The first Romanian to have a fortune worth more than one billion euros is the former tennis player Ion Tiriac. The tennis star turned businessman has made well-chosen investments since 1990 in fields that are continuing to grow, such as banks, insurance, leasing, auto and real estate. This is shown in a survey in today''s issue of Business Magazin weekly.
Another contender for billionaire status is the Rompetrol chairman Dinu Patriciu. The list of potentials also includes the Micula brothers, the owners of the European Drinks Group, as well as the group of real estate investors surrounding Gabriel Popoviciu. Business Magazin also looked into the fortunes of Horia Ciorcila and Zoltan Teszari, the young entrepreneurs that own businesses worth hundreds of millions of euros.
Is Ion Tiriac a real billionaire? "I believe the first and only Romanian to have a fortune worth more than one billion euros is Ion Tiriac," said Dragos Rosca, the manager of investment fund Gemisa Investments. Rosca has a lot of expertise in management consulting, which he acquired while working for Roland Berger Strategy Consultants.
"He is one of the few Romanian businessmen whose investments are found in companies with a real value proven in time, such as financial service companies like Banca Tiriac, Asigurari Allianz-Tiriac, Tiriac Leasing, the automotive companies, the minority stake in Metro Romania and the valuable pieces of property in form of land and buildings in Bucharest," Rosca explained.
The most important element in the fortune of Romania''s first billionaire is Banca Ion Tiriac (Ion Tiriac Bank), which recently merged with HVB, creating a new entity: HVB-Tiriac. Tiriac''s shares in the new bank (49.9%) have a value of 300-400 million euros. Yet the businessman could get even more money for his shares if the bank performs well. "I will collect the money when I believe the time is right. This will happen in four or five years'' time, when the business has grown," Tiriac said. The other major business interests of the former tennis player are the insurance company Allianz-Tiriac, a group of companies in the automobile industry, a minority stake in Metro Romania, as well as real estate investments.
Tiriac is looking to the leasing and real estate market for the future. He believes Tiriac Leasing sales will reach at least 500 million euros in three to four years and his real estate investments will include several segments, such as residential and commercial.
"Oilman" Dinu Patriciu is not a billionaire in euros yet, though he could have been: since the better part of his fortune is in form of companies listed on the Bucharest Stock Exchange and the RASDAQ, a more favourable trend in stock prices would have turned him into a billionaire. This is especially true of Petromidia, the "jewel" of the Rompetrol Group, which is 80% owned by Patriciu. Patriciu himself values all his businesses (petroleum and real estate) at approximately 700 million dollars (560 million euros). Another reason Patriciu is not a billionaire is due to the investigations that have damaged his credibility and, implicitly, the market value of his companies.
The brothers Ioan and Viorel Micula could have had one billion euros together, but their group, European Drinks, has relied quite a lot on loans for development, reducing the market value of their business. European Drinks is still the largest Romanian foods group, though.
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