goods. The an-niversary events complement themuseum’s program of weekly themedtraditional fairs and cultural events,plus its cinema, bookstore and restau-rant.

The museum has a checkered his-tory. In 1990, then minister of cultureAndrei Plesu nominated painter HoriaBernea to become the director of theinstitution in order to re-establish thecollections removed during the com-munist era. Six years later, the mu-seum was blooming, winning theprestigious EMYA award for European

museum of the year, the only one inRomania to have earned this distinc-tion.

The facility is in Bucharest’s Victo-riei Square, next to the Grigore AntipaNatural Science Museum and the Ge-ology Museum. The construction ofthe building, including its design, wasthe work of Nicolae Ghika-Budesti,one of the most feted architects of thetime.

Construction took over 29 yearsand the building opened in 1941. It isrepresentative of the neo-Romanianstyle, inspired by traditional architec-ture, especially Brancovenesc, with acomposition using mainly floral andzoomorphic decorations. Features in-clude the visible red bricklayer, thebig windows under arches, thecolumns of the logia and the elegantsilhouette of the main tower recallingbell towers in old monasteries.

The initial plan was for a NationalArt Museum with art historianAlexandru Tzigara-Samurcas being adirector for over 40 years. When Ro-mania was occupied by Soviet forces,

in the so-called “liberation” of 1944,the museum was also “liberated”from its home and replaced with theLenin-Stalin Museum. The NationalArt Museum moved, as a tenant, toStirbei Palace on Calea Victoriei for 25years and under a new name: the Pop-ular Art Museum of the RomanianPopular/Socialist Republic. Duringthis period, museographers wereforced to stash away some valuablecollection pieces, especially religiousones, for ideological reasons. How-ever, they managed to increase thestock of peasant art threefold.

Over years, the building has been used as the Lenin-Stalin Mu-seum, as well as Lenin Museum, Ro-manian Communist Party Museumand the History Museum of the Romanian Communist Party and ofthe Revolutionary and DemocraticMovement.

editorial@business-review.ro

Aferim!, a Turkish word which means “bravo”, was created by Radu Jude (in picture) and has the same producer, AdaSolomon, as the Romanian film Child's Pose, which won the Golden Bear in 2013

If you don’t have the time to see themuseum, check it on Google Institute

Photo: Florin G

hioca

cIty 43www.business-review.eu Business Review | February 2015

BookestoRe

New chapter: Carturesti bookstore opens in Old Town

∫ sIMoNA BAZAvAN, tAtIANA LAZAR

The revamped Chrissoveloni House inBucharest’s Old Town now hosts aCarturesti bookstore, after 14 monthsof rebuilding works.

“The investment in the libraryamounts to an estimated EUR400,000 to EUR 450,000, not includ-ing the stock, which will require asimilar amount. The property is being renovated by the owner andwill require around EUR 1.2 million,”Valentin Salageanu, project managerat Carturesti, told Business Review in an interview back in February 2014.

Chrissoveloni House, which washome to a famous bank during the inter-war period, has undergoneEUR 1.2 million of restoration works after the heir of the formerowner regained the property, which had been confiscated by com-munists.

The new design was the work ofarchitects Square One. The 1,000 sqmconsists of six floors, with a bistro onthe top floor, a multimedia space inthe basement and a contemporary artgallery on the first floor.

According to Adrian Cancer, one ofthe partners of Square One, every-thing was designed and created especially for the building and all the materials were made in Romania.

Built in 1860, the structure now known as Chrissoveloni Housewas bought by Greek banker Nicolas Chrissoveloni in the early1900s.

It was confiscated by the commu-nists in the late 1940s. Six years ago,Jean Chrissoveloni, the great-grand-son of Nicolas Chrissoveloni, recov-ered the building and beganreconstruction works in 2010.

The Carturesti chain of bookstoresis controlled by local entrepreneursNicoleta Dumitru and Serban Radu.

It has grown to a chain of 16 shops,not including the Chrissoveloni loca-tion.

