FOCUS Building works at the military site that will host part of the US missile defense project are due to start in 2013, and local firms have been exploring the related commercial opportunities open to them »page 9
ROMANIA’S PREMIERE BUSINESS WEEKLY
June 18 - 24, 2012 / VOLUME 16, NUMBER 22
DUAL STOCK MARKET LISTINGS
COULD LONDON OR VIENNA HOST A POTENTIAL STOCK MARKET LISTING OF THE STAKES IN FOUR STATE-OWNED FIRMS? EXPERTS OUTLINED TO BR THE PROS AND CONS OF SUCH A MOVE »PAGE 8
EMERGING IT HUBS Local IT centers are finding fertile ground outside Bucharest. Investors in these units tell Business Review what led them to set up outside the capital and the business advantages they have found around Romania »pages 10-13
NEWS
ELECTIONS
FILM
Data deterrent
Count conclusions
Comic relief
Forthcoming changes to EU regulations on data protection could have wider global ramifications, say legal experts » page 5
The USL posted big gains in the local elections, but it was independent Nicusor Dan who provided the main talking point » page 6
Disney blockbuster The Avengers features a phalanx of Marvel Comics superheroes fighting to save the planet from aliens » page 13
www.business-review.ro Business Review | June 18 - 24, 2012
NEWS 3
NEWS in brief IT& TELECOM Network One Distribution teams up with ASUS Network One Distribution (NOD) has signed a strategic partnership with ASUS, aiming for sales of EUR 10 million by yearend. The partnership will cover “the entire range of ASUS products, from laptops and tablets to networking, screens, PC components and multimedia devices. Our target is that by the end of this year we will post together a turnover of over EUR 10 million,” said Ciprian Donciu, country manager of ASUS Romania. The laptop market posted a value of EUR 250 million last year, and it is estimated to grow by a further 10 percent in 2012. ASUS has a share of 16 percent on the laptop market. NOD is aiming to become a regional player on the Central and Eastern European market, by expanding its operations in Bulgaria, Serbia, Ukraine and Hungary by 2014.
Romanians spent six billion minutes talking on landlines last year The 49 landline telephony providers in Romania saw a rise in the number of fixed telephony lines and the number of subscribers in the second half of last year. However, the volume of traffic and the average duration of a call declined compared to H1, 2011, according to a report published by the national telecom authority, ANCOM. The volume of traffic on landlines diminished by 14 percent to 6 billion minutes. The penetration rate of landline telephony among the population stood at 24.6 percent while the penetration per household was 54.1 percent.
Telecom market puts brake on decline Revenues posted by telecom operators on the local electronic communications market contracted by 3 percent last year, compared to 2010, to approximately EUR 3.5 billion (RON 14.8 billion), according to data published by the national telecom authority, ANCOM. The decline is smaller than in 2010, when revenues sank by 7 percent on 2009. Also, the second half of 2011 showed signs of improvement, with the indicator 5.5 percent up on the first half of 2011. The survey drew on reports by suppliers of telecom services based on their activity between July 1 and December 31.
FINANCE World Bank approves EUR 1 billion loan for Romania The World Bank’s board of executive directors approved last week a EUR 1 billion loan to Romania for development policy with a deferred drawdown option (DPL DDO). The Romanian authorities said the loan would serve as a buffer against external financial shocks, and would be used to consolidate fiscal reserves, at the same time covering the gross financing needs of the country. In 2010, the IMF
pledged EUR 13 billion, while the European Commission added EUR 5 billion. The World Bank and the EBRD each contributed EUR 1 billion. The country has used EUR 12.5 billion from IMF funds and EUR 3.7 billion from the EU.
MACRO
BUSINESS AGENDA
when the market was flat, gave way to renewed decline in the first three months of this year.
STATISTICS Local insolvencies down by 35 percent to 4,400 in Q1
Annual inflation slightly fell to a new historic low of 1.79 percent in May against 1.8 percent in the previous month, said the National Statistics Institute (INS). Prices increased by 0.2 percent in May due to gains in food and non-food products of 0.02 and 0.21 percent, respectively. At the same time, service tariffs rose 0.53 percent. The average price increase in the last 12 months (June 2011 – May 2012) against the previous 12 months stood at 3.5 percent, based on the price consumer index (CPI). Greek Eurobank EFG, which owns Bancpost in Romania, forecasts in its June research paper on Romania that the inflation rate will reach 3.2 percent by yearend, while the annual average will be 2.8 percent.
Around 4,400 Romanian companies filed for insolvency in the first quarter of this year, which is a 34.6 percent decrease on the same period of 2011, with retail and construction bearing the brunt, reveals a report by Coface Romania, the credit insurer, based on data from the National Trade Registry Office (ONRC). The Coface report says 4,414 companies were in different stages of insolvency, which is a lower total year-on-year due to a positive basis effect. Insolvencies reduced by half in the vehicle and equipment industry, steel industry, healthcare and social assistance sector. Retail and wholesale trade accounted for 54.9 percent of insolvencies in Q1, slightly down from Q1 2011, followed by the construction sector. However, the report says insolvencies in the construction industry fell by 40 percent in Q1 to 645 cases.
RETAIL & FMCG
SMEs bring low added value to the economy, says survey
Inflation rate drops to 1.79 percent in May
H&M opens in Suceava Swedish fashion retailer H&M has expanded its national network to 16 stores after opening an outlet at the Iulius Mall shopping center in Suceava last week. Out of the total, five units were inaugurated this spring and the retailer plans to continue expanding, said Carlos Duarte, country manager at H&M Romania. The Swedish retailer reported sales of EUR 37.3 million (VAT included) between March and November last year from its local stores. H&M is the second largest fashion retailer in the world with about 2,500 shops. At present it runs 16 outlets in Romania, six of which are in Bucharest. The other locations are in Brasov, Cluj, Timisoara, Oradea, Constanta, Arad, Craiova, Braila, Iasi and Suceava.
