Romania | News

French-held sporting goods retailer Decathlon is opening a new store in Romania, in Alba Iulia (center-western Romania), its first unit inaugurated in 2022, reaching 29 stores on the local market.

Daniela Jordanovski, a marketing, procurement and sales manager at dm drogerie markt Romania, says the company has invested around RON45 million in new store openings and the refurbishment of existing ones and is set to continue expansion at a faster pace next year.

Romania’s IT market maintained its annual growth rate of 15%-17%, reaching a volume of over EUR9 billion at present from EUR4.6 billion in 2015, and the value of this economic sector is expected to exceed EUR12 billion in the next two years, as per a survey by the Romanian Employers Association in the Software Industry (ANIS).

Almost all of Romania’s airports are carrying out or are set to start expansion and overhauling works. The total value of investments in local airports tops EUR600 million.

The returns expected by investors kept the upward trend over the last year, but with a moderate advance, as the cost of capital maintained its ascending path in the third quarter of 2022, outlined since the second part of 2021, according to an EY Romania analysis.

Japanese fashion group Fast Retailing, one of the world's largest fashion industry actors, might enter Romania as late as in 2024-2025, bringing its flagship brand Uniqlo, market sources say.

IULIUS Group announces that Palas Campus, the largest office building in Romania the group is developing in the city of Iasi, has already been fully leased before its commissioning scheduled for the first quarter of 2023.

The American Chamber of Commerce in Romania (AmCham Romania) welcomes the decision to set up a Romanian Agency for Investments and Trade and expresses its confidence for a swift operationalization of this structure, in an institutional architecture that will ensures a positive impact similar to that in the countries where it such agency works successfully.

Romania’s logistics and industrial market is close to touching a new record high in 2022 in terms of demand, which is reflected in the average vacancy rate that stood at 4.3% at the end of the first nine months of the year, one of the lowest levels of the last ten years, as per data from consulting firm Cushman & Wakefield Echinox.

Siemens Energy, a major energy technology company, has already recruited 450 Romanian engineers in Romania, to be added to its initial 200-member team, and plans further growth in the coming period.

Adobe Romania, the local subsidiary of the US giant of the same name, has reached 1,000 employees in Romania and is further recruiting software specialists, currently having over 40 jobs available.

Urban Invest, the developer of the Urban Plaza mixed-use project in Brasov, will invest EUR25 million in building the first hotel to operate under the AC Marriott brand in Romania.

A total of 868,000 square meters of industrial and logistics space were leased in Romania in the first nine months of the year, almost double as many as in the year-ago period and already more than the entire 2021, data from real estate consulting company CBRE Romania show.

The outlook of Romania’s joining the Schengen area makes major investors raise their stake for Romania. WDP, a major logistic and industrial space developers locally, says it wants to secure its territory in eastern Europe and plans to reach 2 million square meters in the coming years.

Dr.Max Group, the leading pharmacy chain in Central Europe, held by Czech investment fund Penta Investments, signed an agreement for the acquisition of retail and distribution operations of Gedeon Richter in Romania, as per data provided on Friday (Oct 21) by the officials of the Bucharest office of law firm Wolf Theiss which assisted Dr.Max Group in the transaction.

Google’s team in Romania has reached around 400 people and will continue to grow in the coming period, according to the company’s representatives.

Romania signed the first contracts for financing out of the Modernisation Fund to develop the country’s energy infrastructure. Transelectrica will benefit from more than 420 million euros.

Austrian group Wienerberger in the first six months of 2022 posted EUR58.1 million revenues in Romania, up 25% from the year-earlier period, in line with ZF calculations based on company data.

US giant Burger King is resuming expansion in Romania, but with a different franchisee after having in early 2022 terminated the agreement to develop the brand on the markets of Poland, Czechia, Slovakia, Bulgaria and Romania with Poland’s AmRest.

Romania’s economic growth is slowing down as the market tries to adapt to high energy prices, with a GDP growth estimated at 5% in 2022 and at 2.3% in 2023, according to an analysis by lender OTP Bank.