Romania Feed

Romanian-held edtech startup Youni has expanded presence in Central Asia by opening two new offices in Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan and plans to open new offices in Poland and Hungary by the end of 2023.

IULIUS Group plans to start in 2024 the construction of the eighth office building within the Palas Iasi project.

Flip.ro, a Romanian startup founded in 2019 that encourages circular economy by refurbishing mobile phones that are reintroduced on the market as good as new, has paid EUR4.8 million to Romanians who sold their phones through the online platform during the first four months of 2023, up 32% compared to the same period of 2022.

The current role of the CFO in Romania today is more oriented on protecting and optimizing value (38%) than on growing value (24%), while the future ideal state shifts the focus of the Finance leaders towards the growing value activities (40%) and less on protecting the value (22%).[2]

ALD Automotive has completed the full acquisition of LeasePlan, one of the world's global leaders specialized in car fleet management and mobility solutions, from a consortium run by TDR CAPITAL.

Tire maker Pirelli Tyres Romania, the local subsidiary of Italy’s Pirelli, currently owned by state-run China National Chemical, posted RON4.388 billion (EUR889.8 million) revenue in 2022, an increase of 38.5% on the RON3.168 billion (EUR644 million) of 2021, Finance Ministry data show.

Real estate developer One United Properties (ONE.RO) has notified shareholders about the signing of an agreement to sell an asset, an office building of One North Gate SA, in which it owns 76.395%, the developer said in a report to the Bucharest Stock Exchange.

FAN Courier, the leader of the parcel delivery market in Romania, is doubling its locker network to some 2,000 FANboxes in the entire country, the company said in a release.

OTP Bank has officially confirmed via an announcement by its management that OTP Bank Romania is up for sale, a process that may take a few months and if successful, the deal should be closed in one year, banking market sources told ZF.

US-held eBay, one of the largest actors in online commerce in the world, has started a campaign to draw the Romanian small and medium-sized enterprises to its marketplace, enabling them sell abroad this way. The decision was made because of the growth of the market and the still low percentage of companies selling online, which it sees as a growth opportunity for the future.

Romanian managers’ confidence in the economy is at the highest level in three years, despite uncertainties in the market, the eighth Confidex survey conducted by Impetum Group to measure Romanian managers’ confidence in the economy in the first half of 2023 shows.

Julien Ducarroz, chief executive officer of Orange Poland since 2020, will trade places with Orange Romania CEO Liudmila Climoc in September.

Globalworth, the leading office investor in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) and the leader of the Romanian office space market, has signed an agreement with eMAG to set up its headquarters as a tenant in the Globalworth Square building in the Floreasca – Barbu Vacarescu area of Bucharest.

The occupancy rate of Bucharest hotels stood at 62% in the first quarter of 2023, up 33% from the year-earlier period, and is just 5% below the 2019 level, placing Romania’s capital city second in the region, after Warsaw, in line with data provided by real estate consultancy Cushman & Wakefield.

rebelDot, a Cluj-Napoca-based software developer, has taken over the majority stake in steepsoft AI, a Romanian company specializing in the development of AI solutions and leader of the segment in Romania.

Life insurer Aegon Romania, part of international financial group Aegon, ended 2022 with a RON165.73 million gross underwritten premium volume, more than 8% higher than in 2021, and a 4.92% market share.

Medimfarm, the 58-unit pharmacy chain present in several counties, but also in Bucharest, ended 2022 with turnover worth RON147 million (almost EUR30 million), 8% higher than in 2021.

Romania in 2022 exported EUR2.6 billion worth of furniture, up 17% from the previous year, reveal data provided by the association of furniture manufacturers (APMR).

Mariana Cotoi, general manager of state-owned Casa de Comer Agroalimentar Unirea, says the company she runs plans to buy a slaughterhouse and a processing plant and in the second half of the year to open a store selling Romanian agrifood products.

Fashion retailer H&M posted almost RON977 million sales in Romania in 2022, 15% higher than in 2021, the second year of the pandemic when there were still restrictions in force. Retail operated normally in 2022 but was affected by the war near the borders and the record inflation.