Beer market drops 5 percent in Q1 on decreasing purchasing power After the local beer market stabilized in 2011, local beer consumption went down by 5 percent in Q1 2012 compared to the same period of the previous year, according to the Brewers of Romania Association. Compared to the results of the first quarter of 2008, a reference year in terms of beer consumption, the decrease over the first three months of 2012 was “dramatic”, 23 percent down from the peak, according to the same source. The latest data on the market evolution confirm a negative trend which has been affecting the Romanian brewing industry since 2008, generating unfavorable overall results. The stabilization signs that were detected during 2011,
Small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) make up 99 percent of the active companies in Romania, while their employees represent 66 percent of the total number of workers, in line with the European average, according to new research. However, Romanian SMEs come up short when it comes to their ability to bring added value to the economy, found the survey, which was carried out by Fundatia Post-Privatizare. The Current Situation of Small and Medium Sized Enterprises in Romania, 2012 Edition, reveals that most SMEs are active in the services area, representing 39.5 percent of total economic activities, compared to 44.2 percent at the level of the whole of Europe.
Startups are on the rise Registrations of new companies at the National Trade Registry Office (ONRC) have soared by 9 percent on the previous year, according to officials. Most startups were in trade (28.4 percent), agriculture (15.6 percent) and other services (23.9 percent). SMEs’ contribution to the total turnover of the Romanian industry is 40 percent, making them the main suppliers in the food, wood processing, rubber and plastic products, paper and print and metallic constructions industries. SMEs in agriculture are particularly buoyant, seeing their turnovers substantially increase from one year to the next, representing 72.5 percent of the total turnover in agriculture. The statistical analysis is based on the situation of SMEs in non-financial sectors such as agriculture, industry, energy, construction, trade and services.
June 17 - 21 The Romanian National Committee of the World Energy Council (CNRCME) organizes the Central and Eastern Europe Energy Forum (FOREN) at the Neptun-Olimp resort, Constanta County. By invitation only. June 19 10:30 AXA Life Insurance organizes a press conference to present its financial results and to launch a new product at Le Theatre restaurant. By invitation only. 15:00 Media XPRIMM and Oracle Romania organize an event on the management of customer experience in the insurance business at Intercontinental Hotel. By invitation only. June 20 ∫EVENT 09:00 Business Review organizes the second edition of the International Investment Forum – Focus on Tourism & Hospitality at Howard Johnson Grand Plaza Hotel. Find out more at http://business-review.ro/br-events/ 16:00 Linde Gaz Romania organizes an event to mark the launch of an air separation unit at steel mill ArcelorMittal Galati. By invitation only. June 21 18:30-20:30 Sheffield EMBA organizes BEING Better in Business at the Hilton Hotel. Free entrance; please confirm your place at avasile@city.academic.gr. Find out more at www.citysheffield.ro. June 27 ∫EVENT 18:00 Business Review organizes the fourth edition of the American Investors Forum at Ramada Plaza Bucharest. Find out more at http://business-review.ro/br-events/ June 28 South Eastern Europe’s Private Equity Association (SEEPEA) organizes the fifth annual conference on finding efficient solutions to develop businesses in the current economic climate at Intercontinental Hotel. By invitation only. July 10 -11 Euroconvention Global organizes the Romania & Bulgaria Healthcare Summit 2012 at Intercontinental Hotel in Bucharest. Find out more at www.euroconvention.com.
www.business-review.ro Business Review | June 18 - 24, 2012
4 NEWS TOURISM
Romania’s tourism sector should take advantage of Greek crisis, says FPTS
L
Photo: Mihai Constantineanu
ocal leisure and hospitality industry revenues have declined by 16 percent over the past four years, and reached approximately EUR 1.5 billion in 2011, according to a recent PwC Romania study. The drop was caused mainly by the shrinking number of foreign visitors, who reduced their spending in Romania from over EUR 750 million in 2008 to less than EUR 600 million in 2011. Domestic tourists too cut their outgoings by 11 percent, from EUR 1.01 billion to EUR 900 million. The study also revealed that the Romanian leisure and hospitality industry accounted for 1.4 percent of GDP with a total contribution of almost EUR 6 billion to Romania’s GDP. Even so, Romanian tourism makes a low contribution to GDP compared with other countries in the region – in Bulgaria tourism accounts for 3.6 percent of GDP and in Hungary 4 percent, according to PwC. Some of the losses reported by this sector over recent years could be recovered and Romania could attract a significant additional number of foreign tourists this summer as the crisis in Greece and fear of a euro zone exit have made the Balkan country a less popular tourist destination, according to the Federation of Tourism and Services Employers’ Associations (FPTS). Another factor that should make foreign tourists consider a holiday in Romania is the rise in vacation prices in Turkey, a popular destination in the region, say FPTS representatives, adding that Romania and Bulgaria are the only two countries in the region that could benefit from this situation. Even though Bulgarian seaside resorts are more popular at a European level than their local counterparts, Romania can still take advantage of the problems in Greece if certain issues are addressed, recommends FPTS. The all-inclusive system should be expanded and brought up to the standards expected by foreign tourists. The authorities and private operators should also consider investments in local spa resorts, many of which are in a deplorable state, as spa tourism is a popular holiday choice abroad. Tax incentives for the hospitality industry
Off the beaten track: Romanian holidays are also necessary in order to make this sector competitive, argues the FPTS. The PwC report stresses that while Romania’s tourism sector has real potential for growth, inadequate transport and hospitality infrastructure as well as a lack of skilled human resources in this field hinder its development. “Tourism is a highly competitive economic sector and Romania must clean up its act in order to attract a larger number of foreign tourists. This is not going to be an easy task, as the neighboring countries are also investing heavily in developing their leisure and hospitality industry. Romania could use a different marketing strategy, by promoting itself as a country still unaffected by the side effects of mass tourism, positioning as an adventure destination for travelers looking to venture off the beaten track,” argued Andrei Cretu, manager, advisory, PwC Romania and one of the authors of the study. ∫ More on Romanian tourism and hospitality at the International Investment Forum organized by BR this week. For more details, please go to www.business-review.ro/brevents/ Simona Bazavan
