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STOCKEXCHANGE Banks active on the Romanian market have put the brakes on their expansion plans and even reduced the number of their branches, with all these changes having a knock-on effect on bank employees’ financial benefits and job security See pages 10-11 Banks active on the Romanian market have put the brakes on their expansion plans and even reduced the number of their branches, with all these changes having a knock-on effect on bank employees’ financial benefits and job security See pages 10-11 TALENT Sorin Stoica, the local entrepreneur who set up Dasimpex and sold it to GED, is now working on a tailor-made travel agency called Eturia See page 16 INTERVIEW Power Net Consulting wants a balanced ratio between public and private proj- ects in its portfolio, says Eduard Dim- itriev, the company’s GM See page 18 FOCUS It hasn’t been easy for Rafar this year but the firm is prepared to relocate, in- novate and even drop brands, says CEO Ramona Stanciulescu See page 19 BANKING BLUES BANKING BLUES LUCIAN CROITORU HAS PROPOSED THE NEW GOVERNMENT; SEE PAGE 8 BUSINESS R EVIEW ROMANIA’S PREMIERE BUSINESS WEEKLY OCTOBER 26 - NOVEMBER 1, 2009 / VOLUME 14, NUMBER 38 www.business-review.ro

Business Review Issue 38, 2009

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Page 1: Business Review Issue 38, 2009

STOC

KEXCH

AN

GE

Banks active on the Romanian market have put the brakes on their expansion plans

and even reduced the number of their branches, with all these changes having a

knock-on effect on bank employees’ financial benefits and job security

See pages 10-11

Banks active on the Romanian market have put the brakes on their expansion plans

and even reduced the number of their branches, with all these changes having a

knock-on effect on bank employees’ financial benefits and job security

See pages 10-11

TALENTSorin Stoica, the local entrepreneur who

set up Dasimpex and sold it to GED, is

now working on a tailor-made travel

agency called Eturia

See page 16

INTERVIEWPower Net Consulting wants a balanced

ratio between public and private proj-

ects in its portfolio, says Eduard Dim-

itriev, the company’s GM

See page 18

FOCUSIt hasn’t been easy for Rafar this year

but the firm is prepared to relocate, in-

novate and even drop brands, says CEO

Ramona Stanciulescu

See page 19

BANKINGBLUESBANKINGBLUES

L U C I A N C R O I T O R U H A S P R O P O S E D T H E N E W G O V E R N M E N T ; S E E P A G E 8

BUSINESS REVIEWROMANIA’S PREMIERE BUSINESS WEEKLY OCTOBER 26 - NOVEMBER 1, 2009 / VOLUME 14, NUMBER 38

www.business-review.ro

Page 2: Business Review Issue 38, 2009
Page 3: Business Review Issue 38, 2009

BUSINESS REVIEW / October 26 - November 1, 2009 3

N E W S

Audited 1H 2007

BMG is a founding member of the Romanian Audit Bureau

for Circulation (BRAT)

Str. Alecu Russo 13 - 19, et. 7, ap. 14, Bucharest - Romania E-mails: [email protected]; Phone: +4021 210-7734, Fax: +4021 210-7730 ISSN No. 1453 - 729XPrinted at: MASTER PRINT SUPER OFFSET

PublisherBILL AVERY

Editor-in-ChiefSIMONA FODOR

Deputy Editor-in-ChiefCORINA S~CEANU

Senior JournalistsDANA CIURARUANDA DRAGAN OTILIA HARAGA

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EUGEN MU{AT

OCTOBER 26 - NOVEMBER 1, 2009 / VOLUME 14, NUMBER 38

BUSINESS REVIEW

Week in

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BCR has approved EUR 137 mil-

lion of mortgage loans through

the First House program

EUR 300 million of availableEuropean funds for renewableenergy projects haven't beenused yet due to the lack of legis-lation, according to Musat &Asociatii

137

300

Only four percent of Romanians

shopped online last year, found

a European Commission study

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Former United States ambas-sador to Romania Jim Rosapepeand journalist Sheilah Kast, hiswife, are aiming to introducereaders to the people, places andhistory of Romania with theirnew book Dracula is Dead: HowRomanians Survived Commu-nism, Ended it, and Emerged asthe New Italy Since 1989.

In Romania, the book will belaunched at the Gaudeamus In-ternational Book and EducationFair on November 27-28, and inWashington and Londonthroughout the month. The bookis being published to coincidewith the 20th anniversary of thefall of Communism in EasternEurope, and attempts to tell thestory of the “Romanian miracle,beyond Dracula, beyond or-phans, beyond Communism, tothe vibrant culture, unique histo-ry, and 21st century skills which

define modern Romania.” Rosapepe represented the

United States as ambassador toRomania from 1998 to 2001. Hecurrently heads an investmentfirm active in the US and Europeand serves on the boards of sev-eral funds investing in EasternEurope and other emergingmarkets.

Kast is a veteran journalist,well known to viewers of PBS,ABC and CNN and to listenersof National Public Radio. ForABC, she reported on the col-lapse of Communism fromMoscow and Tbilisi, and cov-ered Hillary Clinton’s first trip toEastern Europe. She currentlyhosts AARP’s weekly news-maker cable TV show, Inside EStreet, as well as her own dailymagazine show on WYPR, the public radio station in Mary-land. ■

US VP Joe Biden was in Romania last week, as part of a wider tour in-cluding Poland and the Czech Republic. He met both President TraianBasescu and Mircea Geoana, the PSD candidate in this fall’s elections.Topics discussed included more US investments, something PresidentBasescu argued in favor of, and Romanian support in Afghanistan.

New book on Romania to hit bookshelvesin November

The tenth edition of Realty,the real estate event organizedby Business Review, whichwill take place this week at theIntercontinental Hotel, willhelp local professionals under-stand the current investmentclimate, which involves ex-treme risks and extreme op-portunities for those with theright strategy, said Bill Avery,publisher of Business Reviewmagazine.

“While many in the US andWestern Europe are saying thatthe real estate crisis has bot-tomed out, in Romania it is notclear at all when we can expecta turnaround. We are still along way from matching theexpectations of buyers andowners,” Avery went on.

Radu Lucianu, managingpartner with CBRE Euriskoand one of the speakers at theevent, will debate ethics in re-al estate and the value broughtby real estate consultants.

“A real estate professionalis valuable to both parties in areal estate transaction, the buy-er and the seller, offering infor-mation and expertise in a com-plicated field,” said Lucianu.

The choice between direct

sales and agency representa-tion will also be on the agenda.

“In an increasingly com-plex market, the informationchannels and trading methodsare in constant flux. Afteryears of increasingly powerfulreal estate agencies, it seemsthat their empire has beenshaken,” observed YvonneToader, commercial director ofGran Via. She will focus onwhether current market play-ers are for or against agencyrepresentation.

“The intention of this Real-ty edition is to bring togetherall market players to discussissues we all feel are burning.The meaning of this event is tore-credit the real estate marketand to create together with allparties involved a supportiveand constructive environmentfor all professionals,” addedNicoleta Radu, managing part-ner of Zanti Exclusive, whichis co-organizing the event.

Realty will gather morethan 100 participants, a mix oflocal and foreign audiencefrom real estate agencies, de-velopers, investment funds, le-gal consultants and propertymanagers. ■

Realty sheds light on shaken realestate market

BUSINESS REVIEW FORUM

Page 4: Business Review Issue 38, 2009

BRIEFSALCATEL-LUCENT SHEDS564 LOCAL WORKERSé US-French telecommunicationgroup Alcatel-Lucent will axe 564employees in Romania, as part ofa strategy that aims to eliminateor outsource over 4,500 jobs inEurope from a total of 26,000.The measure will be appliedbetween now and next year. InRomania the group will make564 people redundant. Alcatel-Lucent has been present locallysince 1991. In the middle of lastyear, the firm had 1,600employees, many of them basedin Timisoara, where it has aresearch & development center.

PETER IMRE ENDS TERM ATPHILIP MORRISé Peter Imre, corporate affairsmanager at Philip MorrisRomania & Bulgaria, has endedhis tenure at the company. RomanYazbeck has been appointedinterim general manager for thetwo countries. Imre will now focuson the businesses he has in realestate and capital markets. Hehad held the post in Romaniasince 1997 and in 2006 alsotook over the Bulgarian division.In Romania, Philip MorrisInternational has a productionunit in Otopeni and exportsmainly to Africa and to theEuropean Union, to countries suchas Italy, Poland and the CzechRepublic.

ROMANIA RANKS 4TH INDELOITTE CENTRAL EUROPETECHNOLOGY FAST 50é Romania is in fourth place inthe 2009 list Technology FAST 50from auditing company Deloitte.The survey calculates the rate ofincrease of the revenues of ITcompanies in Central Europesince 2004. Romania isrepresented by six developers ofsoftware solutions, up from threein 2008. This year’s ranking isheaded by 11 companies fromHungary, 9 from Poland and 8from the Czech Republic.Companies included also had tohave intellectual property whichsignificantly contributes tooperational revenues or todedicate a substantial part oftheir revenues to R&D.

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BUSINESS REVIEW / October 26 - November 1, 20094

K Tech Electronics, the com-pany that runs IT store chain UltraPro Computers, could be declaredbankrupt in December, accordingto the judicial administrator of thecompany, BDO Business Restruc-turing, quoted by Ziarul Financiar.

“Following an analysis of thefinancial indicators and of the cur-rent situation, we have reached theconclusion the company has nochances of reorganization and wehave suggested it file for bankrupt-cy through simplified procedure, a

process that could come to a closeon December 17 when the nextterm of trial for the file is due,”Geanina Oancea, partner in BDOBusiness Restructuring SPRL,told the financial newspaper.

K Tech has accumulated debtsof approximately EUR 28 millionto date, and preliminary data showthere are in total 84 creditors ofwhich three are banks, accordingto Oancea.

In December 2008, Ultra ProComputers had 55 stores. Since

July, the retailer has not openedany more outlets. Just a few em-ployees still work part-time for thechain, from the total number of600.

In 2008, K Tech Electronicsposted revenues of EUR 84.9 mil-lion. In the first six months of theyear, its revenues fell dramaticallyto EUR 13.5 million. K Tech Elec-tronics is a business owned byhusband and wife team Alina andCristian Fughina.

