Aneta Bogdan, managing partner of Brandient, the leading branding agency on the local market, says the company is in negotiations with an international strategic partner to sell a stake. However, she rules out giving up control of the agency.
"We are bound by a confidentiality and exclusivity clause. They want a majority stake, but we do not want to give them that, and now we are at a stage where we are talking about how much we want to sell. However, we have two investors that have been with us for three years that wish to leave, and, when they leave, we will also sell some of our shares" says Bogdan.
The two investors are Eric Florin Kish, Rompetrol's Vice-President of Marketing and Retail, and Tatiana Malacopol, who hold 5.97% and 9.8% of the shares respectively, according to Aneta Bogdan.
They joined the agency in 2005, three years after it was established. The other shareholders are Aneta Bogdan (29.41%), Paul Cristian (26.38%), Bogdan Mihail Romulus (23.44%) and Cristian Petre (4.99%), according to Trade Registry data.
In 2006, Brandient signed a partnership contract with Enterprise, the branding consulting company of WPP, the second largest communications group worldwide, however, Bogdan refused to comment on the partner's name due to the confidentiality clause. She did specify, though, that this was a "global partner that operates in Romania."
Negotiations started early in the year, but, at the time, Brandient also had offers from two investment funds, while later, the strategic partner asked for exclusivity.
"There are a lot of funds that can give you money, but we don't need money. We need a strong backbone. For example, I hope that when I go to Prague to negotiate for the biggest international legal firm, and get asked whether we can operate in 13 countries, I won't have to answer that we can only operate in Bucharest," explains Brandient's manager.
She believes the branding market will see an approximately 50% rise this year against 2007, when it amounted to around 2.5 million euros.
In 2007, the agency posted an around 775,000-euro turnover, twice as high as in 2006, and for this year Bogdan predicts a 50% rise, based on first-half figures. She also specifies that generally, around 60% of business is derived in the second half of the year. As for profit, the Brandient manager says the agency has a 40% gross profit margin.
Brandient had over 30 clients last year, which included Transavia and Qfort, but last year's most important client was CEC Bank, with bank representatives intending to invest around 50 million euros per year from 2008 to 2010 in its rebranding, more specifically in rearranging the 1,400 offices.
"I wish CEC were among the top ten Romanian brands, which means it would have to be worth two or three hundred million euros," she added.
Brandient
According to its managing partner, Brandient is in exclusive negotiations with an international strategic partner to sell a stake.
Giving up control of the company is not an option.
In 2007, the agency posted an around 775,000-euro turnover, twice as high as in 2006.
Brandient had over 30 clients last year, which included Transavia and Qfort, but last year's most important client was CEC Bank.
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