HOSPITALITY
New five-star hotel opens in Bucharest
I
on Antonescu, the owner of travel agent Marshal Turism, has invested some EUR 5 million in a five-star hotel in Bucharest. The money comes from the firm’s own funds as well as credit. The five-star Marshal Garden is located on Dorobanti Road and has a capacity of 63 rooms. It also contains two conference rooms and an Italian restaurant. The conference rooms are booked for wedding receptions for the entire year, said Ana Maria Moanta, the company’s marketing director. A spa and fitness center will also be added in the future and an open-air ter-
race will be built on the hotel’s roof, hence the name, added Moanta. A double room costs EUR 150 per night while the price for an apartment is EUR 180. Ion Antonescu founded Marshal Turism in 1992. The company owns and manages the Marshal Garden hotel but is also considering taking up a franchise in the future. Marshal Turism also manages a threestar hotel in downtown Bucharest. In 2010 it reported a turnover of about EUR 12.7 million and EUR 60,000 profit. ∫ Simona Bazavan
www.business-review.ro Business Review | June 18 - 24, 2012
NEWS 5
INTERNET
Personal data violation could attract global punishment under law change
C
hanges to European regulations on the protection of personal data will have a profound impact on the way companies must tackle this issue in the future, according to DLA Piper specialists. New European legislation in this area will be officially published at the beginning of 2013. After a two-year transition period, the rules are expected to come into force at the beginning of 2015. Sanctions introduced for violations in this domain could be of between 0.5 and 2 percent of the global turnover of the respective operator, depending on the severity of the crime. This means that if an entity in Romania breaks the law, it could lead to a penalty being applied to the global turnover of the group it belongs to. The main violations can be found in electronic commerce and social media.
INVESTMENT
Greek firms find local business opportunities
O
ver 350 participants attended last week’s economic forum entitled Greece – Romania: at the Crossroads of Regional Synergies, which was part of the Go International initiative being implemented by the financial-banking group Eurobank EFG in cooperation with the three main export associations of Greece and the Hellenic Ministry of Foreign Affairs. More than 250 companies from Central and South-Eastern Europe met in Bucharest for two days at the Go International event. Over 1,500 bilateral meetings were held between participants from Greece, Hungary, Moldova, Poland, Romania, Russia and Turkey. “Entering a long period of economic stagnation at a European level is starting to become an accepted fact. What we cannot accept, though, is to allow the chains of value creation at the economy’s level to be destroyed. This is why support for small and medium companies is a must, now more than ever,” said Florin Pogonaru, chairman of the Association of Romanian Businesspeople (AOAR). The first edition of Go International was organized in February 2011 in Cyprus, moving to Serbia in October of the same year. The Romanian program was supported by the Romanian Chamber of Commerce & Industry, the Hellenic-Romanian Chamber of Commerce & Industry and Bancpost. Greek exports to Romania amounted to EUR 600 million last year, while Romanian exports stood close to EUR 500 million, according to the Greek Ministry of Foreign Affairs. There were 5,200 Greek companies in Romania with a combined investment value of EUR 3 billion in the local economy. Moreover, 16 percent of all local banking assets are owned by subsidiaries of Greek lenders. Eurobank EFG owns Bancpost in Romania. ∫ Ovidiu Posirca
Key change: new legislation is coming
The new European data protection legislation will replace the existing Directive 95/46/EC and will apply directly as such in all member states, without being adapted to the national legislation of each one. “Given the unprecedented development of the internet and the more frequent violations of late, it was necessary to sharpen the legislation and penalties. The current European legislation in this domain dates from 1995, when less than 1 percent of Europeans used the internet. Today, in 13 out of 27 EU member states, the internet penetration rate exceeds 70 percent. An example is the leaking of data of approximately 75 million users that multimedia giant Sony was confronted with in April last year, following a cybernetic attack on the PlayStation network,” said Cosmina Simion,
head of intellectual property media and technology at DLA Piper Romania. The new European regulation introduces special stipulations for minors. Processing the personal data of children under 13 will only be possible with the agreement of the parents. All the processing operations fall under the supervision of one single authority, based in the state where the operator is headquartered. This makes it possible for an authority from another country to impose sanctions on an entity operating in Romania, which is affiliated to the mother company based in the respective country. Also, entities in the private sector with more than 250 employees will be compelled to appoint a data privacy officer who will be in charge of processing personal data. ∫ Otilia Haraga
www.business-review.ro Business Review | June 18 - 24, 2012
6 ELECTIONS
Austerity measures bring about new political order The ruling Social Liberal Union (USL) won important mayoral and county positions countrywide in last week’s local elections, building support ahead of the November parliamentary ballot. Romanians voted emphatically in favor of the new governing coalition in protest over the austerity measures rolled out by the former Democratic Liberal Party (PDL) government. ∫ SIMONA BAZAVAN More parking space, better public services, investments in infrastructure, including an urban highway and the construction of a canal to connect Bucharest with the Danube, building an Olympic village, and investments in hospitals, schools and nurseries – these are just some of the targets which independent candidate Sorin Oprescu has set for his second term at the helm of the Bucharest City Hall. USL-backed Oprescu last week won his second mandate as mayor of Bucharest with 54.8 percent of the vote. And this time around he also has the support of the city general council where the
center-left USL won the majority of the seats. PDL representative Silviu Prigoana came in second in the race for the capital with 17.1 percent of the ballot, according to the official count, announced last Wednesday by the electoral bureau. “In my opinion we had an honorable result and so did the PDL, considering the general context of the elections, following the austerity measures which I believe were good even if we had to pay for them politically,” said Prigoana. Overall, the Bucharest City Hall budget approved for this year amounts to some RON 4.64 billion (approximately EUR 1.07 billion).