Otilia Haraga

EnergoNuclear’s selection of a legalconsultant has been annulled after beingappealed by law firms. The NationalCouncil for the Settlement of Contesta-tions (CNSC) overturned the decisionof EnergoNuclear – the project compa-ny in charge of the construction of reac-tors 3 and 4 at Cernavoda – designatingAmerican law firm White & Case theproject’s legal consultant for the tender.EnergoNuclear’s decision was contest-ed by a number of firms, as White &Case was fourth out of the five finalistson price.

Finalists NNDKP in associationwith UK Simons & Simons and PopPepa in consortium with UK PinsentMasons challenged EnergoNuclear’sdecision before the tribunal, as did first-round participants Bostina & Asociatiiand Popovici, Nitu & Asociatii.

“NNDKP decided to proceed withits complaint against EnergoNuclear,having reasonable grounds and solid le-gal arguments in support of our actionsuch as the lack of transparency of theawarding criteria, as well as the proce-

dural irregularities during the publictender awarding procedure that led todiscriminatory and unequal treatment ofthe bidders,” Adina Chilim-Dumitriu,Nestor Nestor Diculescu Kingston Pe-tersen (NNDKP) partner and project co-ordinator, told Business Review.

“EnergoNuclear’s decision to awardthe tender to White & Case (which wasranked fourth on price – although themain scoring was on price) was surpris-ing for all of the bidders. Apart fromour consortium, NNDKP seemed tohave a very good chance, given their fi-nancial offer (ranked second after us)and technical expertise in the field to-gether with Simons & Simons,” StevenPepa, partner at Pop Pepa, told BusinessReview.

Dana Dunel, energy, oil and gas de-partment coordinator at law firm Bosti-na & Asociatii, told BR that the CNSChad noted in its final decision that “theoffer presented by Bostina & Asociatiiwas rejected on the basis of not havingexperience in similar projects, the teamlawyers did not have similar experience

and because there weren’t any clientrecommendations for similar projects,contrary to the evidence presented byBostina & Asociatii in the qualificationdocuments.”

The tender was valued at EUR700,000 with an additional EUR350,000 for overruns, with the budgetbeing estimated only for the first year.

Media reports citing sources closeto EnergoNuclear have revealed thatproject company officials are now con-sidering the possibility of organizing se-lection-only offers to decide on the legalconsultant.

The NNDKP partner said, “If Ener-goNuclear were to pursue this narrowselection strategy, it could cast a doubton the fairness and accuracy of theprocess, especially in light of certain un-fortunate precedents publicized by themedia in the past.”

Moreover, Pepa said that despite theselection method, his law firm expectsto be invited to participate in the nexttenders or selections. “If EnergoNuclearchooses to solicit offers without a ten-der, it would probably be expected thatthe five finalists selected by EnergoNu-clear, based on their technical and pro-fessional capacity, would also be invitedto participate in this process,” said thelawyer.

With the tender for legal counsel be-ing cancelled, the entire selectionprocess must start again, setting backthe project well into 2010, according tospecialists. Currently, Nuclearelectricaholds 51 percent of EnergoNuclear,CEZ, GDF-SUEZ, Enel and RWEPower have 9.15 percent each andArcelorMittal and Iberdrola, 6.2 percenteach. Units 3 and 4 should be function-al in 2016.

Dana Ciuraru

EnergoNuclear’s choice of legal consultant thrown outafter rejected law firms appeal

Ultra Pro Computers could be declared bankrupt in December

The tender for EnergoNuclear’s legal consultancy was valued at EUR 700,000

ROM

PRES

Page 5: Business Review Issue 38, 2009

BUSINESS REVIEW / October 26 - November 1, 2009 5

Altex Romania, the electronic homeappliances, IT, communication and mul-timedia products retailer, ended the thirdquarter of the year with a turnover ofEUR 124 million, a 6 percent increaseon Q2, 2009.

“The turnover posted by Altex Ro-mania in the first three quarters of 2009confirms that the objective proposed forthe current year – to obtain a volume ofsales in excess of EUR 180 million andconsolidate our position as leaders – isrealistic,” said Dan Ostahie, president ofAltex Romania. “As far as next year isconcerned, our forecast remains re-

served. The growth of the market will bemoderate in comparison with 2009 andwill still keep us from recovery. Unfor-tunately, the annual evolution will simi-larly undergo seasonal fluctuations,which will continue for another two-three years.”

Large electric home appliances rep-resent a major part of the company’ssales. In the third quarter, this categoryof products increased by 19 percentcompared to Q2, 2009. Of these, fridgeshad the largest growth, of 35 percent.

The worst performance was from in-corporated home appliances, whichhave been hit by the downturn in the re-al estate market. Electronic products fellby 10 percent in summer and as much as15 percent in the case of LCD screensand plasma TVs, in the third quartercompared to the second quarter of theyear.

For photo and video cameras, thethird quarter saw a 14 percent increasecompared to the second quarter. IT prod-ucts slowed down by 5 percent com-pared to Q2, 2009.

According to the Altex president, themarket is still unpredictable as a result ofthe effect of the sharp decrease in theconsumption of electronic products inthe first half of 2009.

Otilia Haraga

Altex Romania posts EUR 124 mlnturnover in Q3

Digital Cable Systems (DCS) is al-ready preparing its investment budgetfor 2010 and is planning to allocate atleast EUR 7 million, more than it spentlast year. The funds will go into modern-izing the company’s networks and intonew acquisitions.

“This year we had a budget of in-vestments/acquisitions of EUR 5 mil-lion. Much of this has already gone intospeeding up the introduction of internetaccess services and launching telephonyservices in the area we cover, and anoth-er part into the acquisition of small andmedium players locally,” said DinuMalacopol, CEO of Digital Cable Sys-tems.“In spite of all this, we believe theideal period for acquisitions will be thefirst half of next year when some of theproviders of cable, internet and telepho-ny will be forced by the current contextto sell their clients to the large players onthe market.”

The funds will come from severalchannels, mainly from the profit gener-ated by DCS, a capital increase from theshareholders and attracting funds from

the financial-banking market. The mainissues that will lead to the consolidationof the market will be the decrease inprices for internet, television and teleph-ony. Also, some operators will find it im-possible to afford both their operationalcosts and the necessary investments toremain competitive on the market.

“We have delayed the decision tobuy some local operators precisely be-cause we want to acquire ‘healthy’ com-panies with a solid growth potential forreasonable prices and in accordancewith the business model which is adapt-ed to the recession period. We believethe first half of next year will be auspi-cious for acquisitions,” said Malacopol.

DCS statistics show that there areseveral thousand small companies andthe number of cable subscribers the firmhas surpasses 1 million. Malacopol esti-mates that the value for which acquisi-tions will be made in telecom in the firstpart of next year will be significantly un-der EUR 100/per subscriber, 50 percentless than in 2008.

Otilia Haraga

Digital Cable Systems will invest EUR 7 mln next year

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Dan Ostahie, president of Altex Romania

Page 6: Business Review Issue 38, 2009

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BUSINESS REVIEW / October 26 - November 1, 20096

Serban & Musneci, the corporateaffairs and public relations firm, hasseen a bigger workload than expectedthis year, as clients with various prob-lems want immediate results. “The cri-sis has made clients far pickier. Theywant results in a short term period oftime, but they also have a lot of prob-lems. […] This year you have to runmuch more for the same amount of rev-

enue. That is keeping us very busy.We’re not complaining about that, andit is also a test of efficiency for our or-ganization,” Roberto Musneci, seniorpartner with Serban & Musneci Associ-ates, told Business Review.

The firm is working with clients inthe energy field, primarily fossil fuelsand renewable energy, in the healthcaresector, including the pharmaceutical

sector, as well as in telecom. Serban &Musneci is divided into a public affairsdivision called Serban & Musneci As-sociates and a PR company called Ser-ban & Musneci Public Relations.

With some companies’ marketingspend having dried up, Musneci saysthe firm is only tacitly targeting thosebudgets. “Usually, large companieshave corporate affairs budgets. Some ofthese budgets are low in the less regu-lated industries. But, for example, in-dustries like pharma or defense areheavily regulated industries, with thestate being an important stakeholder, socompanies in these industries have verylarge corporate affairs budgets. This iswhere they have to invest because theyneed to have the right dialogue with theregulators,” Musneci said.

Around 40 percent of the compa-ny’s work is in the pharma sector. Mus-neci, a former pharma executive, hav-ing led the local GsK subsidiary and theregional operations of the pharmaceuti-cal firm, went on to create the public af-fairs firm in 2007.

Corina Saceanu

Serban & Musneci sees shift in client behaviorand bigger workload than expected

Italian fashion retailer Benetton,which is represented in Romania,Hungary and Bulgaria by ChemCo,is looking for investors in order toopen new stores in Romania.

The company is currently running ads in the Romanian media advertising the investmentproposal.

Representatives of ChemCohave previously said the companywas planning to open two newstores in Romania this year, and an-other ten units in the next couple ofyears.

According to data from Benet-ton, there are eight stores under thisbrand in Romania, in Bacau,Brasov, Bucharest, Cluj-Napoca,Iasi, Ramnicu Valcea, Sibiu andSuceava.

ChemCo representatives couldnot be contacted by the time Busi-ness Review went to print.

Corina Saceanu

Local Benettonrepresentative seeksinvestment partners

LAU

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Roberto Musneci, senior partner with Serban & Musneci

ArcelorMittal Galati, the productionunit owned by Indian billionaire Laksh-mi Mittal, saw its sales plunge more than70 percent in the first half of the year,compared with 2008’s sales whichreached some EUR 2 billion (RON 7.1billion). Last year’s result representedabout 2 percent of Gross Domestic Prod-uct (GDP), thus the drastic fall in thecompany’s sales in the first half of theyear has brought GDP down by morethan 1 percent.

The company’s most importantclients are shipyards, which in the eco-

nomic crisis have significantly reducedtheir acquisition of raw materials fromGalati. Company representatives saidthat the situation had improved, withproduction and prices going up in thelast few months against the beginning ofthe year.

