Petrom takes 500m euros from nine banks
Petrom, the largest company on the Romanian market, held byAustrian petroleum group OMV, has received a new loan worth 500million euros from a bank syndicate, intended to cover financialneeds, future investments and prospective repayments of existingdebts. In the wake of this new line of financing, which involvednine international banks and their Romanian subsidiaries, Petrom'sloans, the only local petroleum and gas producer, reached over 2billion euros over the last year. Despite having attracted this newloan, Petrom says it is not dropping plans to make a capitalincrease, which, according to market sources, will amount to onebillion euros. "In the first four years investments were coveredfrom the capital increase operated when the company was privatisedand from the company's cash flow, and in the last year we started afinancing programme with banks," says Mariana Gheorghe, Petrom'sCEO, specifying that the company has invested one billion euros peryear on average since its 2004 privatisation. The banks that lentthe money to Petrom are Erste, UniCredit, Raiffeisen, La Caixa, EFGEurobank, ING Bank, Marfin Egnatia Bank, Banca Romaneasca and BawagP.S.K.
CEZ sets up 40 "wind giants" in four months
The Czechs at the utility group CEZ say they will have 40 windturbines installed in Fantanele, one of the two Dobrogea-basedcommunes where the group is set to invest 1.1 billion euros tobuild the largest onshore wind farm in Europe. Whilst at the end ofAugust the Czechs only had two turbines installed, CEZ has managedto set up 40 wind turbines, which puts the rate at one turbineevery three days. "The first stage of the project (the one inFantanele, i.e.) will be completed and start operating in the firstfew months of 2010," say CEZ representatives. In all, the farm willinclude 240 turbines, 139 of which will be installed in Fantanele,with the remaining 101 to be installed in Cogealac by 2011. In lessthan two years' time, a wind farm with a capacity close to theinstalled capacity of a nuclear reactor of the Cernavoda plant willbe installed in Dobrogea, i.e. a 200 million-euro business peryear.
Cefin: Romania has become an attractive production hubagain
Stefano Albarosa, general manager and shareholder of commercialvehicle importer and logistics space developer Cefin says next yearthe building of logistics space and of industrial productionfacilities will be resumed at a level similar to that of 2004. In2004, foreign direct investment exceeded 5 billion euros, accordingto data of the Romanian Agency for Foreign Investment, this beingthe year when manufacturers in the car manufacturing industrystarted to consolidate their local businesses by integratingproduction into their operations and by expanding their portfolio.Carriers such as Edy Spedition, Dunca, and International Lazarstarted most projects for building logistics platforms, mainly inthe western part of Romania. "It will be the year of the new plantsand logistics facilities, because Romania has once again become avery attractive production hub, as it used to be in 2004. Romaniagot back three essential elements that make it competitive: wagecost, the RON depreciated by 35%, and the value of real estateproperties has been significantly reduced. This prompted foreigncompanies to invest here in 2004," Albarosa said.
OBI expands with 10m euros in Ploiesti andSibiu
German retailer OBI, the latest player to enter Romanian DIYretail, has announced it will open two stores next year in Ploiestiand Sibiu, which will bring its overall chain to 6 stores.Investments in the two stores can be put at 10 million euros, a sumthat does not include rent for the spaces, according to datasupplied by the company previously. "In Ploiesti, the OBI storewill be located next to a hypermarket opened by the Real chain afew weeks ago, while in Sibiu the DIY operator will open its firststore in a retail park of real estate developer CA Immo. OBI, apart of German group Tengelmann, entered the Romanian market in theautumn of last year with plans to open five new stores in 2009.This spring company representatives announced that three of thefive projects announced for this year would be put off until 2010due to the decline of the real estate market. "The results postedby OBI Romania in 2009 are higher than those initially forecast.This encourages us to continue our investment plans into nextyear," said Romano Quinzi, country manager of OBI Romania, withoutspecifying company's sales and profit level in its first year inbusiness.
Luxury brands keep shopping galleries in hotelsoccupied
Casinos, beauty parlours, as well as international brands suchas Louis Vuitton and Ermenegildo Zegna occupy almost entirely theretail space on the ground floor of the Marriott, Radisson Blu, andPullman hotels in Bucharest, amid lower rent than in malls and onCalea Victoriei, for instance, which is considered to beBucharest's main shopping street. The retailers are seeking toattract the 300-400 clients who check into one of the big five-starhotels every day, as well as businesspeople that go into the hotelson their way to the restaurants or to the conference rooms, whichare usually located on the mezzanine. "The rent varies from onehotel to another because of factors such as hotel positioning,hotel name, and lettable area of the gallery. For the shoppinggalleries in the major hotels, rent can amount to 50-60euros/square metre, while in less well-known hotels, it can drop toup to 20 euros/square metres," says Alexandru Preda, associatedirector within Colliers International's retail division.
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