Four more years: Sorin Oprescu
Talking point: Nicusor Dan
www.business-review.ro Business Review | June 18 - 24, 2012
Election results for Bucharest City Hall Candidate Party Sorin Oprescu Independent Silviu Prigoana PDL Horia Mocanu PPDD Nicusor Dan Independent
Result* 54.79 17.12 9.3 8.5
*share of the total ballot Source: Central Electoral Bureau
The general mayor position was not the PDL’s only defeat in Bucharest. The party led by former PM Emil Boc was also the big loser in the race for Bucharest’s six districts, with the only non-USL mayor in Bucharest remaining District 2’s Neculai Ontanu (National Union for Romania’s Progress). The poor results in Bucharest prompted Elena Udrea, head of the Bucharest PDL organization and former minister of tourism and regional development, to resign from her position. “This is a test day for those who governed Romania at times of crisis,” President Traian Basescu, a PDL supporter, told reporters on the day of the elections. The final results however, were disappointing for the PDL, who came in a distant second behind the USL. Only two PDL candidates were elected as presidents of county councils, down from fourteen four years ago. The PSD and PNL, on the other hand, saw 35 candidates named county council presidents, a position considered very important in the parliamentary elections. The majority of mayoral seats were grabbed by USL representatives, who won 41 percent of the mayoral races, followed by the PDL with 15.6 percent, while the PSD got 12 percent (the party ran separately in several cities). The PDL’s disappointing results, which took the party below the 20 percent threshold, did not pass without casualties. The party’s leaders handed in their resignations last Thursday, including former PM Boc. “We have taken political responsibility for the results. I will not run for another term as head of the party,” said Boc. There was the odd bright spot. Despite the overall defeat, the PDL managed to retain strongholds like Cluj-Napoca, where Boc narrowly beat the USL candidate, Brasov and PiatraNeamt. One of the USL’s unexpected wins, on the other hand, came from Social Democratic candidate Lia Olguta Vasilescu against Antonie Solomon in the southern Romanian city of Craiova, making her the first female mayor of a major Romanian city. The local elections proved the legitimacy of the USL government, argued PM Victor Ponta, head of the political alliance. He added that the result had surpassed the expectations of both the Social Democratic Party (PSD) and the National Liberal Party (PNL) and were the best in the history of the two parties. The results are good news for the USL also in light of the November parliamentary vote. Nothing is guaranteed, however, with analysts predicting it will all boil down to whether Ponta’s gov-
ELECTIONS 7 ernment sticks to the promises it has made and gets the economy going again and the USL’s politicians don’t repeat the mistakes of their predecessors. Ponta previously promised to restore the public sector wages reduced by the former government and cut some taxes in order to stimulate growth, while sticking to an International Monetary Fundled aid deal.
The curious case of Nicusor Dan Independent Nicusor Dan, who ran both for the Bucharest city hall and a seat on the general city council, was the main talking point of the elections. A mathematician and president of the Save Bucharest association, he won strong support from civil society and Bucharest’s artistic community with a prominent campaign in social media. He was described by his supporters as a long-awaited alternative and a breath of fresh air amid disappointing politicians. Dan, received 8.5 percent of the votes for the city hall, putting him fourth after Oprescu, Prigoana and the representative of the populist PP-DD party led by Dan Diaconescu. For the city council position – the more realistic goal of his campaign – he received 4.7 percent of the votes, below the 5 percent threshold for an independent. Party members from the USL, PDL and PP-DD, however, managed to make it onto the council with about three times fewer votes than Dan, highlighting the discriminatory and discouraging conditions facing independent candidates. Under the current law, the USL gained 35 seats on the city council with a total of 307,000 votes, the PDL won 12 seats with 91,000 votes and PP-DD got the remaining seven with a total of 58,000 votes. Dan received more than 40,000 votes but did not make it onto the council. Following the result, he filed an appeal at the Constitutional Court and is confident the matter will be resolved in his favor.
The elections in the international press Romanians punished the former ruling PDL for the austerity measures it had implemented, wrote the international press. “Romanian voters went to the polls on Sunday in the first electoral test of the ruling leftists since they came to power on a wave of discontent over austerity measures in the European Union’s second-poorest economy,” said Reuters. Following the slashed public salaries and raised sales tax in 2010, “the party was so badly damaged it has struggled to hold on to second place ahead of the populist Dan Diaconescu, whose new party wants steep tax cuts”, added the same source. AFP reported, “Romania’s ruling center-left coalition USL claimed victory in Sunday’s local elections, just a month after it wrested power from the previous center-right government through a noconfidence motion.” Meanwhile German press agency DPA reported that the election results were expected to bolster Ponta and the USL ahead of the parliamentary elections in November.
simona.bazavan @business-review.ro
www.business-review.ro Business Review | June 18 - 24, 2012
8 MONEY
Energy companies face dual listing dilemma Romania is planning to sell minority stakes in four state-owned energy companies on the Bucharest Stock Exchange (BSE) this year, but is also considering London or Vienna as potential destinations for a secondary listing, in a move to increase the investor base and raise awareness of the Romanian story. However, some fear this will only drain liquidity from the domestic market. ∫ OVIDIU POSIRCA
Photo: Laurentiu Obae
Transelectrica, the grid operator, was the road opener for the listing seasons agreed with the IMF, gaining EUR 37.6 million from an oversubscribed secondary public offering. Transgaz, the gas transmission operators, will carry out an SPO estimated to raise around EUR 100 million on the BSE. However, the government is considering dual listings in Romgaz, the natural gas producer, Hidroelectrica, the hydro-power producer, and Nuclearelectrica, the nuclear power producer, in September, October and December. The government will sell minority stakes of 10 and 15 percent in these companies and should cash in around EUR 875 million, according to estimates by the Property Fund (FP).