“The crisis has not ended, but the sit-uation is improving. We will report aslight volume increase in the comingyears and we will reach a level compara-ble to that of 2007-2008 in 2012,” saidThierry Le Gall, ArcelorMittal GalatiGM.

Currently, the firm is working at 60percent capacity. Le Gall said that oncethe market starts to recover, the compa-ny would have to consider starting an in-vestment in a new coke battery, which isestimated to reach EUR 200 million.

ArcelorMittal Galati officials haveannounced that the company is currentlyin negotiations with Convex of Constan-ta to sign a long-term contract for ironore imports, after it dropped Romanianport services in favor of the Bulgarianport of Bourgas.

Dana Ciuraru

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The firm is working at 60 percent capacity

ArcelorMittal Galati sales plummet 70percent in H1

BRIEFSMICROSOFT SCOPES OUTCRAIOVA FOR SOFTWARELAB é Microsoft is interested in settingup a software laboratory inCraiova, according to Mediafax.A delegation from the companyhas already visited Craiova to seewhere the facility can be opened.“The Microsoft representativescame to us for an evaluation.They are interested in finding aspace of 800 sqm on which tocreate a software laboratory,”said Marin Nicoli, generalmanager of the Industrial Park inCraiova, quoted by Mediafax. Also, Microsoft today launchesthe Windows 7 system in 12 lan-guages. Next week, Windows 7will be available in another 24languages, including Romanian.At the end of June, the generalmanager of Microsoft Romania,Calin Tatomir, said the new oper-ating system would sell three-fourtimes better in Romania thanVista. Microsoft Romania postedlast year a turnover of EUR 29.8million and a net profit of EUR5.2 million, according to financialdata from the Ministry of PublicFinances.

OGILVY LAUNCHESOGILVYEARTH INROMANIAé Ogilvy Group has launched anew division on the Romanianmarket called OgilvyEarth. It willbe run by Alina Stanciu,managing director of OgilvyPublic Relations, together withLoredana Caradimu, businessdirector of Ogilvy One. The firmcreated OgilvyEarth globally aspart of the trend of sustainablebusiness models. ”OgilvyEarth isa very new division in our groupand consequently does not haveits own portfolio of clients. Butthere are, within the companies inthe group, clients for whom ourteams have over the last threeyears developed strategies ofinternal and externalcommunication oriented towardssustainability, without having aself-standing practice,” saidStanciu.

Page 7: Business Review Issue 38, 2009

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BUSINESS REVIEW / October 26 - November 1, 2009 7

Polish fashion retailer LPP Fash-ion has put EUR 1.5 million intoopening three new stores under theReserved, Cropp Town and Housebrands in the soon to be openedCotroceni Park shopping mall.House is the third brand LPP Fash-ion has brought to Romania, afterexpanding Reserved and CroppTown with eight stores across thecountry. The most expensive of thethree stores was the Reserved one,which required EUR 850,000 in in-

vestment, followed by Cropp Town,with an outlay of EUR 375,000, thenby House, at EUR 225,000, saysAlexander Zeciu, general managerof LPP Fashion Distributor.

The fashion retailer expects EUR5.2 million in turnover this year, upEUR 1.2 million on last year. “Whileat the beginning of the year we weresomewhat more optimistic and be-lieved we could easily manage toreach a EUR 7 million turnover, themarket evolution in Romania duringthe crisis has radically changed ourexpectations and our estimations,”said Zeciu.

The firm says it has stalled its ex-pansion plans but still expects toopen a few locations next year. LPPFashion is planning to bring at leastone new brand to Romania, headded. LPP owns the Reserved,Cropp, Esotiq, Promostars, Houseand Mohito brands. In Romania, Re-served and Cropp Town are presentin three Bucharest shopping centers,in Bacau and Braila.

Corina Saceanu

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Alexander Zeciu, GM of LPP Fashion Distributor

LPP Fashion opens three new stores,sees turnover below expectations

Czech energy company CEZGroup has recently purchased theProperty Fund’s (PF) 12 percent stakein CEZ Servicii for EUR 1.6 million,the company has announced. Follow-ing the deal, CEZ Group controls 63percent of CEZ Servicii.

CEZ Servicii was established twoyears ago and is the newest entity ofthe CEZ Romania Group. The compa-ny carries out activities including cus-

tomer relationship managementthrough customer relationship centers,financial and human resources activi-ties.

“The recent deals with the Proper-ty Fund and Electrica, along with thefact that we strengthened our positionwith CEZ Servicii […] pave the wayfor more synergy opportunities insideCEZ Group in Romania,” said JanVeskrna, CEZ Romania country man-ager.

The deal comes at an importantmoment for CEZ operations in Roma-nia. In early October, the company be-came the single shareholder of CEZDistributie and CEZ Vanzare.

CEZ is the leading electricity dis-tributor in Europe with almost sevenmillion customers and a portfolio ofover 14,300 MW installed capacity.Its market capitalization is in excessof EUR 30 billion. In Romania, the company acts as electricity dis-tributor and supplier to 1.4 millioncustomers.

Dana Ciuraru

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Jan Veskma, country manager of CEZ Romania

CEZ Group buys EUR 1.6 millionPF stake in CEZ Servicii

Page 8: Business Review Issue 38, 2009

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BUSINESS REVIEW / October 26 - November 1, 20098

Dacia’s general manager, Fran-cois Fourmont, is retiring at the endof the year. According to companyofficials, Jerome Olive will be pro-posed to succeed him as board direc-tor and managing director of Dacia atthe carmaker’s annual general meet-ing on 26 November.

Olive, 52, started work at Re-nault’s Sandouville plant in 1982. Hewas involved in the R25 and R21 ve-hicle projects, occupying variousposts concerned with the reliability ofprocedures and maintenance. In 1996he moved to Renault Douai for the

start-up of the Scenic 1. He becamedeputy director in charge of manufac-turing ten years ago, and was ap-pointed director of the plant early in2004.

His predecessor, Fourmont, 61,joined Renault in 1975. From 1988to the end of 1998 he held variousposts in the Sandouville and LeMans plants. He became managingdirector of Dacia in July 2003 andhas been managing director of theRenault Group in Romania sinceMarch 2008.

Dana Ciuraru

Croitoru announces new government list

Aviva to transform itsEuropean business

The newly designated prime minis-ter, Lucian Croitoru, has decided on thelist of ministers for the new govern-ment, with some of those on the listhaving previously been ministers oreven currently serving as such. Late lastweek he announced a governmentstructure of 14 ministries: GheorghePogea for the the Ministry of Finance,Emeric Saghi (Internal Affairs), RaduBerceanu (Transportation), BogdanAurescu (Foreign Affairs), AdrieanVideanu (Economy), Daniel Funeriu(Youth and Sports), Vasile Blaga (Re-gional Development), Mihai Suteu (La-bor), Catalin Predoiu (Justice), AdrianRadulescu (Agriculture), CristianVladescu (Health), Theodor Paleologu(Culture), Mihai Stanisoara (Defense)and Sulfina Barbu (Environment).

The new government would need236 votes in Parliament in order to beapproved. However, the Social Demo-cratic Party (PSD), National LiberalParty (PNL), Magyar Democratic

Union (UDMR) and the minorities inParliament, which total 252 votes, havesaid they are supporting Klaus Johannisfor PM, which makes it unlikely thatCroitoru’s proposal will pass. Mean-while, the International MonetaryFund, which had initially said it woulddelay its next visit to Romania, said itwould pay a visit between October 28and November 9.

The new government proposalcomes after the former administration,led by Emil Boc, which is now actingas an interim cabinet, lost a recent par-liamentary vote of no confidence. Thepolitical bickering over the formationof the new government comes onemonth before the presidential elections,set for November 22. The same day areferendum on a unicameral Parliamentwill take place, at the initiative of pres-ident Basescu, who has recently pushedthe decision to organize the referen-dum.

Corina Saceanu

Dacia head Francois Fourmontretires, Jerome Olive succeeds him

Jerome Oliver has been proposed to take the helm of the Romanian carmaker

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BRIEFSSALES OF NEW CARSDOWN BY 2.8 PERCENT INSEPTEMBERé Sales of new cars in Romaniadecreased by 2.8 percent inSeptember from the previousmonth. Some 9,342 new carswere sold, 54.3 percent fewer inthe first nine months of this yearcompared to the same period oflast year. In total, sales in the firstnine months amounted to101,770 new units, according todata from the Association ofProducers and Importers of Cars.Overall, the Romanian automarket, meaning cars, buses andcommercial vehicles, fell by 0.8percent in September, comparedto August, to 10,981 units.

WORLD BANK DELIVERSFIRST LOAN FORDEVELOPMENT POLICIESé The World Bank has deliveredthe first loan for developmentpolicies to the Ministry of PublicFinances. It amounted to EUR 300million. By the end of the year,another EUR 360 million shouldenter the accounts of the ministry.The rest of the sum, up to EUR 1billion, will be delivered in thefirst half of 2010.

ROMANIANS ARE ‘MOSTOPTIMISTIC IN CEE’REGARDING RECESSION’SEFFECTS ON BUSINESSESé Romanians are the mostoptimistic in CEE regarding theeffects of the recession on theirbusinesses, with 15 percentbelieving the situation has apositive influence on companies,found a study commissioned byErste and carried out by IMASVienna. Some 63 percent ofRomanians say the economicsituation has affected theirbusiness to some extent while 7percent call the impact “stronglynegative”. The most pessimistic inthe region are Ukrainians, 86percent of whom believe theeconomic situation has a negativeeffect on their business and 20percent a “strongly negative” one.Hungarians are also gloomy, with82 percent of interviewees sayingthe crisis had hit their businessand only 8 percent experiencingno influence.

Aviva plc has announced the in-tegration of its European businessand stressed its intention to benefitat the highest level from the growthopportunities in this region. Its UKoperations are not included in Avi-va’s new strategy for Europe.

The company’s European strate-gy is divided into two stages: thestock exchange listing of DeltaLloyd, and creating a new manage-ment team at the European level,along with the beginning of the inte-gration of the 12 operations thatAviva owns in Europe, through theproject Quantum Leap.

