Romania Feed

Ana Hotels, a company owned by businessman George Copos, has signed a new management contract for the Athénée Palace hotel in central Bucharest, which will come under the InterContinental brand.

Romania’s competition watchdog has greenlighted the deal whereby Paval Holding, the special purpose vehicle of brothers Adrian and Dragos Paval, owners of DIY retailer Dedeman, bought into Farmacia Tei and Bebetei Investments Group.

The assets of the three non-bank financial markets in Romania – the insurance market, the private pension market and the capital market doubled from 2014 through the end of 2021, the Financial Supervisory Authority (ASF) report on the non-bank financial market stability says.

SII Romania, specialized in IT services and solutions, ended fiscal year April 2021-March 2022 with EUR19 million turnover, up 48% from the previous period, according to the company’s officials.

OLX, the largest online classifieds platform in Romania, for 2021 reported RON206.5 million (EUR41.9 million) turnover, up 36% on the year, in line with Finance Ministry data.

Prodal 94, a major producer on Romania’s spirits market, controlled by Iranian businessmen Jabbar Kanani and Bagher Karimzadeh, ended 2021 with RON116.5 million turnover, 54% higher than in 2020, in line with information provided by the company’s representatives.

Hochland Romania, a top five dairy producer in Romania, generated turnover of RON556 million (over EUR115 million), up 12% in lei on the year.

Targu-Mures-based Nova Vita hospital, a top ten hospital unit by the number of beds, a business founded by entrepreneur Virgil Mailat, has budgeted RON40 million turnover in 2022, up 22% from 2020, in line with company data.

Selgros will not open any new units this year, with the company’s investments set to be directed to retooling the existent stores.

Bucharest’s Radisson Blu Hotel will have 200 additional rooms by end-2023, so that the entire compound made up of Radisson Blu and Park Inn by Radisson Hotel & Residence Bucharest will comprise around 860 rooms, in line with data provided by the company’s representatives.

Cooperativa Gradina Noastra of Brezoaiele, Dambovita county, having an 85-ha area cultivated with cabbage and potatoes, and Cooperativa Gradina Noastra of Insuratei, Braila county, currently having a 70-ha area cultivated with water melons, are set to deliver around 10,000 of freight to French retailer Carrefour, which has over 370 stores in Romania.

Romania’s housing market in 2021 broke the previous record in terms of new housing units delivered in one year, going beyond the threshold of 71,000 new completed houses and apartments, in line with data recently published on Tempo platform of the National Statistics Board.

Private consumption increased in the second quarter of 2022 compared with the year-ago period, while investments followed a downward trend, which makes a decisive impact on the decline of the annual GDP dynamics, partly because of the sizeable drop in construction works in April, Romania’s central bank says in its monetary policy meeting minutes.

The annual inflation will increase until the middle of the third quarter of 2022, yet at a visibly slower pace, Romania’s central bank monetary policy meeting minutes show.

Romania’s three-month ROBOR index, the interbank interest rate used as a reference to calculate variable interests for loans in lei taken out before May 2019, reached 7.16% on Tuesday, July 19, up two basis points from the start of the week, when it hit 7.14%, in line with central bank data.

Romania’s public debt, in both lei and foreign currency, increased to more than RON600 billion in April 2022 from RON594 billion in March and to 49.2% of the GDP, Finance Ministry data show.

Construction works increased by 16.7% in May 2022 against April 2022 in gross series, whole in adjusted series there was a 4.6% advance, in line with data from the country’s statistics board INS.

Clinica Sante, a private laboratory clinic network developed in 1995, in 2021 reached RON254 million turnover, up 72% from 2020, the fastest growth pace for the company that has 290 centers nationwide.

Franke Romania, the local subsidiary of the Swiss group of the same name, has budgeted RON2.5 million investments for this year, almost double the 2020 level and 42% higher than the 2021 one, in line with ZF calculations based on company data.

Mayr-Melnhof, a major player on Romania’s packaging production market, is investing to expand its production capacity and warehousing spaces in Ploiesti. The company has an over EUR10 million budget for investments, but not all the money is destined to the warehouse.