Dual listings too soon?
London calling? Market players are split on the value of a dual listing
Lucian Isar, delegate minister for the business environment, told Reuters last month he was pushing for dual listings as this would be good for the state and the results of the IPO. Isar said the government would stick to the privatization plan and was also pondering a dual listing in London or Vienna. This March, the BSE signed an agreement with the London Stock Exchange (LSE), in order to promote Romanian companies to London-based investors. The dual listing process of a Romanian company on another EU stock exchange is quite straightforward, according to Madalina Rachieru, counsel at law firm Clifford Chance Badea. "The CNVM (securities commission) approves the prospectus in Romania and then ‘passports’ the prospectus to its peer in the other EU country. For example, in my experience, passporting the prospectus into Austria or Poland takes one or two days, followed by a few more days for the listing application to be approved by the relevant stock exchange," explained Rachieru. She added that the Romanian Central Depositary has to establish direct or indirect interconnections with its peers in other states, in order to ensure the fungibility of shares. The dual listing topic was discussed last week during a seminar organized by the Bucharest Stock Exchange and law firm Musat & Asociatii, attended by investment bank representatives and local capital market specialists. The Romanian capital market has the possibility to absorb the largest offers, including Romgaz and Hidroelectrica, according to Bogdan Chetreanu, commissioner at the National Securities Commission (CNVM). "Personally I don't see the feasibility and the purpose of a dual listing for these companies. I assume this is desired as there is not thought to be enough money on the Romanian capital markets,” said Chetreanu. The commissioner pointed to
the cases of Ukraine and Azerbaijan, where the domestic markets were deprived of liquidity which moved to Warsaw or London, adding that this is more of a political issue in Romania than a market one. Implementing the global accounts system on the BSE, further improving the access of investors to Romanian-listed companies, would also prevent the drain of liquidity, at the same time making external financing available to domestic companies, suggested Miruna Suciu, partner at law firm Musat & Asociatii. Adrian Lupsan, deputy director at Intercapital brokerage and BSE vice-president, said Romania would not get a better price by dual listing the power generators, although he is a fan of this transaction type. “Maybe today we need to sell the minority stakes on the domestic market and develop the capital, build a positive history, and then in two or three years we could list another 10 to 15 percent in London or Vienna,” said Lupsan. Choosing the BSE as the sole listing destination is also supported by Nicolae Moroianu, executive director at BT Securities. “As long as we only list companies and sell small stakes and keep control of these companies it is better to list them in Bucharest,” he said. BT Securities is part of the investment consortium involved in the Transgaz SPO. “The Romgaz listing is worth several hundred million Euros. We have to carefully analyze an eventual double listing. This is not necessarily the option I favor, but I don’t rule it out,” said Dan Weiler, executive director of corporate finance and investment banking at BCR. Austrian Erste Bank and BCR are part of the Romgaz listing consortium. Tom Attenborough, managing director at CSEE Banking Citibank London, said that Greece, Hungary and the Czech Republic
had chosen to add a London listing to their privatization program, which brought more familiarity in terms of currency and regulation for investors. On the long term, the domestic stock exchanges will see a natural flow-back of liquidity. Citi is part of the Hidroelectrica IPO consortium.
Linking options Vienna, Warsaw and London are the dual listing candidates, but the Central Depositary in Romania is currently linked only to the Austrian one. This is also giving headaches to the Property Fund manager, who wants a secondary listing of the EUR 3.5 billion closed-end fund in Poland by year end, although no link between the two markets has been set up yet. However, the FP could carry out the secondary listing through a custodian bank, if the depositary link remains only on paper. “Warsaw is an attractive option; London is always going to be a strong competitor. They've been supporting a lot of emerging market IPOs over the years and forged an alliance with the BSE. Both of them offer the best alternatives for issuers,” Attenborough told BR. He added that Vienna offers fewer advantages apart from the existing depositaries link. In May the BSE had a market capitalization of EUR 16.8 billion and a daily average turnover of EUR 9.76 million, with 81 listed companies. Meanwhile, the Warsaw Stock Exchange had a market capitalization of EUR 148 billion, with total turnover value of around EUR 20 billion, from 435 listed companies.