Through its strategy, the compa-ny hopes to achieve an increase inits efficiency in Europe and a greatcompetitive advantage.

As part of its European changes,Aviva will set up a single companyheadquartered in Ireland, which willmanage all European operations. Ontop of that, all the company’s Euro-pean subsidiaries will becomebranches.

Aviva Grup Romania operateson the local market through threecompanies: Aviva Asigurari de Via-ta, Aviva Societate de Administrarea unui Fond de Pensii Privat andAviva Investors Romania, acquiredin November 2007.

Anda Dragan

The European Parliament has re-leased funds worth EUR 5.5 millionto help more than 1,300 workersmade redundant by Nokia back intoemployment. The funds relate to1,337 redundancies in the Nokiaproduction plant in Bochum in theGerman region of North RhineWestphalia after the mobile phonegiant decided to end production atthe plant.

The redundancies occurred in anarea which traditionally has an un-employment rate of 3 to 4 percent-age points higher than that of Ger-many as a whole. The funding willhelp the 1,316 most disadvantagedamong the dismissed workers tofind new jobs. ■

EP gives EUR 5.5mln tohelp laid-off Nokiaworkers in Bochum

Page 9: Business Review Issue 38, 2009

C A L E N D A R / W H O ’ S N E W S

BUSINESS REVIEW / October 26 - November 1, 2009 9

WHO’S NEWSTIBERIU CSAKI, leader of Salans’ employ-

ment, litigation andarbitration and insol-vency practice areasin Romania, has beenpromoted to partner.He has been with the

firm for over 12 years, advising a widevariety of clients from the oil & gas,cement, chemical, consumer goods,retail, automotive and pharmaceuticalsindustries and financial institutions. Agraduate of the University ofBucharest Law School, he is a mem-ber of the Bucharest Bar.

CLAUDIU MUNTEANU-JIPESCU, who leadsSalans’ energy prac-tice in Romania, hasbeen promoted topartner. He has over10 years of experiencein the energy and

M&A sector and also advises interna-tional clients active in sectors includ-ing public procurement and conces-sions, automotive and manufacturing.Jipescu graduated from the Universityof Bucharest Law School, where he iscurrently an assistant lecturer and

completing his PhD in corporate lawmatters, the College Franco-Roumaind’Etudes Europeenes and the Institutde Droit des Affaires N. Titulescu – H.Capitant. He received a post-graduatediploma from the Paris I Pantheon-Sorbonne University. Jipescu is amember of the Bucharest Bar.

DAVID O’CONNOR has been appointed part-ner within the assur-ance practice of Ernst& Young Romania.He has 25 years ofprofessional experi-ence in banking, con-

sumer finance, asset management andleasing sectors, having worked withmany international and domestic fi-nancial service groups. O’Connor hasbeen an engagement partner for multi-national banks operating in Russia andPoland, large state-controlled and pri-vately-owned banks and financial in-stitutions, hedge funds specializing indistressed assets, as well as WorldBank, EU and USAID assignments.He is a member of the Institute ofChartered Accountants in England andWales FCA.

Business Review welcomes information for Who’s News from readers.Submissions may be edited for length and clarity. Feel free to contact us at [email protected]

EVENTS, BUSINESS AND POLITICAL AGENDAOCTOBER 26é Cinema City organizes a press conference on the launch of the largest

cinema screen in Romania at AFI Palace Cotroceni.

OCTOBER 29é Business Review organizes the Realty Forum at the Intercontinental

Hotel. For more details regarding participation see www.brforum.ro.

OCTOBER 29é Zamfirescu Racoti Predoiu, in partnership with KPMG and the British

Romanian Chamber of Commerce, organizes the “Labor Relations in a

Changing Economic Environment” seminar at Howard Johnson Grand

Plaza Hotel. By invitation only.

NOVEMBER 4é Business Review organizes the French Business Forum at the Intercon-

tinental Hotel. For more details regarding participation see www.brfo-

rum.ro.

NOVEMBER 10é Business Review organizes the “Investing During a Downturn” event in

partnership with Tuca Zbarcea & Asociatii and Ernst &Young at the In-

terContinental Hotel. For more information see www.brforum.ro.

Page 10: Business Review Issue 38, 2009

M O N E Y

BUSINESS REVIEW / October 26 - November 1, 200910

After many years of significant

expansion, banks are reducing their

number of branches and putting

further developments on hold. With

lower staff turnover, reduced

salaries and a surfeit of specialists

on the market, the Romanian

banking industry is fighting its way

through the crisis.

Watching the pennies: bank employees have seen their salaries and bonuses decreasing

STOC

KEXCH

AN

GE

Anda Dragan

Since the crisis, banks have ad-justed their strategies to suit the cur-rent conditions and have decided toput the brake on opening new branch-es, after many years of aggressivelycompeting to develop their local net-works. Over the years, lenders haveexpanded both in Bucharest and othercities, and reached national coveragevery quickly.

For a long time, as part of their hu-man resources strategies, banks choseboth to maintain and increase theirnumber of employees. Their strategyalso included giving the bank workera makeover, as a personal bankingconsultant for the customer. This am-bitious development strategy com-bined with a wide range of retail prod-ucts and services offered and trainingprograms encouraged many youngpeople to consider and pursue a careerin banking.

But both the second half of 2008and 2009 changed lenders’ strategy inRomania, forcing them to restraintheir activity. And while the times ofgreat expansion are history since thecrisis, specialists agree that this is tobe expected.

As a trend, many banks are beingmore prudent in extending their localbranch network, which has become asecondary priority. Currently thebanks on the market divide into sever-al categories: those which havestopped expansion, those which have

opened a handful of branches this yearand those which intend to expandtheir local network on the mediumterm.

Misu Negritoiu, general managerat ING Bank Romania, told BusinessReview in a recent interview about thelender’s strategy on the Romanianmarket. “If it weren’t for the crisis, wewould have extended our operationson the local market much more. Butthe actual development level is a com-fortable one for us. We haven’topened any new branches (currentlywe have a total of 220 nationwide),”he said. The first signs of recovery arelikely to prompt all players to recon-sider their strategies on the local mar-ket.

Elsewhere, Citibank Romania isone of the banks that have decided tooperate just a few branches inBucharest. The lender recentlyopened two new branches here, takingits total in the capital to seven.

Meanwhile, OTP intends to ex-tend its activity on the medium term.Laszlo Diosi, general manager ofOTP Bank Romania, told BusinessReview recently that the lender wants

to become a significant member of thetop ten market players in Romanianbanking and finance in the next fiveyears. He added that OTP has decidedto reach this objective either the or-ganic way or through acquisitions.But he specifies that a possible acqui-sition “could happen when we find asuitable and realistic target”. The bankhas 106 branches nationwide at pres-ent.

The significant reduction of localnetwork extension combined with theclosure of some branches, due to cost-cutting strategies, has had a furthernegative effect: it has produced a glutof banking specialists on the market.According to National Bank of Roma-nia (BNR) data, some 88 new bankingunits were established in Decemberlast year. But the number of newbranches opening decreased signifi-cantly in the first three months of2009: 65 in January, 26 in Februaryand 23 in March. Moreover, the num-ber of bank workers dropped from71,622 (at the end of December 2008)to 70,458 (at the end of March 2009).

As for their HR policies, lendershave adopted different strategies. De-

spite the crisis, OTP for example isstill encouraging young people to pur-sue a career in banking, offering theminternships and the opportunity forhigh-flyers to get hired.

Regarding HR restructuring plans,Manuela Sfirschi, manager of OTPBank Romania’s HR division, saidthat the bank had trimmed its work-force by 5 percent this year. Sheadded that this process has been a nat-ural one, as part of the new strategicobjectives that focused on corporatesegment development.

Similarly, ING has taken meas-ures to adapt its strategy to the currentcontext. As Negritoiu previously toldBusiness Review, the lender has madesome administrative corrections butthey were more cautionary than nec-essary. “To this end, we rolled out animportant cost-cutting program, bothin advertising and human resources.We froze salaries and stopped hiringnew people. But we only had a mar-ginal reduction in our workforce. Allthe measures we have taken weremeant to curb potential excesses,”said Negritoiu.

EMPLOYEES FASTEN THEIRSEATBELTS

Since the crisis many employees –no matter what industry they wereworking in – have opted to stay put atthe same company rather than moveto another job. The same thing hashappened in the banking industrywhere the staff turnover has droppedfrom double digits (a few years ago)to a single digit, not far above zero (inthe last year). Moreover, lenders arenot hiring new people at the presentlike they were in the past. “We cannotspeak about staff turnover at present,while deployment is so small. Also,employees are being more cautiousabout moving to another job,” saidGabriel Gatejoiu, business develop-ment manager at Professional, an ex-ecutive search company.

A very important element forturnover evolution relates to thechange in the psychological ratio be-tween employers and employees. Inthe last year the demand-supply ratiofor banking jobs has changed, creat-ing an employer’s market. “In such acontext turnover has fallen across thewhole economy, due to both the re-duced number of available jobs andthe different outlook of employees,who are now keener to have a stablejob,” said Gatejoiu.

Banker pay backslides after bonfire of bonuses

Page 11: Business Review Issue 38, 2009

M O N E Y

BUSINESS REVIEW / October 26 - November 1, 2009 11

Dana Serban, specialist recruiterat HR company Succes TGM, empha-sized the difference between 2008 and2009 in terms of turnover: “Last yearthe turnover in the banking systemwas about 12-13 percent while thisyear it has dropped to less than 2 per-cent”. She added that this significantshrinkage was due to people’s reluc-tance to change employer, because ofthe financial crisis. According toSfirschi, the current staff turnover ofOTP is about 9 percent. “The turnoveris becoming smaller over time, as aresult of a consolidation period,” saidthe manager.

As for lenders’ recruitment plans,specialists say that they are lower thanprevious years and are now specific,strictly related to tangible needs.“This need is often located in back-of-fice departments such as IT or the fi-nancial department,” said Gatejoiu.

But even though at first glancethings seem to be frozen on the bank-ing labor market, they are still mov-ing, say specialists. “Banks are hiringpeople temporarily and this representsan opening for companies that arefeeling cost-cutting pressure and stillhave specific projects which requireemployees,” says Serban. Accordingto her, just 1.2 percent of Romanian

employees have temporary labor con-tracts, compared to the European av-erage of more than 10 percent.