Carturesti works with over 300 na-tional and international suppliers, of-fering more than 15,000 differentbooks, 5,000 music albums, 1500 arttitles, 500 movies and over 400 vari-eties of tea. The building is located on55 Lipscani Street.

editorial@business-review.ro

Was it difficult to cast the main char-acters of self-Portrait of a DutifulDaughter?For the female lead, Cristiana, we didn’thave auditions; we chose directly ElenaPopa, an actress at Sfantu GheorgheTheater, whom I knew from Radu Afrimand Iris Spiridon’s productions. We mettwo years ago in Bucharest, I gave herthe script, she read it while travelinghome on the train and when she arrivedat Brasov station, she called me to sayshe liked the role and wanted to play it.For the male lead, several actors cameto audition, but we finally chose EmilianOprea, because he matched the char-acter.

Is the story of the film also yourstory?Yes and no. Cristiana’s parents areplayed by my parents, her friends aremine; from this point of view, her life issimilar to mine. Apart from this, the sit-uations from the movie were invented,they are fictional. Cristiana is a madeup character, not me, and Elena Popacontributed significantly to create it.

How would you characterize Roman-ian independent cinema at the mo-ment?It seems it is a good year for Romanianfilm. Many productions have alreadybeen selected for some of the most im-portant international film festivals andI understand that there will be manylocal premieres, so I’m very optimistic.Regarding independent cinema, mean-ing with no financial support from theNational Cinema Center, I don’t knowmany such movies that managed toreach the silver screen. However, it is avery good thing that the technology hasdeveloped and you can make a moviewithout too much financial support andI think we should benefit from it.

editorial@business-review.ro

3QAna Lungufilm director

To explore all the six floors, you need more than one day

Photo: Ana Lungu

Photo: C

arturesti

44 cIty www.business-review.euBusiness Review | February 2015

PReMIeRe

Bucharest National opera stagesverdi’s falstaff ∫ tAtIANA LAZAR

Giuseppe Verdi’s last opera returns tothe Bucharest National Opera Houseafter many years of absence from itsrepertoire. The director is GrahamVick, known for his original and ex-perimental stage productions. Any-one curious about the Briton’sinspiration for his local productioncan look to the 1999 Falstaff he stagedat the Royal Opera House Covent Gar-den, which took cues from the paint-ings of Renaissance artist PieterBruegel, resulting in a mix ofgrotesque expression, balanced com-positions and elementary colors.

Vick, one of the world’s foremostopera directors, shifts the action tothe modern day, addressing with typ-ical English humor contemporarythemes such as consumer society,virtue and greed, through the spiri-tual world of Shakespeare’s charac-ters translated into musical theater by

composer Giuseppe Verdi and libret-tist Arrigo Boito.

The new production relies heavily

on the National Opera’s soloists, whoare mostly debutants. The leadingcharacter is played by baritone Stefan

Ignat, one of the institution’s bestknown artists. Ignat previouslyworked with Vick in 2005 on Enescu’sOedipe which was staged in Cagliari,Italy.

Scenographer Samal Blak has alsocontributed to the production. One ofthe individual winners of the LinburyPrize for Stage Design 2009, who haspreviously worked with Vick in theUK, he is known for his costumes anddecor for La Monnaire Theatre ofBrussels, English Touring Opera,Scottish Opera, Music Theatre Wales,Norwegian Ostford Opera and Lin-bury Studio Theatre from the LondonRoyal Opera House.

The three-act opera is performedin Italian and subtitled in Romanian.The premiere took place on February19. Further performances are sched-uled for March 5-6 and May 14-15.Tickets can be bought online fromhttp://tickets.operanb.ro/

editorial@business-review.ro

DeBBIe stoWe

Director: Zach Braffstarring: Zach Braff, Kate Hudson, JoeyKing, Pierce Gagnon, Mandy Patinkin,Josh Gad, Ashley Greene, Jim Parsons on at: Cinemateca Union, Corso, ElviraPopescu, Europa, Studioul Horia Bernea– NCRR, Scala, Grand Cinema & More,Hollywood Multiplex, Cinema CityCotroceni

Man grows up and learns that familymatters most when a crisis pusheshim to make life changes: we cer-tainly have been here before. Butwhile Zach Braff’s gentle comedy-drama doesn’t cover new ground, itworks its familiar formula with charmand wit, thanks to endearingly quirkycharacters and a sharp script.