Listing profiles The government will sell a 15 percent stake in Transgaz through an SPO this summer, but the rating agency S&P put the long-term foreign and local currency ratings at BB+ with negative outlook. The company may
be downgraded in the near term due to gas volumes lost in the last five years on the existing tariff-setting mechanism. In addition, the government set a 90 percent distribution level for all state-owned enterprises to support the national budget. The rating agency said Transgaz had to cut capital expenditure on the medium term to offset the higher dividends. However, this stifles investments in the Romanian gas transmission network, which needs upgrading. Transgaz reported a net profit of around EUR 40 million in the first quarter of this year. Romgaz will list a 15 percent stake on the Bucharest Stock Exchange and should cash in around EUR 277 million, according to FP estimates. The company is currently undergoing an audit of its gas deposits and is due to carry out the IPO by September. The gas producer reported a net profit of around EUR 180 million in 2011. Nuclearelectrica will be listed on the BSE through a 10 percent stake and is poised to raise around EUR 118 million by FP estimates which will be used to increase the share capital. The nuclear power producer has just restarted the intermediary consortium selection process and is expected to complete the deal by December. The company estimates a EUR 20.5 million profit for 2012. Hidroelectrica, which produces one third of Romania’s electricity, should get EUR 381 from listing a 10 percent stake, which will be used to increase share capital. The company hired a new general director earlier this month, and is among the SOEs awaiting the appointment of private management. However, Hidroelectrica is also grappling with the energy “smart guys”. These are companies that secured long-term electricity supply contracts with Hidroelectrica at advantageous fixed prices. The Competition Council is currently investigating the volume and duration of contracts closed with these companies, while the European Commission is looking at the contract pricing. The private management and the preferential power supply contracts may not impact Hidroelectrica’s listing if they are dealt with in the right way, according to Attenborough. “Those are issues that are clear to everyone and as long as they are disclosed in the right way, I don’t think in themselves they create an obstacle to completing a successful transaction,” he told BR. Hidroelectrica’s net profit fell to EUR 1.5 million last year due to drought conditions in 2011. Rating agency Moody’s changed the outlook on the firm to negative but kept the rating at Ba1. The decision was triggered by the company’s growing operating costs and limited ability to renegotiate bilateral supply contracts.
ovidiu.posirca @business-review.ro
www.business-review.ro Business Review | June 18 - 24, 2012
FOCUS 9
Work on local missile defense shield to start in 2013 Building works at the military site in Deveselu, Olt County, that will host elements of the US missile defense project will start in the spring of 2013 and will take 24 months, after the tendering of contractors is completed, said US representatives last week during an industry day where Romania companies could find out about the project’s business opportunities. Shield attracts companies
US representatives expect two contracts to be approved, one for developing the facilities of the Missile Defense Agency (MDA), and one for the US Navy component that is included in the Deveselu site, some 230 km from Bucharest. More than half of the MDA facilities require a US prime contractor that has security clearance. These include the launch area of missile interceptors, a back-up power plant and a security control building. Other facilities include a non-mission power plant, the foundation construction, a fire station and the site infrastructure and utilities, which do not require a US prime contractor. The contract is worth USD 100 million-250 million. The Navy facilities includes an access control center, housing and dining facilities, a medical facility and site utilities and infrastructure for 250 people. Due to its limited footprint on the MDA facility, this does not need a US prime contractor. The value is USD 25 million-100 million. “This project reaffirms Romania’s commitments to NATO and reflects the very
The US embassy said that around 175 companies from nine countries including Italy and Turkey attended the industry day. These companies are active in various sectors including industrial construction, logistics and IT&C. Bogdan Aurescu, state secretary within the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said US forces should contract Romanian suppliers of goods and services if possible. “The US agreement regarding the placement of the anti-missile shield in Romania, signed last year on September 13 in Washington, creates the premises for Romanian companies to participate in making the Deveselu base operational,” said Aurescu. He added that Romanian companies have gained significant experience in NATO projects in the last eight years, since the country joined NATO. “This is a normal decision given that they can't bring all the workforce to Romania and this is a good opportunity for Romanian firms to develop their technical capabilities, and to export capacities to other places where the US army and US government have projects. This is a large-
Photo: Laurentiu Obae
∫ OVIDIU POSIRCA
Bogdan Aurescu, state secretary within the Ministry of Foreign Affairs strong relations between our two countries,” said Ken Wetzel, press officer at the US Embassy.
scale project that will help us gain experience and profit,” said Adi Lupascu, general manager at B3Globalcon Romania. The company has already won a series of contracts with the US government at the US Army base in Kogalniceanu, Constanta, since 2007. President Traian Basescu said last month the missile shield assets in Romania were currently being developed under a bilateral agreement between the US and Romania and would become operational in 2015. The shield system will gradually be transferred under the aegis of NATO. Until the missile defense system becomes fully operational, US ships will guard South-Eastern Europe, partially covering Romanian territory. Aurescu said the missile defense was an ongoing project, and the declaration of the intermediary capacity during the NATO Summit in Chicago was the initial stage of this project, which will become fully operation by 2018, when Poland will set up a facility similar to the Deveselu base.
ovidiu.posirca @business-review.ro
www.business-review.ro Business Review | June 18 - 24, 2012
10 LINKS: IT CENTERS
Regional Romanian IT hubs While Bucharest is usually thought to take the cream of the crop of Romanian IT, this is not always the case. Iasi, Cluj, Brasov, Sibiu and Timisoara – and the list could go on – are establishing themselves as independent regional poles for investments in IT products, services and outsourcing, and they have advantages that are hard to ignore, company executives interviewed by BR argue. ∫ OTILIA HARAGA While there is no fixed profile of IT players who have operations in these cities, there are certain common traits that have led them to take this path. First and foremost, they are dynamic companies in expansion mode, and with a business model that sees them establish a footprint in other cities in the region they come from. Most of the time, they open new locations also because they cater for external clients in Eastern Europe, Western Europe or the United States. Secondly, they seek good access to upto-date technical backbone. Thirdly, infrastructure matters: the presence of an airport in these cities, which offers direct connections to important European capitals, is a key advantage. As a rule, they are companies with a healthy headcount, and, quite often, running a continuous employment process. In order to do this, they rely a great deal on universities whose graduates offer them a pool of potential employees with high technical skills. Last but not least, costs do make a difference: cheaper office space rents, a lower cost of living, and cheaper labor costs give them a competitive edge. Local authorities are also expected to play their part in improving the business climate and luring investors to these cities. “Local authorities see fit to support IT companies merely by setting up the so-called ‘industrial parks’ in the best of cases, which include certain logistic facilities. However, the overwhelming costs in IT are costs with the salaries and local authorities do not have competencies in this field. This is why there is need for a collaboration between the government and local administration on concrete projects based on concrete results that they expect, Valentin Tomsa, general manager SAP Romania tells BR.