REDUCED BONUSES DRAGDOWN EARNINGS

Cost-cutting measures have beensignificant, especially in retail bank-ing. “Usually remuneration is cutthrough lower bonuses and fewer fi-nancial benefits related to the sales, re-tail and loans segments. Generally, theIT and financial-accountant depart-ments have been less affected by thesemeasures. Besides, salary marginshave stagnated,” said Gatejoiu. Ac-cording to a study conducted by Suc-ces TGM, salary packages havechanged significantly, dropping by 30percent in some companies.

In such a difficult economic con-text, companies do not have to try ashard to retain their staff as in recentyears. As for the employees, a reliablejob and a steady salary from onemonth to another are what they valuethe most at the present. “It is probablethat many employees will settle for asafe job with a lower salary,” saidGatejoiu. He added that companies arenow more interested in recruiting em-ployees internally, rather than drawingon headhunting services.

Treasury department Minimum to maximumé Swift operator: EUR 800-1,200 é Treasury specialist: EUR 800-1,200 é Broker: EUR 900-1,400é Dealer: EUR 900-1,400é Compensation agent: EUR 1,000-1,400

Corporate banking departmenté Relationship manager: EUR 1,800-2,500 é Corporate sales representative: EUR 900-1,500 é Senior relationship manager: EUR 2,000-2,800

Retail banking departmenté Loan officer: EUR 500-900 é Loan analyst: EUR 700-1,200 é Risk analyst: EUR 900-1,500 é Account administrator: EUR 600-1,000é Banking clerk: EUR 450-800 é Teller (clerk): EUR 550-700

Financial-accounting departmenté Financial analyst: EUR 800-1,300 é Accountant: EUR 900-1,150é Chief accountant: EUR 1,700- 2,500 é Chief of internal control department: EUR 1,400-1,800 é Internal auditor: EUR 1,150-1,700 é Financial manager: EUR 2,500- 4,000

SOU

RCE: EXEC

UTIVE SEA

RCH

AN

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AN

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LTING

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REPRESENTS TH

E MIN

IMU

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SALARIES OF BANK EMPLOYEES IN 2009

Page 12: Business Review Issue 38, 2009
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Page 14: Business Review Issue 38, 2009

BUSINESS REVIEW / October 26 - November 1, 200914

Deutsche Bank real estate arm takes oversecond office building in Upground project

Developer EMCT, which isworking on Sun Plaza shoppingcenter in Bucharest, has signed leas-ing contracts with retailer Inditex,which will bring four fashionnames, Zara, Pull and Bear, Bershkaand Stradivarius, into the soon to beopened project.

The four brands will cover 2,800sqm in Sun Plaza. Works on theproject should be finished by year-end while the opening has been setfor February next year.

The shopping mall has now been90 percent leased and is negotiatingover the remainder of the space, inorder to open the center with noempty retail areas. Sun Plaza has

Cora hypermarket as anchor, with23,000 sqm of space. Cora is joinedby bauMax, which will also open itsfirst unit in Bucharest on 10,000sqm, and by Mobexpert on 10,300sqm. Flanco will also take 2,500sqm for a store. Cinema operatorCinema City will be among the ten-ants, with 15 cinema halls.

Sun Plaza, developed by EMCTwith Sparkassen Imobiline as in-vestor, will cover 210,000 sqm intotal, including 80,000 sqm of retailarea. Sephora, New Yorker, Marks& Spencer, C&A, Douglas, Orsay,Promod, Motivi and Bamboo are al-so on the facility’s tenant list.

Corina Saceanu

Sun Plaza signs for four stores withInditex, leases 90 percent of space

Real estate developer RomfeltReal Estate has sold over 30 percentof its Doamna Ghica Plaza residen-tial project and is soon to announcethe sale of 100 apartments to an in-vestment fund, according to compa-ny representatives.

The EUR 75 million residentialproject was built in two and a halfyears from August 2007. The devel-oper has announced the start of de-livery of the apartments in the proj-ect, a process which should be com-pleted by December this year. Thecompound was previously calledRomfelt Plaza but was re-branded as

Doamna Ghica Plaza. It comprises616 apartments, from studios tofour-room homes in nine blocks offlats. The project was built in a sin-gle phase, and the developers haveteamed up with Alpha Bank in offer-ing loans to potential buyers.

Romfelt Plaza has several Ro-manian investors among its share-holders, such as Dan Pascariu, pres-ident of UniCredit Tiriac Bank, Cris-tian Sima of WBS Holding broker-age firm and writer Adrian Lustig.Slovakian firm Aktiva Nalozbeowns 45 percent of Romfelt.

Corina Saceanu

Romfelt starts apartment deliverywith an eye on institutional buyers

Do-it-yourself retailer bauMaxwill open two more stores in No-vember following a total investmentof EUR 30 million, the retailer hasannounced.

The new shops, located inPloiesti and Iasi, will bring bau-Max’s network in Romania to nineunits.

The Iasi store, a EUR 10 milliondevelopment, will cover 15,000sqm and will include a drive-in fea-ture.

The outlet in Ploiesti, which re-

quired EUR 20 million in invest-ment, will also cover 15,000 sqm.Built as a green pilot project, it in-cludes green heating and lightingsystems.

The pilot project will be repli-cated in future in the DIY firm’s Ro-manian chain.

bauMax owns stores in Brasov,Sibiu, Targu Mures, Cluj-Napoca,Craiova, Suceava and Bacau. Theretailer entered the Romanian mar-ket three years ago.

Corina Saceanu

bauMax puts EUR 30 mln into two new stores

P R O P E R T Y

The real estate investment divi-sion of Deutsche Bank has proceed-ed with the forward purchase con-tract it signed last year for the Up-ground project in Bucharest by tak-ing over the second office buildingin the project. The deal is part of theEUR 341 million transaction signedin May last year, which was thelargest real estate transaction tohave taken place on the Romanianreal estate market. The office build-ing, located in the Pipera area, fea-tures 57,000 sqm of leasable space.The finalization of this second partof the forward purchase contractwas pending on the completion ofthe building and on certain parame-ters, such as the level of leases.

“We were nervous about finish-ing on time the division of the com-pany where our clients boughtshares and to which the building andthe land plot were transferred, be-cause the division file was submit-

ted on the first day of the strike atthe registry of commerce,” IoanaNiculeasa, partner with NNDKPlaw firm, told Business Review.NNDKP acted as legal advisor forDeutsche Bank group.

The deal should continue withthe takeover of the third phase of theproject, the residential part, which ispending the end of constructionworks, and the sale of apartmentswithin certain terms, such as a min-imum price for certain types ofapartments, Niculeasa explained.

The Upground project is beingdeveloped by a group of Greek andBritish investors, including IoannisPapalekas. The project required aEUR 260 million investment. It willfeature two blocks of 600 flats, to-taling 126,000 sqm, according toprevious announcements, with theoffice buildings covering 100,000sqm.

Corina Saceanu

The project will be opened in spring next year

CO

URTESY O

F SUN

PLAZA

This is the second stage of the contract signed last year, with the residential deal to follow

CO

URTESY O

F UPG

ROU

ND

Page 15: Business Review Issue 38, 2009

BUSINESS REVIEW / October 26 - November 1, 2009 15

P R O P E R T Y

Real estate developer Nusco,which has leased 30 percent of its of-fice block Nusco Tower, expects to fin-ish the project in April next year andhas two more in the pipeline for thenear future. One of them, a 42-apart-ment scheme in the Maria Rosetti areaof Bucharest, is currently in the tender-ing stage, Michele Nusco, CEO ofNusco Group, told Business Review.The project should be started by theend of this year.

A third development that also fo-

Nusco proceeds with homes and officesalthough first project only a third leased

Platinum Group reports seven sold apartmentsin two weeks, launches new promotions

Michele Nusco, CEO of Nusco Group

LAU

RENTIU

OBA

E

cuses on offices, Nusco Building, willprobably be started in 2010, accordingto Nusco. It will be smaller in size thanNusco Tower, which covers 20,000sqm and required EUR 50 million ininvestment, including the cost of theland.

The developer had initially predict-ed it would lease office space in NuscoTower at a faster pace than the 30 per-cent currently taken up. The companyexpects to be able to lease the remain-der of the space by the end of the yearor early in 2010. The financing for theproject was secured from UniCreditbank, which covered 70 percent of therequired investment, while the group’sequity made up the rest. For the nexttwo projects the developer expects touse a similar financing scheme.

Nusco Group also owns PinumDoor and Windows in Romania, withtwo production facilities in the Piperaarea of Bucharest. The Pinum produc-tion division saw a 20 percent drop inits revenues this year, compared to lastyear, when it posted EUR 18 million inturnover.

Corina Saceanu

Real estate developer PlatinumGroup has sold seven apartments inits Vitan Platinum Towers projectfollowing its participation in severalreal estate fairs in Bucharest in therecent period, according to the devel-oper. The seven apartments, out of atotal 313 units in the project, weresold over the course of two weeks.

“Participation in a real estate fairdoesn’t necessarily bring immediatesales, but it offers the opportunity tomeet potential customers who, afterfinding financing solutions andchecking other options, return to buyapartments,” said Platinum represen-

tatives. “In many cases it can takeseveral months or even a year frommaking the first contact with thebuyer until they decide to actuallybuy.”

The developer has further re-duced the price of two-room apart-ments, which are now on sale forEUR 85,000 to buyers who make a10 percent down payment. Duringthe recent real estate fairs it offeredtwo-room flats for EUR 91,900, witha EUR 15,000 reduction for thosebuying through the First House pro-gram.

Corina Saceanu

Bucharest City Hall has canceledits contract with Spanish construc-tion company Sedesa, which was incharge of the street repairs in the oldpart of the capital, according toBucharest mayor Sorin Oprescu.The company will only finish thefour streets it is still working on,which have a budget of EUR750,000, while for the other tenstreets in the old part of the town,

City Hall cancels contract with Sedesa,re-tenders old city street repairs

Sedesa will only work on four remaining streets in the old part of the town

LAU

RENTIU

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City Hall will organize a new tender.Sedesa is working on the site througha subcontractor, local firm Apolodor,which will complete the works.

