Romania Feed

Nearly three quarters of investors active on the Romanian land market have closed transactions in 2020 or expect to do so by the end of the year despite sluggish economic recovery and the ongoing pandemic, a survey by Colliers International showed Friday.

With 38% annual growth, Romania was the top importer of laptops in the EU in the first half of 2020 as imports of laptops hit an all-tie high in the EU in April, Eurostat data showed Friday.

The assets managed by private pension funds (Pillar II and Pillar III) reached RON72.58 billion (EUR14.8 billion) at the end of September, up 17.96% compared with September 2019, data from Romania's financial market regulator showed Friday.

Private lending in Romania grew 1.1% in nominal terms and 1.2% in real terms in September compared with August, to RON277.5 billion, central bank data showed Friday.

The Renault group will stop assembling the Logan MCV when the second generation of Logan and Sandero ends and promises to replace it with a revolutionary car.

Turkey’s Arcelik Group, which has two plants in Romania, a refrigerator facility in Gaesti and a washing machine facility in Ulmi, Dambovita County, is investing in the local operations to meet huge demand during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Czech energy group CEZ announced Friday it has reached an agreement to sell its Romanian assets to funds managed by Macquarie Infrastructure and Real Assets (MIRA).

Casa Berarilor Artizani, a new beer-to-go store concept offering over 100 types of craft beer, developed by several Romanian investors during the coronavirus pandemic, is extending countrywide and opening a franchise store in Romania’s western city of Timisoara, following an investment of EUR35,000.

Impact Developer & Contractor (IMP.RO), a real estate developer held by businessman Gheorghe Iaciu, has started the construction of the first three blocks of the Boreal Plus residential compound.

The European Investment Bank (EIB) said Thursday it was granting EUR190 million support to Romanian companies in manufacturing, commerce, agriculture and tourism, sectors that were hardest hit by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The lockdown caused by the COVID-19 pandemic seems to accelerate the changes already analyzed before by local authorities, such as transformation of city centers into more friendly areas for pedestrians and cyclists, according to Deloitte 2020 City Mobility Index. Cities that have reclaimed street space from cars to enable physical distancing for cycling and walking are looking to cement those changes in a post-coronavirus world, shows the study, which measures mobility performance in 21 cities around the world, including seven European cities - Amsterdam, Barcelona, Dublin, Lisbon, London, Manchester, Rome and Stockholm.

Polish private equity fund Innova Capital confirmed on Thursday it has agreed to buy PayPoint Romania and the acquisition will support further development of payment services on the local market.

Agroland, a company developed by entrepreneur Horia Cardos, which owns a chain of supermarkets catering to farmers, has taken over egg and chicken producer Avicola Mihailesti consisting of six farms on 30 hectares in southern Romania.

Jacobs Douwe Egberts Ro, the local subsidiary of the group by the same name, posted 396.6 million lei (EUR83.7 milion) revenue in 2019, an increase of about 5% on the previous year, ZF has calculated from Finance Ministry data.

Construction company Asfalt Dobrogea based in Constanta has invested 21 million lei in 2020, with a third of the money going towards boosting asphalt production capacity. The company posted RON113 million revenue last year, almost four times more than in 2018, as well as almost RON18 million profit.

Construction materials manufacturer Celco (Constanta) has invested 5 milion lei in production of autoclaved cellular concrete (ACC) to improve the efficiency of use of this material.

Romania’s real estate investment market reached nearly EUR820 million in January-September 2020, higher by 45% than in the year-earlier period and by 27% versus 2019, being the best three quarters of the past decade, of which office assets made up over 90%, per data from real estate consulting firm Colliers International.

The appraisal team of real estate consulting firm Cushman & Wakefield Echinox expects to appraise properties worth a total EUR4.2 to EUR4.5 billion by the end of 2020, slightly higher than in 2019.

Carmaker Dacia has announced the launch of the Duster Pick-up version, developed in collaboration with local company Romturingia, whose core activity is the production of bodywork for vehicles.

OLX Group, present in Romania with the Olx, Storia and Autovit.ro brands, plans to acquire KIWI Finance, the largest loan brokerage company on the Romanian market, which currently is part of the portfolio of Swedish private equity firm Oresa.