Good signals on the horizon Romania has been ranked by The Times among the top ten emerging outsourcing destinations in the Outsourcing Business supplement which The Times distributed on June 11 in association with the National Outsourcing Association (NOA). More precisely, Romania comes sixth in The Times ranking, which argues that although it may not seem an obvious choice, the country has an ever increasing reputation as an attractive outsourcing destination and a leader in IT outsourcing. With more than 100 universities, Romania is renowned for its high quality labor pool with language and mathematics skills in abundance. Romania was also ranked 25th in the 2011 Global Services Location Index produced by management consultancy A.T. Kearney. After the capital, Cluj is perhaps the most popular destination for IT investors in Romania. There are discussions to make
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IT map: the major technology hubs outside Bucharest and the companies with operations there the Transylvanian city the location of a small Silicon Valley-type of town, an “agglomeration of IT businesses” which could attract large international companies, according to plans voiced by Lucian Isar, minister-delegate for the business environment. “Our proposal for Cluj, based on the evolution of the city, the potential and the human capital, is to start a Silicon Valley,” said Isar, adding that large international companies will serve as “anchors” around which a small town will be built. “You have fundamental advantages, and we feel the business environment would want such a level of business in Cluj, which the state can facilitate,” said Isar. He added that the Ministry of Economy will facilitate “access to European financing, state warranties and foreign investors. The state can talk to the private sector and inquire who wants to go into this business; there will be a transfer of credibility from the state to Cluj, so that external partners can enter such a formula. We will show them the project and tell them we are developing a park here, tell them about the region and its advantages and invite them to Cluj,” said Isar. But it is not only Cluj that has ambitions to attain Romanian Silicon Valley status. Iasi comes second, after Bucharest, when it comes to the availability of high levels of IT
skills, with over 1,000 IT students graduating annually from universities which work in partnership with private companies. “In Bucharest, there are skilled people in this field who are interested in coming home. The migration of the labor force can solve this problem, especially since investors are currently interested in entering the province. Bucharest and Timisoara are very close to the brink of saturation and this is why we are taking other directions, and Iasi is on the shortlist for many clients who we are representing. There are many companies interested in opening operations in Iasi in the immediate future,” said Lori Collin, head of tenant representation and senior consultant at Jones Lang LaSalle, during the debate HITECH Iasi that took place last year. Additionally, Iasi has been ranked as the 75th city in the world with the highest internet speeds. It is also well positioned in business space availability, as it provides over 100,000 sqm of class A and B+ office space. “The threshold of 100,000 sqm of class A and B+ office space has been exceeded, while over the next three years this surface will grow to over 150,000 sqm, which offers Iasi an important advantage in the competition with other cities in Romania. As a trend, we are seeing more and more inter-
national companies in IT and outsourcing shortlisting Iasi in Central and Eastern Europe,” said Dan Zaharia, leasing manager of office buildings developed by Iulius Group during the same event. Sibiu, a former European cultural capital in 2007, is also emerging as a regional IT hub, with one very important card up its sleeve: among the big cities, it leads the way when it comes to affordable rent for office space. With a monthly average office space cost of EUR 9-11 per sqm , Sibiu is the cheapest, according to a survey carried out by CBRE Romania, which looked at six large Romanian cities. Sibiu is far better placed than Bucharest, where the average rent is EUR 19.5 per sqm. “Romania is one of the most attractive countries in Central and South-Eastern Europe from the point of view of the office market, and the capital is not the only point of interest for companies who are looking to expand or relocate their activities. Along with Bucharest, the other main cities – ClujNapoca, Iasi, Timisoara, Brasov and Sibiu – have become more and more attractive to foreign investors due to the highly competitive labor force they offer and the infrastructure development that will take place over the coming years,” said Razvan Iorgu, general manager of CBRE Romania, in a press release.
www.business-review.ro Business Review | June 18 - 24, 2012
Salaries pick up despite the crisis The phenomenon of domestic migration has gained momentum in Romania over the past few years. Young people are the demographic relocating most frequently, driven away by lack of work or study opportunities (18.4 percent), high housing costs (14.9 percent), bad traffic (13.3 percent), lack of cleanliness (12.4 percent), and unattractive and unsafe buildings (12.1 percent), according to a survey carried out by Siemens Romania. Nearly 70 percent of Romanian youngsters would like to quit their home towns for other cities that offer a better standard of living, according to a survey carried out by Siemens Romania. After Bucharest, preferred by 21.1 percent of them, a close second is Cluj-Napoca with 18.5 percent and in the third place comes Brasov, with 15.4 percent. Pay is of course a major factor. According to the AIMS SalaryMap, a survey of IT companies in Banat and Transylvania, with offices in cities such as Timisoara, Cluj, Sibiu and Brasov, the average monthly salary of a software architect with at least five years’ experience in software development and good programming skills is EUR 2,608 per month, gross. A software architect’s salary is 30 percent higher than that of a team leader, a position which involves supervising a team of four to five specialists, which commands on average EUR 1,862 per month. A financial manager makes an average gross salary of EUR 2,552 and a human resources manager EUR 1,847. While technical experts are the best paid in the industry, salaries in adminis-