The rehabilitation contract wascanceled due to delays in carryingout the works, according to Oprescu.Sedesa had signed an extension to itscontract this summer in order tocomplete works on the project.

Corina Saceanu

Page 16: Business Review Issue 38, 2009

T A L E N T

BUSINESS REVIEW / October 26 - November 1, 200916

As a true entrepreneur, Sorin Stoica

has always tried to find ways to

thrive on the adrenalin that setting

up a business entails. He didn’t want

to run an ordinary company so he

decided to set up one that had no

competition on the market at that

time: a tailor-made travel agency.

Sorin Stoica hopes to persuade Romanians to try more exotic holiday destinations

Anda Dragan

Sorin Stoica has been a wellknown name in the business com-munity for years thanks to his com-pany, Dasimpex. Since 2007, theentrepreneur has started a new en-terprise: the first tailor-made travelagency in Romania, Eturia, whichhe set up with his wife, Daniela.

Stoica’s first foray into the busi-ness world was in 1997 when hefounded Dasimpex, a retail chainspecialized in selling GSM prod-ucts. The business was initially setup as a family concern, but it quick-ly surpassed Stoica’s expectations.Three stores were opened within sixmonths of launching, and after threeyears of full operations Dasimpexhad a 35-shop network.

But four years after its creation,Dasimpex ran into its first signifi-cant difficulties, caused by a lack offinancial resources to support thecompany’s rapid development. Sto-ica survived this tough period, buthe started to think about exiting thebusiness, due to not being able to af-ford significant expansion. As a re-sult, Spanish investment fund GEDCapital bought the firm in 2006.

The idea to set up Eturia cameafter his exit from Dasimpex. It iscommon knowledge that an entre-preneur who has spent many yearsembroiled in the challenges of run-ning his own business cannot walk

away that easily. “When I made myexit from Dasimpex I thought that Ididn’t want to retire from businessforever. So with a team of nine spe-cialists we set up Eturia,” says itsCEO. Like any other creative businessperson, he wanted to dosomething new, challenging and unusual. So Stoica choose to run abusiness that had no competition on the market. “I didn’t want to run an ordinary travel agency. That’s why I launched the first tai-lor-made agency in Romania,” headds.

Entrepreneurs often choose whattype of business to set up based onaspects of their personal life. For theStoica family, the pleasure and ex-perience of each trip abroad per-suaded them to start up Eturia. An-other factor was the lack of cus-tomized tourism services, an avail-able niche that they could cover.“We started to travel abroad back in2000, but unfortunately we alwaysfound difficulties in customizingour own holidays,” remembers Sto-

ica. As a result, the two entrepre-neurs decided to start a businesssimilar to those in the UK. The UKis one of the most important and de-veloped markets for tailor-madeholidays, Stoica says. Eturia is a re-al “factory” that “produces” cus-tomized vacations based both on thespecific needs of the customers andon their budget. “We enjoyed travel-ing and realized that we could makesome money from this business,”says Stoica. He adds that they con-sidered this field to be one thatwould challenge them on the longterm.

But Stoica was in luck becausein his two years of running Eturia hehas not faced any difficulties, hesays. Asked if he has any regretsabout his business, the answer issimple: “No! I think that this is thedifference between a real entrepre-neur and any other person who is inbusiness.” He goes on: “I have noregrets and I am convinced that thepositive attitude that I have hadsince the beginning of my first busi-

ness helped me to vault any inherentobstacle that an entrepreneur mightbe faced with,” says Stoica.

Business experience can make aperson more mature and rationalwhen making a decision or spendingmoney, and this was certainly truefor Stoica. If he were to start overwith another company, he wouldpay more attention to how he spentor invested his money. “I don’t thinkI would waste money on things thatdidn’t make a profit,” says Stoica.He adds that he has gained a lot ofbusiness experience that hasbrought him great advantages.“Now I know how to create andmanage teamwork. I have alsolearned what the most importantthings are for a business to be suc-cessful: high quality, communica-tion and promotion,” adds the CEO.

The biggest challenge for Eturiahas always been to win Romaniansover with the tailor-made vacationconcept. But another big test forStoica is to persuade local holiday-makers to choose destinations otherthan the usual ones such as Turkey,Bulgaria and Greece. To increasethe market share and to become apowerful brand on the Romaniantourism market seems to be Stoica’saim.

As for standing out from thecrowd, the entrepreneur thinks thatEturia distinguishes itself from themarket through its customized offer,based on customer input. “We don’tsell standard packages, but less vis-ited destinations such as Thailand,Costa Rica, the Maldives, Galapa-gos, USA, Australia, Ireland andVietnam,” says Stoica. In future, theentrepreneur intends Eturia to be-come the market leader for destina-tions like Cambodia, Mexico, Viet-nam, Costa Rica and Thailand. “Wealso intend to increase our turnoverby at least 30 percent a year and togrow the number of customers,”concludes the businessman.

TAILOR-MADE VACATIONS MAKE GOOD PROFITS

é 2008 turnover: EUR 1 million

é 2009 estimated turnover: EUR 3 mil-

lion

é Number of employees: 15

é Total estimated investment: EUR 1.5

million

Eturia

Page 17: Business Review Issue 38, 2009

P O W E R

BUSINESS REVIEW / October 26 - November 1, 2009 17

In the light of the fall in industrial

companies’ electricity consumption,

energy producers are shifting the

focus to smaller customers, hoping

to pick up some new clients. This

could imply that the current

economic context is a good reason to

bargain down electricity prices. But

large consumers say that prices are

instead likely to increase, as energy

producers have not put electricity for

2010 up for sale, arguing that the

imminent establishment of the two

state energy companies is likely to

send energy prices soaring. Light at the end of the tunnel: companies hope the slump in demand will equate to price falls

STOCKEXC

HANGE

Dana Ciuraru

It’s been a year since interna-tional financial institutions startedfalling like dominos heralding adeep economic crisis, an interna-tional phenomenon which has alsoleft its mark on the Romanian econ-omy. Production cuts, reduced pur-chasing power and higher unem-ployment are just some of the rami-fications of the crisis.

The power generation sector hasalso been affected by the falls inproduction of the major industrialcompanies with operations on thelocal market. Official data show thatthe electricity sold to large con-sumers decreased by 24 percent inH1, compared with the same periodof last year, a figure confirmed byenergy production companies.

“There is a decrease in industri-al electricity consumption by com-panies, primarily due to the reducedactivity of industrial firms in thecurrent economic climate. The

main customers of E.ON MoldovaFurnizare which reduced their elec-tricity consumption during the firsteight months of this year were largeindustrial buyers from the chemical,pulp and paper industries,” IulianCarja, media relations officer atE.ON Romania, told Business Re-view.

Among the main industrial con-sumers severely hit by the crisis arebig names such as ArcelorMittalGalati, Alro Slatina and OltchimRamnicu Valcea, companies whichhave endured an ongoing drop insales during this period.

But the situation is completelydifferent on the regulated market,represented by individuals andsmall electricity consumers, whichhas registered a slight increase inelectricity consumption in H1, com-pared with the same period of lastyear, according to a report from theRomanian Energy Regulatory Au-thority (ANRE). In this context,power-generating companies areshifting their attention to smaller

customers, thus trying to gain somenew clients.

“We have a list of several com-panies that we’re negotiating withnow. In times of crisis, we try to di-versify our portfolio and we haveoriented towards customers thatpurchase electricity in smaller quan-tities. For example, this year wesigned a contract with dye makerPolicolor Bucharest. Also, we aretrying to ink a contract for low-volt-age electricity and with telecomcompany Vodafone,” said Ioan Fo-lescu, Electrica GM. According tohim, Electrica has already formed ateam to renegotiate with formerclients of the company, which ithopes to win back.

Moreover, E.ON Romania rep-resentatives said that one major stepon the company’s path to gainingnew customers is to become an inte-grated supplier able to provide bothelectricity and gas. “E.ON Gaz Ro-mania and E.ON MoldovaFurnizare have this year developeda project to merge all supply activi-

ties in order to provide both gas and electricity to consumers,” saidCarja.

ELECTRICITY PRICES FLICKERCompanies which have main-

tained consistent electricity con-sumption say that despite the crisisprices have not fallen. “This year,energy purchase costs have in-creased by 6 percent, comparedwith last year. We are a large energyconsumer. Taking this into accountwe have requested and received a li-cense to supply energy by directlyparticipating in the energy market toavoid intermediary companies andto obtain a lower price,” Mihai Ro-han, president and GM of Carpatce-ment Holding, told Business Re-view.

He added: “The current energyprices on the free market are highand are not the result of transparentsales on the energy market. We cansay that energy prices are being dis-torted by selling the energy in thelast month of the year, which putspressure both on suppliers and con-sumers.”

But the opposite opinion was ex-pressed by Ioan Silvas, electricitysales manager at Electrica, who saidthat during the crisis some industri-al consumers have demanded sup-pliers cut prices by 15 percent.

“The negotiation power of eligi-ble consumers has increased duringthese times. They have dictatedlower energy prices to suppliers.Electricity consumption has de-creased steadily and, moreover,there is a surplus of energy. There-fore, the consumer has more op-tions, which allow him to go andlook for another provider,” said Sil-vas. Eligible customers are thosewho are not on the regulated mar-ket, meaning large and mediumelectricity consumers.

Electricity prices will probablyremain a hot topic in the coming pe-riod as they are still hard to forecast,because the energy market operatorOPCOM is not functioning properlydue to its lack of liquidity. More-over, the Carpatcement presidentadded, “Producers have not putelectricity for 2010 up for sale, ar-guing that the imminent establish-ment of the two state energy compa-nies is likely to bring about a sub-stantial increase in energy prices.”

[email protected]

Electricity consumption slump sparks price debate

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I N T E R V I E W

BUSINESS REVIEW / October 26 - November 1, 200918

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ER NET C

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Otilia Haraga

In the mix of Power Net sales, howimportant are public sector projects?

