The Adamescu family has bought the Rex hotel in Mamaia from Viorel Paunescu and several Swiss shareholders, under a 10 million-euro transaction, which also included the debts.
Rex, located 20 metres away from the beach, is the only five-star hotel on the Romanian seaside. Its guests generally include football players, businesspeople, and media personalities. The hotel has 102 rooms (with 90 doubles and 12 suites).
The acquisition was conducted through Tycoon Imobiliar SRL, a company controlled by the wife of Dan Adamescu, Carmen Adamescu. The company bought 100% in Rex Mamaia SA.
Dan Adamescu controls Unirea Shopping Center and insurance company Astra, through Nova Trade. Moreover, he owns 50% in the publishing company behind Romania Libera daily and several office buildings, among which Millenium Business Center, the headquarters of the Bucharest Stock Exchange. Before takeover, the shareholders of Rex Mamaia included Viorel Paunescu (55%), Thomas Moser (21%) and Serra Betina Susana (105), both from Switzerland, Anvio International Company (10%), G.C.&P. General Consulting and Procurement SA (2%), Eastern European Consultant (2%) and Compania Hoteliera Intercontinental - Hotel Company Intercontinental (0.04%).
Viorel Paunescu, chairman of Compania Hoteliera Intercontinental Romania (the company managing the Bucharest-based Intercontinental hotel) could not be contacted for comment.
"This hotel is representative for the Romanian seaside and for Romania. I was the one that insisted on buying it," said Carmen Adamescu.
The new owner says it will invest one million euros into the hotel, for the beginning, with the funds to reach 5 million euros in two years, so that Rex can live up to "genuine" 5-star standards. The investment can be recovered in 5-7 years.
In the next six months, the hotel will come to include a spa, a casino, and three restaurants - fusion, Asian and Mediterranean.
The hotel last year posted about 1.7 million euros in turnover and profit of slightly more than 100,000 euros, Carmen Adamescu says. According to the Ministry of Finances, Rex Mamaia SA logged 1m-euro turnover in 2004 and 25,000-euro profit. In 2003, turnover stood at 837,000 euros, and the hotel posted losses worth 40,000 euros.
Rex was built by the Caile Ferate Romane (Romanian Railways) in 1937, and, after 1990, it was the property of state-owned company Mamaia SA, which teamed up with the companies owned by the Paunescu brothers in 1997, into Rex Mamaia SA. The hotel was once named in a retrocession request filed by the Romanian Railways Company, but Carmen Adamescu says the situation has been clarified.
Carmen Adamescu is the president of Unirea Shopping Center and deals with the group's real estate operations.
This is the first tourism investment made by the Adamescu family. "It's a great pity that the Romanian seaside fails to attract foreign tourists. We also want to bring back the Romanians to the Black Sea."
The new owner is considering further investments in hotels, but not on the seaside - in the mountains and in Bucharest. "I have been thinking about a chain of hotels," Carmen Adamescu said.
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