Aidan Bloom (Braff) is 35 and anactor (read: struggling), working hisway wearily through a series of hope-less and hapless auditions as he waitsfor his big break. Understanding wifeSarah (Kate Hudson) supports thefamily – pious teenage daughter Grace(Joey King) and rambunctious son

Tucker (Pierce Gagnon) – with herdreary data entry job, while the kids’Orthodox Jewish school fees are paidby Aidan’s gruff father Gabe (MandyPatinkin) – until one day when they’renot.

With the family unable to meet thefees themselves and a switch to pub-lic school not possible until next term,Aidan decides to home school thechildren. When the first day endswith both of them duct-taped to achair, it is clear that new methods arerequired. There follows some predi-cable paternal bonding and epiphanicmoments, as events bring the widerBloom family closer together.

Such a plot could rapidly descendinto daytime soap sentimentality, butthis risk is averted by the irreverentscreenplay, written by the director’sbrother Adam Braff. In particular to-wards the beginning of the film, wryone-liners come thick and fast, withneat observations on universalthemes such as parenting, religionand failure. Aidan is a lapsed Jew, andthis part of his life is beautifullymined for humor, particularly hisawkward interactions with the rabbis

at his children’s Orthodox school. The characterization and acting

are another strong point. Aside from a cameo by The Big Bang The-ory’s Jim Parsons, Kate Hudson is theonly real star name – the film wasfunded on Kickstarter. This low-keycast impresses, with Aidan’s slackerComic-Con attending brother Noah(Josh Gad) providing some offbeatlaughs as he prepares for the conven-tion.

As the movie proceeds, the com-edy largely gives way to the drama.The impending Sad Event is handledsensitively and elicits emotion, butthis plotline has been repeatedly re-

hashed in Hollywood and could havebeen tightened up. Things arerounded off rather too neatly and pre-dictably, undermining some of the in-telligent observations about thesacrifices and disappointments ofadulthood made earlier on.

But while the second half does notquite live up to the first, Wish I WasHere is still a very likable film, full ofwarmth and wit. Adam and Sarah’scareer disillusionment and imperfectparenting – and the way they muddlethrough it all – will resonate withmany adults. Hope blooms.

debbie.stowe@business-review.ro

fILM RevIeW

Wish I Was Here

Blooming family: Zach Braff directs and stars in a warm family comedy-drama

Stefan Ignat and Iulia Isaev rehearsing

Photo: B

ucharest National O

pera

INteRvIeW 45www.business-review.euBusiness Review | February 2015

taking care of Romania’s institutionalized children

∫ tAtIANA LAZAR

Give us an overview of how thingsstand regarding institutionalized chil-dren.

The current picture of children instate care in Romania is as follows:l 21,728 children and youngsters arein residential services in the childprotection system, and another36,975 children have special protec-tion in families (simple placementsor foster families). Prevention pro-grams and prevention services offersupport to 54,547 children. It is rele-vant to note that the real figure ofchildren living in absolute poverty isover 320,000. l Between 72 and 78 percent of allchildren in Romania suffer from ma-terial deprivation. This is more thanin any other European state.l Extreme poverty (measured at USD1.25/day), even if it can be consid-ered “insignificant” as a proportionof the population, is much higheramong children from single-parentor multiple-children households. l 8,200 children under the age ofthree suffer from malnutrition, ac-cording to formal records. This rep-resents over 72 percent of all cases ofmalnutrition nationally.l 201 institutions (so-called orphan-ages) host 8,974 children, while 817small family homes and family typeapartments host another 7,740. l 100 institutions out of the 201 areinstitutions for children with specialneeds, with 4,782 children institu-tionalized. This means that a major-ity of institutions have children withspecial needs.l 82,000 children have one or bothparents working abroad. All of themare at risk of abandonment or insti-tutionalization, unless preventativeinterventions are taken, to supporttheir extended family (grandparentsand other relatives) currently keep-ing them in a family environment.