This year, we have not carried out ananalysis of the ratio. Last year, around80 percent of the projects were from thepublic sector, and 20 percent from theprivate sector. Furthermore, around 60percent of the projects were for largecompanies, while 40 percent were im-plemented for SMEs (of course, projectsfor small companies were more spo-radic). This is because the solutions thatwe are certified for require certain net-work architecture and a certain numberof users. This year, our ultimate aim,which may or may not be feasible, is tohave 50 percent of the projects from theprivate sector and 50 percent from thepublic sector.

I have noticed that even though theyhave made great changes and the de-mands are more and more precise in thepublic sector, you cannot have a discus-sion at a technical level without raisingcertain suspicions, even though thesediscussions have a purpose in the initia-tion of a project. However, we have hadnegotiations even with private cus-tomers where we were told that theywould buy from eMag, and we said:“Okay, it is your choice. Go for it!” Be-cause my price for certain products in-cludes many things. It is one thing to getsomething from the store and then im-plement it in one way or another, and

quite another to buy from us. But, ofcourse, this costs more.

What public auctions will you beparticipating in this year?

We are involved in certain publicbids and we hope they will be resolved.This year, due to the political situation,the budget was not approved until verylate, and the first public auctions ap-peared sometime at the end of July. Sothere was a gap of around six monthswhen you could not take part in any.This year, we completed a project in Au-gust with the National Veterinarian andFood Safety Authority (ANSVSA) forEUR 1.3 million. Also, we had a projectwith the Ministry of Administration andInternal Affairs worth approximatelyEUR 870,000.

If a firm decides to focus on projectsin the public sector, it has to have a verywell structured base and cash-flow, be-cause, even though the projects are cer-tain to be implemented and the moneypaid, it very much depends on the polit-ical situation, on the budgets and howthey wish to pay. In the private sector,contracts are negotiated, in the publicsector, not really – here there are stan-dard projects.

Also, payment deadlines have neverbeen respected. For example, we hadterms of payment of 45 days accordingto the contract, but the payment came in60-70 days. Given that we are not talk-ing about a modest sum but millions ofeuro, on which you are obliged by law topay taxes, VAT and other things, you

have to have a very solid cash-flow to beable to cope with this. For a short time,you become a sort of lending bank forthe state. Fortunately, we were in luck.Last year in November-December wesigned some contracts financed by Pharefunds which had an implementation pe-riod of six-eight months. Thanks to thesecontracts, we were covered during theperiod when public bids, where most ofour activity is, were scarce.

How did you establish your invest-ment budget for this year?

This year we were rather skepticaland we took a small-steps approach. Wedecided that this year and the beginningof next year we would only invest in per-sonnel certification, knowledge for allour employees and employing new per-sonnel in the areas where it is necessary,which we consider will be beneficial forthe long-awaited resumption of the econ-omy and the passing of the crisis. The in-vestments were in training courses, certi-fication exams, travel to training sessions– in short, everything that had to do withtraining employees, and, of course,salaries for the new recruits.

As far as major investments are con-cerned, no. We have several ideas that areon the back burner. We are about to fin-ish paying off the loan we took out forthese headquarters. The building has 800sqm and four levels. I think we investedsomewhere around EUR 800,000 in it.Now, I wouldn’t know what to say aboutits value: at the time when the contractwas signed it was somewhere around

Power Net shifts focus from public to private projectsEUR 1.5-1.7 million. We have not had itre-evaluated but we will do so when wehave paid back the loan – which will hap-pen next October – to the Italo-RomanaBank. Also, we have relocated our serv-ice department to Lacul Tei Boulevardbecause it has grown a great deal and wewanted to save this space for the offices.

Are you still recruiting?Currently, we have 25 employees,

and we want to fill positions on the salesand pre-sales side. We want to havemore projects in the private sector andthe pre-sales team, for which there wasno need in the public bids domain, willnow have an essential role. In this area,we will need two more people, one onthe hardware and the other on the soft-ware side. Until last year, when wecould count on exact figures, 25-30 per-cent of the budget went into training andcertification exams. This year we do nothave any estimation, we will do thesums at the end of the year. It is not easyto find specialists now, either. Of course,salaries have decreased and it is ratherdifficult for those who are looking for ajob to come back down to earth and notask for astronomical salaries. For exam-ple, on the sales side, a specialist used tomake at least EUR 1,000. Now, you canhire one for EUR 600-700. But still, theytend not to be well prepared for the role.

What are your financial estimationsfor this year?

In 2008 we posted a turnover ofEUR 27 million and in the first half ofthis year we made EUR 14 million. The-oretically, we are on track, because thisyear we planned to reach a turnover ofEUR 20 million, which means about a20 percent decrease compared to theturnover last year, in line with the mar-ket. At one point, in August, when wesaw things starting to move on the mar-ket, we believed we would be able tomatch last year’s turnover. But now, wehave reduced our initial estimations. It isa rather uncertain period because untilNovember, nothing is settled. Andeverything depends on the public sectorbecause the important projects during arecession come from the state.

There are needs on both sides, butthe public sector is further behind theprivate one. Honestly, I do not think Ro-mania will emerge from the crisis in2010. Maybe, in the best case scenario,it will happen at the end of 2010. I ammore pessimistic because I believe a re-structuring of the economy da capo alfine is needed.

Power Net Consulting is an equallysplit joint venture between threemanaging partners – GM EDUARDDIMITRIEV, Emil Munteanu andtechnical manager Stefan Mustata.So far, the company has reliedheavily on public bids to fill itscoffers, but Dimitriev tells BR thatthere are down sides to this:uncertainty due to the politicalcontext and delays in payment. Thisyear, he wants a 50-50 splitbetween the public and the private.

Page 19: Business Review Issue 38, 2009

F O C U S

BUSINESS REVIEW / October 26 - November 1, 2009 19

What does a fashion retailer dowhen the numbers don’t add up asexpected after it has opened storesacross the country and brought newbrands onto the market? It can shutsome of them, relocate others, comeup with its own concepts and pushmarketing campaigns. It can also askfor reductions in rents for longerperiods of time and expand onlythose brands which generate highersales. Rafar, the fashion retail andhospitality arm of RTC Group, hasalready done some of these things.Business Review talked to RamonaStanciulescu, CEO of Rafar, to seehow the retailer has coped with thedownturn.

Ramona Stanciulescu, CEO of Rafar, says the firm is preparing for various scenarios

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Corina Saceanu

Fashion retail is one of the manyareas hit by the consumption slumpin Romania, and while some retailershave already decided to withdrawfrom the market, others are comingup with new schemes to survive. Ra-far, the fashion division of localholding RTC, has set itself a targetand a challenge in managing to keepas many of the brands in its portfolioafloat as possible. “For this, we’reusing relocations, replacements andeven our own concepts, and creatingsynergies between the brands in ourportfolio to attract more customersand increase sales. We are consider-ing dropping some of the brands orlocations we have, where the evolu-tion of sales demands it,” RamonaStanciulescu, CEO of Rafar, tells

Business Review. One of the firm’s best known

brands in Romania is Debenhams,which in fact brings most of the com-pany’s revenues. It makes up 75 per-cent of the company’s sales, whileAldo, a brand which has recently en-tered Rafar’s portfolio, contributes15 percent to the turnover. Deben-hams is also the brand which occu-pies most of Rafar’s retail spaceacross the country, around 70 per-cent, with its large format stores. Andit is Debenhams and Aldo that aretop of Rafar’s list for further expan-sion, although the firm is keeping itsexpansion plans at cautious levels forthe coming period.

Confronted with a drop in salesof up to 40 percent in previously es-tablished stores, Rafar cannot seemany reasons to be cheerful, giventhe current economic, social andpolitic perspectives.

But overall, the firm should man-age to increase its turnover this year,due to the opening of new stores atthe end of 2008. “If we talk aboutsales, it is important to know whatscenario to compare to, because weare analyzing several versions of theprojected evolution of sales this year.We are now working on the opti-mistic scenario, under which wehope sales of comparable locationsto stay at the same level as last year.The pessimistic one foresees an aver-age drop in sales of 40 percent,” saysStanciulescu.

This year some of the brands inRafar’s portfolio will post negativeprofitability rates, due to the drop insales and the slow progressive fall inrents, which make up the biggestweight in the stores’ costs, says theRafar CEO.

So far, the retailer has managedto negotiate rent reductions in sever-

al locations and for different dura-tions. “The reductions in rent werefor set periods of time, two to threemonths, even 12 months in somecases, and depending on the econom-ic evolution, we will re-start talks inthis area with each shopping center,”says Stanciulescu. The biggest dropin rents Rafar has managed toachieve was 50 percent. “It is veryimportant that the representatives ofshopping centers support us with re-duced rents. We will ask for pro-longed periods and for further reduc-tions,” says Stanciulescu.

Another step in Rafar’s strategythis year has been to adapt to the cur-rent economic situation by develop-ing its Catwalk brand, for which ithas opened stores in Plaza Romania,Baneasa Shopping City and even inthe commercial galleria of the JWMarriott hotel in the second half ofthis year. Catwalk is a multibrandstore selling shoes, bags and acces-sories.

[email protected]

Rafar reels but resists as shoppers losepassion for fashion

é Rafar comprises the fashion re-

tail and hospitality businesses of

the RTC Group. It currently runs

28 stores, one restaurant and six

coffee shops on over 16,000

sqm. Its main fashion retail fran-

chise is Debenhams, with seven

stores on 11,000 sqm in Roma-

nia and the Republic of Moldo-

va. Rafar also operates stores

under the Aldo, Olsen, Mandari-

na Duck, Sacoor Brothers,

Kipling, Kanz, Pablosky, Forev-

er 18, Bijoux Terner and J.Press

brands. It incorporates a distinct

hospitality division, which runs

Vapiano restaurant and

Cup&Cino coffee shops. The

RTC Group is owned by Ro-

manian businessman Octavian

Radu.

Page 20: Business Review Issue 38, 2009

C I T Y

BUSINESS REVIEW / October 26 - November 1, 200920

Famous violinist AlexandreDubach will perform at the RomanianAthenaeum in a charity concert on Oc-tober 31. Tickets cost RON 50 and areon sale at the box office of the Roman-ian Athenaeum and through the net-work www.vreaubilet.ro.

