Business news

BCR bank targets high…
Isn’t it impressive to find out that the no. 1 Romanian bank targets to double its sales for current account packages per day, reaching 2.000? In the past and (for a part of the Romanian society) today too, Romanians were afraid to maintain a connection with a bank. Afraid of losing their money, as it happened in the mid 90s, they prefer to avoid them as much as possible (to be honest with you, some banks in Romania have so bad rules and so expensive operational costs, that I don’t blame the ones who don’t like to be in contact with them). BCR (Commercial Bank of Romania) is the biggest of the country, being sold in December 2004 to the Austrians of Erste Bank (it was 3.75 billion euros for 61.75% of its shares). After a re-organizing and a re-branding that occurred last year, it is quite positive to see the bank achieving its targets and the people in Romania entering in the banking system in a healthy way
http://www.zf.ro/articol_163020/bcr_hopes_to_double_current_account_sales.html

Alpha Bank: All figures up, targeting again the top 5
I wrote to you few things last week about mr Sergiu Oprescu, the chief executive of Alpha Bank in Romania. Alpha comes from Greece, it is the first bank from my country which operated in the Romanian market, back in 1993 (if I remember correctly). Last year they reached for a moment the fourth position in the market, now they are back to the seventh. But they have some very strong advantages: Very good management team, excellent know how combined with a long tradition (in Greece my family is client of theirs since… 1954!) and very deep knowledge of the Romanian market.
http://www.zf.ro/articol_163018/alpha_bank__profit_up__although_macroeconomic_problems_loom_large.html

Last factories leaving the city…
Since the 1st of January 2007, all the factories in the center of all cities were obliged to be removed out of the city’s limits. This is why all of them were sold for… residential (mainly) or commercial projects. Some last units that have remained are expected to be removed in the next couple of years. My company has some of them for sale, here you can read a typical case for a factory relocating, presented by a major company like Vel Pitar.
http://www.zf.ro/articol_163396/vel_pitar_moves_plants_outside_bucharest.html

Progress is spread throughout the country: A construction company from Oradea doubles profits
Many times I insist writing to you that all the country is growing. After Bucharest, the second strongest economical zone is Transylvania, with its capital Cluj, but also Tmisoara – Arad – Oradea create a strong “arrow” in the western part of the country. As the economy is growing really fast and every day we hear about new Real Estate developments, a serious construction company is always the first to benefit of this situation. Here you can check the excellent results of “Constructii Bihor”, a company based in Oradea.
http://www.zf.ro/articol_163394/constructii_bihor_s_turnover_reaches_13_8m_euros.html

Dogan Group: After “Kanal D”, its time for Real Estate in Romania
If you know anything about Turkey (I am in the same category, I simply know some basics), you know for sure the Dogan group of companies, one of the biggest ones in that country. They have entered Romania too some years ago, by starting a successful new tv project, the “D” Channel. As I have heard, their country manager is really special and after the good work in media, they enlarge their business here in Real Estate too. And they are so important, that Bloomberg network presented their activities here and their acquisitions. Check it out.
http://www.zf.ro/articol_163393/dogan_taps_into_real_estate_sector_with_50m_euros.html

Leasing market: +53% (!) than 2006
Isn’t it impressive? The leasing market last year boosted to 4,9 billion euros, while in 2006 it reached 3.2 billions and exactly 12 months ago the estimation for 2007 was about 4.2 billion. This means that this segment has already become quite large and advanced, bringing Romania to the top countries of the South eastern Europe in this domain (only Greece maybe can have bigger figures, but I think that maximum by 2009 it will be surpassed too). Also, when you see the top 3 players, you find Unicredit (which was the result of the merging with Tiriac group), BCR and Porsche, so it is clear that a big part of the exploded sales of cars last year was financed by leasing, despite the previous years.
http://www.zf.ro/articol_163388/leasing_market__beyond_most_upbeat_expectations.html

Wolf Theiss: A law firm that really has what to say
They are a big international law firm. You find them many times, in many different places, in almost all sorts of deals. Their manager, mr Bryan Jardine, has really lots of important things to share with us, as they have a very good market overview. I chose this article because I think that we need to hear the ones who are market leaders in their domain, even if sometimes we may not agree with all they say.
http://www.zf.ro/articol_163387/jardine__wolf_theiss__the_market_has_its_ups_and_downs.html

Beer market: Very dynamic in Romania, made another 6 new millionaires
Heineken N.V. bought last week “Bere Mures” company, the second largest independent player in the beer market. Like it happens in all the world, this market is very competitive and many more acquisitions are on the way here in Romania too. But don’t forget something: Romanians drink much more beer than most of the other citizens of Europe and they rank (I think) in the top 10 countries for litres per capita / per year. This acquisition by Heineken created another 6 Romanian millionaires, the owners of the sold company. May I guess something? They will invest half (at least) of their cash in Real Estate…
http://www.zf.ro/articol_163385/bere_mures_acquisition_by_heineken_brews_six_new_millionaires.html