Is it possible to close all orphanages by2020? How many are open now?Yes, it is possible to completely dis-mantle the institutional system andimplicitly to reform the child protec-tion system nationally, by open recog-

Romania has worked hard to resolve some of the challenges around children in state care. Since 1990, the sys-tem has improved, but there is still plenty to do. BR talked to stefan Darabus, country director of Hope andHomes for Children Romania, about the current situation.

nition and action taken in this respect.We have developed a clear plan, withconcrete steps, actions and mile-stones, proving it is realistic andachievable. The state authorities alsoseem to be on board in this initiative.The current minister of labor, RovanaPlumb, actually issued a formal pressrelease, stating the target to eradicatechild institutionalization in Romaniaby the end of 2020.

What are the main challenges facingHHc Romania in 2015?The challenges to be tackled with aview to reforming the social assis-tance system in Romania are takingthe necessary steps to ensure at leastEUR 140 million of European Unionfunding for Romania from the 2014-2020 budget, allocated to closing in-stitutions, developing family-likealternatives for children in care, pre-venting child separation from families,and developing social housing for themost vulnerable communities. Fur-thermore, dealing with the institu-tional mentality, which is stronglyentrenched in the mindsets of thoseworking in social services, is anotherchallenge. A paradigm shift is needed,to place the focus on prevention, in-stead of dealing with the tragic resultsof abandonment and separation, and

another one to place the focus on pro-action, instead of reaction. Also, thevery low number of staff workingwith children/young people with orwithout disabilities is among our pri-orities. With a gap of 14,000 profes-sionals missing from the childcaresystem, abuses, neglect and omis-sions are numerous. The absence of amethodology of intervention in pre-venting the separation of childrenfrom their families is another prioritywhich is, however, under way in theWorking Group within the Child Pro-tection Directorate of the Ministry ofLabor, Family, Social Protection andElderly. A government decision re-garding such a methodology to pre-vent the separation of children from

their families would “turn off the tap”of admissions in the system. Also, wewould like certified managers for so-cial services, as the qualification doesnot appear in the Catalogue of Classi-fications. The acute lack of leadershipand appropriate management has anegative impact on the care system,through lack of professionalism, poorleadership and haphazard approaches.Last but not least, we would like toimprove the system for youngstersleaving care. Around 5,000 young-sters leave the child protection sys-tem every year, without support,without social housing, without anyleverage to rely upon.

editorial@business-review.ro

Photo: H

HC

46 CALENdAR www.business-review.euBusiness Review | January 2015

∫ tAtIANA LAZAR

toto CutugnoFebruary 27, Sala Palatului

Romanian music fans will once againhave the opportunity to listen live tomuch loved hits such as L’Italiano,

Serenata and Insieme: 1992, when Ital-ian singer Toto Cutugno returns tothe Bucharest stage. The artist hasrecorded over 400 songs and soldmore than 150 million records soldworldwide. Tickets cost from RON 100to RON 500.

Jazz Night Out – Kurt EllingPassion WorldMarch 5, Radio Hall

For the first time in Romania, Americanjazzman Kurt Elling will present hisPassion World project. Pianist GaryVersace, guitarist John McLean, bassplayer Clark Sommers and drummerBryan Carter will join the Grammyaward winner on stage. Tickets costfrom RON 85 to RON 145 and are avail-able from the Eventim network.

Big Band Radio with RichardGallianoMarch 8, the Radio Hall

Under the wand of Ionel Tudor,Richard Galliano, one of the greatestaccordionists in the world, will return

to the Radio Hall stage. The Frenchmanwill perform his own works, as wellas some by Astor Piazzolla. Currently,the artist has created or arranged over400 pieces for the accordion.

Joaquín CortésMarch 15, Sala Palatului

After a three-year absence, JoaquínCortés returns to Romania with hismost intimate show, Gitano. He comeswith eight of Spain’s best dancers, twoflamenco dancers, 17 musicians andeight flamenco vocalists to excite fans.Tickets cost from RON 125 to RON 350.

editorial@business-review.ro

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