Dubach has played in Romaniaonce before, in 2007, during the eventsthat were part of Sibiu’s year as Euro-pean Cultural Capital. This latest con-cert is organized by the Rotary ClubConstanta Foundation in partnershipwith the George Enescu Philharmonic.

Proceeds from the event will beused to fund the participation of ateam of pupils from the national col-lege Mircea cel Batran in Constanta inthe international competition SpaceSettlement Design Contest organizedby NASA. In order to be able to pres-ent their works and participate in thecompetitions live, the Romanianpupils have to pay for their own trans-port to NASA, and lack of funds haslong been a big problem. ■

Dubach is playing Romania for the second time

Violinist AlexandreDubach holds charityconcert at Athenaeum

Grand Cafe Van Gogh has opened in the old city center on 9 Smardan Street, next to theRembrandt Hotel and opposite the National Bank of Romania. The cafe was opened bythe owner of the former Amsterdam Grand Cafe, Dutch expat Jerry Van Schaik. Boastingreading tables with Romanian, Dutch and English newspapers and magazines, the venue isopen Monday to Friday from 8 am to midnight, and Saturday and Sunday from 9 am tomidnight.

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Former Amsterdam Cafe owneropens Grand Cafe Van GoghFormer Amsterdam Cafe owneropens Grand Cafe Van Gogh October 28 will be the first

time when Night Theater has beenorganized locally. On that night,the public can see plays free ofcharge. The event is an initiativeby the Bucharest City Hall’s Ar-cub (the municipality’s center forcultural projects) and the Inde-pendent Students’ League.

“You can wake a Romanianartist up even in the middle of thenight and they will still be able toact. This event is the proof. Be-cause we are used to white nightsand such a staging has never beendone,” say organizers. To checkout the full program go towww.business-review.ro.

Theater at nighttime in Bucharest

Page 21: Business Review Issue 38, 2009

R E S T A U R A N T R E V I E W

BUSINESS REVIEW / October 26 - November 1, 2009 21

THE NEW KID ON THE BLOCK

Ido like dining on Herastrau Lake. Allthe chophouses are elegant and reas-suringly expensive. They are also all

good, with the exception of one: the awfulCasa Di David.

Di David started the trend of raisingthe standard of restaurants on the lake, butthey soon became lazy, and eventually of-fensive. It is the favourite haunt of the aged28-ish unemployed sons of rich men whospend their fathers’ money and flock therewith their bimbos, all of whom proudlysport new, gross plastic surgical chests.The food is average at best, the portionsare small, the staff are rude and surly andthe prices are far too expensive. So whenyou add their vulgar clientele to theHouse’s other sins, you will understandwhy it is my least favored place to dine.

In fact I cannot think of any good rea-son to recommend it to anybody. But Iraise the subject because Restaurant Aquais right next door to them, and oh boy –Aqua is going to give them a run for theirmoney!

Aqua’s décor is modern, safe, ‘NewEuropean’ but falling short of being lead-ing edge contemporary Italian. In a well litroom, black predominates. Black table-cloths with a black wood framed ceilingwith contrasting bright beige floors andwalls. Well done House, it feels good. Tofurther calm you down after your drive,

there is a large fish tank along the length ofthe bar

The menu is thankfully different fromthe neighbouring restaurants. The chef cuthis teeth chefing in Israel for 14 years andalthough that country may not immediate-ly bring culinary delights to your mind, Is-raeli-trained restaurateurs such as Elan atArcade, Jacob at Helvetia and Josef atCasa Vernescu have made a positive gas-tronomic impact on this town.

OK, let’s eat! There is a choice ofeleven starters priced from RON 29-39. Ichose three giant prawns which had beendipped in an Italian quattro formaggiosauce and then deep fried to form a sweetsesame coating. All this on a rucola salad.Excellent!

I followed with a lobster bisque. Thisis a brave thing for a chef to do and witnessthe fact that this is the only restaurant intown that does it. The bisque was OKrather than great. When I prepare this dishit takes up far too much time for the likingof chefs in commercial kitchens, who in-variably short-circuit the procedure.

So to correctly do it, you must gentlysaute onions in lashings of butter and thenadd equal portions of white wine and winevinegar. Boil off the alcohol and add fishstock, reduce and set aside. Then take yourEMPTY lobster shell and heat it on maxfor 10 minutes. Refresh the shell by plung-

‘ AQUA’ OPPOSITE CHINESE EMBASSY, HERASTRAU LAKE

ing it into a large pan of cold white wine.This procedure pumps in extra lobsterflavour. Add the ‘set aside’ liquid, boil andthen filter out the onions and shell. Add pa-prika, tomato puree, cream and finally thelobster meat. Voila!

Whilst perusing the menu, I noticedthe chef had resurrected three ingredientswhich dominated the early 1980s but havebeen forgotten in these modern times: sun-dried tomatoes, balsamic and rucola. Heuses plenty of all three and they are mostwelcome.

Still on starters, we passed on ‘WasabiTuna Carpaccio' with sesame oil and ruco-la and ‘Beef Carpaccio’ in a pepper crustwith balsamic, rucola and Parmesan.

Away to salads, which normally boreme, but not here. Although we passed onthem, nonetheless they deserve a mentionas they offer an exciting variation from thepredictable salads on offer all over town.So you can expect salads accompanied byselections of: mint vinaigrette, roasted ca-ju, rucola, paprika chickpeas, pesto andlemon salsa.

In a similar fashion their pasta sectionoffered a welcome alternative to the ‘usu-al’ with dishes containing ‘chicken,spinach and creamy white wine sauce’,‘zucchini and calamari’ and ‘smokedsalmon and baby shrimps’.

There is a choice of eleven mains, andI chose ‘Hennessy baby duck fillet’. It waspresented on a bed of apple carpaccio butinexplicably the duck was cut lengthwaysin a ‘julienne’ style. This means that they

must flash cook the duck to prevent overcooking. And it was overcookedwhich means it was not pink. But I stillliked it.

Regrettably I passed on ‘Beef fillet ina Bordelaise sauce’ with baked pears and atempting ‘Lamb chops in a tahina herbsauce’. I applaud their initiative in usingtahina sauce (you can buy it in Mega Im-age) as it is typically served in the MiddleEast with lamb dishes and always withlamb shawarmas. Every other restaurant intown has overlooked using tahina withlamb.

I can only find fault with the House ontwo points, namely: it is an all-smokingchophouse and they have the very epitomeof bad taste, a big television screen on thewall. This screen laughs at the effort theyhave made to make the place chic. Theymust dump it. Otherwise, it is highly rec-ommended.

Michael [email protected]

Aqua will easily outshine its lazy neighbor

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Page 22: Business Review Issue 38, 2009

B U S I N E S S R E V I E W E V E N T S

BUSINESS REVIEW / October 26 - November 1, 200922

Italian investors confront the crisis with Latin spirit

■ 1. Michele Nusco, CEO of Nusco Group ■ 2. Enrico Amat din San Felipo, managing partner with Blue Dolphin Media ■ 3. Paolo Menarbin,

director of international clients and cross-border business management with UniCredit Tiriac Bank ■ 4. Herbert Stein, president of Autoitalia;

Eva-Simone Perauer, managing director of Marketing Austria ■ 5. Georgio Modesti, CEO of Teleperformance Romania ■ 6. Marco Rosetti, gen-

eral manager of ArenaJobs ■ 7. The event gathered an audience of 40 ■ 8. Guest speakers debated how Italian companies have dealt with the

crisis in Romania

1 2 3

4 5 6

7 8

Banking, call centers, real estate,the media and human resources – allwere affected by the crisis as earlyas last year in Romania, but all therepresentatives of these fields whoattended the Italian Business Forumlast week have found ways to copewith the downturn.

“Since 2008 – an exciting

growth year, when we had plannedto open units in the country – wehave slowed down our expansionpace. But we expect 2010 to be bet-ter; maybe we can recapture growththen,” said Paolo Menarbin, directorof international clients and cross-border business management withUniCredit Tiriac Bank.

Nusco Group, which runs both afurniture production business and areal estate development unit in Ro-mania, has diversified. On the pro-duction side, under the PinumDoors and Windows brand, thegroup has come up with a low-costproduct, while keeping its plans inreal estate development, said

Michele Nusco, CEO of the groupin Romania.

“We expect the psychologicalcrisis, the general market scare, tobe over,” added Nusco.

For Teleperformance, the callcenter operator, the turmoil hasbrought opportunity. “The crisis on-ly did us good. It cleaned up themarket; now there are maybe 20percent fewer companies in our areaof work. And it showed companiesthe benefits of outsourcing,” saidGiorgio Modesti, CEO of Teleper-formance Romania. Now the com-petition on this market is healthier,so the crisis was more than wel-come, he went on.

Others also took the glass-half-full approach. “The crisis made usreinvent ourselves, and we are alltrying to find solutions, either goinginto low-cost products, or diversify-ing our business,” said Marco Ros-setti, general manager of ArenaJobs.

In his line of work, Rossetti hasseen salary demands change fromwhat used to be a combination of 30percent value of the jobseeker and70 percent speculative expectation,to a more balanced ratio, with thespeculative component lower.Salary demands have dropped by 10to 20 percent at least, he says.

The media market has also beenaffected, with a drop of 36 percentin advertising revenues this yearfrom last year, said Enrico Amat diSan Filipo, managing partner withBlue Dolphin Media. He added thathe expected a further drop, but asmaller one, in 2010, and no returnto growth for the advertising marketuntil 2013.

As for what improvements theseinvestors would like for the Roman-ian market, more efficiency in theservices sector and Romanian in-vestors getting more involved in themarket were mentioned during theItalian Business Forum.

A more stable political environ-ment, as well as better customerservice and relations, were also onthe wish list. Finally, one majorproblem is the lack of proper infra-structure, which has put a stop on ordelayed many private investmentsin the country.

But the downturn has taught in-vestors some important lessons.“This period has helped me realizethe actual value of the products andservices we are offering,” said Ros-setti of ArenaJobs. It was a goodtime to asses the real worth of prod-ucts and services on the Romanianmarket, he added.

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