1bn euros - wealth of Romanian entrepreneurs in '100 Most Valuable Companies' ranking

The wealth of Romanian entrepreneurs accounts for less than 2% of the overall value of the top 100 companies on the Romanian market, according to a ZF analysis based on the "Most Valuable Companies in Romania" Yearbook put together by Ziarul Financiar, in partnership with investment firm Capital Partners.
Stakes held by Romanian business people in companies included in the ranking amount to one billion euros, with the overall value of the 100 companies being 55 billion euros.
2009 erased around 20% off the entrepreneurs' wealth, but the stakes held by Ion Tiriac, the Micula brothers, and Zoltan Teszari place them among the most powerful Romanian business people.
The wealthiest Romanian businessman remains Ion Tiriac who, although he lost 100 million euros at this year's valuation , holds stakes worth around half a billion euros in Metro Cash & Carry Romania, UniCredit and Allianz-Tiriac. He also holds businesses in the auto and real estate industry, which were not included in the ZF ranking, though.
The overall worth of the top 100 most valuable companies on the Romanian market is 55.7 billion euros, 14 billion euros less than last year.
The reduction in valuation multiples, sales and profits, marked this year's evaluations, with only ten companies being worth more than 10 billion euros.
"Valuation multiples declined the most in industries such as construction materials and the auto industry. On the auto market, we have importers and distributors mainly, with the value calculated as 0.2 to 0.3% of the sales. Last year multiples were above 0.5%. In the construction sector EBITDA multiples are used, with 4 being the average, but financial results count, as well. Here multiples were rather low last year, comparable to this year's," said Andreea Mladin, business analyst at Capital Partners.
The crisis removed the Arabesque group, controlled by businessman Cezar Rapotan, from the ranking. Whilst the firm was valued at 175 million euros in ZF's 2008 Yearbook, this year its worth was less than 117 million euros, therefore it did not quality for the ranking.
The most important new entry into the top 100 among the 15 new names is Interagro, a company controlled by Ioan Niculaie, who, at his first presence in the ranking, is close to the middle of the ranking, at number 58.