IT CENTERS : LINKS 11 trative support are not much above the Janos Egly, CEO of Evoline, tells BR. market average. A typical financial speEvoline, a firm specialized in software cialist is paid EUR 1,040 and a HR generaldevelopment and various IT support servist EUR 890. These differences are due to ices, currently has offices in Cluj-Napoca the degree of specialization – technical and Targu Mures. “We opened offices experts are harder to find and have specific there for historical reasons,” says Egly. skills. Moreover, they make a contribution “Initially there were two separate companies, that is directly quantifiable in the profit of one in Cluj and the other in Targu Mures. a company, unlike support functions. These units were set up at that time because Salaries also depend on the experitheir owners lived there, but also these ence of the worker. An entry-level software cities had the necessary resources at a developer commands EUR 690 per month good price.” Evoline services are oriented while a senior software developer can earn at the moment “mainly towards developed EUR 1,664 gross. European countries, but we have a business Salaries in R&D continue to be higher plan for Romania, too,” says Egly. than the norm, with the average salary in In Cluj, the firm has approximately this area EUR 462 per month, approxi250 people while another 100 work in Tarmately 2.5 times the average at national levgu Mures. The CEO says that labor costs in el. Earnings are poised to continue to grow, Cluj are 10-15 percent below those in Bucharest, while in Targu Mures costs are as approximately 93 percent of the com30-40 percent lower than in the capital. panies that took part in the survey said they “International studies carried out over plan to increase pay by an average of 7.5 perthe past two-three years place Cluj, for incent. stance, among the top 50 cities in the Also, over a third of companies that parworld for outsourcing opportunities, esticipated in the survey give a month’s pecially in IT,” says Voicu Oprean, general salary as a bonus. manager of AROBS Transilvania Software. AROBS also has its headquarters in Players outline their reasons Cluj, where it has three spaces for offices “From the IT point of view, Romania is in a and over 200 employees. “The Cluj Intercomfortable position: for many years, a national Airport, with connections to the great many very good brains have been spemost important European capitals, the incializing in IT in Romanian universities. Revestments made by foreign companies, garding salary costs, we still have cheap the fiber optic backbone and technical incosts compared to developed countries and frastructure are other reasons for the good better or similar costs compared to our image that this city has when it comes to neighbors. As far as regulations are conoutsourcing,” says Oprean. cerned, the fiscal facilities from the last 15 Apart from Cluj, the firm has deployed years have helped the industry a lot and cresmaller teams in Bucharest, Oradea, Chisinated regional competitiveness. Romania au (the Republic of Moldova) and San has a good geographical proximity to Europe, especially suitable for nearshoring,” Diego (the United States). Moreover, in
May, AROBS also opened an R&D center in Iasi and by the end of the year it hopes its headcount there will reach at least 30 people. In parallel, the number of programmers in the Chisinau office, which was inaugurated last year, is also projected to grow. “Technical universities in Cluj and Iasi are shaping thousands of students every year who then choose to work for IT companies. This is why software companies, especially foreign ones, have decided to open headquarters in these two cities,” Oprean says. Between January and May this year, AROBS recruited over 50 people, of whom 35 were developers of software solutions while the rest were employed for business lines dedicated to internal products. At the end of May, AROBS had 291 employees. By the end of the year, plans are to take the headcount to 400. “We are looking for software developers, especially for the technologies PHP, JAVA, C++, Python, BI, web developer, ASP.Net, mobile, UI Engineer, QA Engineer and front end developer,” he says. “Labor costs in Romania are competitive, and the knowledge of English and other foreign languages is excellent.” AROBS is not the only firm that finds knowledge of foreign languages crucial to its activity. SAP, with working points in Bucharest, Timisoara and Cluj-Napoca, has sought to open centers in the western part of the country because it needs to find employees with a sound knowledge of German, since most projects are delivered to states such as Austria, Germany and Switzerland.
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12 LINKS: IT CENTERS continued from page 11 The company, which provides premium IT consultancy and implementation services, has reached a headcount of 240 in Romania, and counting. Thirty percent of these employees are based in ClujNapoca and Timisoara. The nearshore delivery center in Timisoara was officially opened at the beginning of this year while the center in Cluj will be inaugurated in July. “We are considering the possibility of expanding east, and the city of Iasi is probably on the cards. We are still analyzing this move, but if we want to deliver projects in Moldova, Russia and Ukraine, then Iasi will probably be the first option. We run our business based on the concept of a nearshore delivery center. We need to be close to the clients both geographically and culturally so the clients served from Iasi would be from eastern countries,” Tomsa told BR in a previous interview. One reason IT investors prefer these cities is that “they are in themselves centers with a positive economic evolution,” Marcel Borodi, CEO and main shareholder in Cluj-based company Brinel, tells BR. “After Bucharest, Cluj and Timisoara are the next preferred locations for IT investors. Unfortunately, the high pressure on a finite number of skilled human resources has led to a shortage of available professionals and a continuous surge in costs.” Recently, Brinel announced it would invest approximately EUR 1 million in a data center, estimating that it will get 20 new clients who will use the services provided by the site. “Our team of specialists has expertise in designing, implementing and managing data center structures built on
multi-vendor global platforms and at the same time we offer clients our own data center, launched this year,” says Borodi, who identifies as a trend “the provision of services in data centers or building data centers.” Brinel currently has offices in ClujNapoca and also an established presence in Bucharest, Oradea, Sibiu and Brasov. “Occasionally, depending on projects, we have also had a presence in Iasi and Timisoara,” adds the CEO. The company has 160 employees in the five locations, most of them in the main headquarters in Cluj-Napoca. As a common denominator, companies featured in this article are dynamic organizations covering several locations in their area of interest, and extensively recruiting in the process, to cover their needs. For instance, French company Pentalog, a provider of IT consultancy and software development centers, is also in expansion mode, planning to hire 150 people over the next five months in its ClujNapoca branch. In Romania, Pentalog currently has offices in Bucharest, Brasov, Sibiu, Iasi and Cluj. The company also has an office in Chisinau, in the Republic of Moldova. It opened its fifth production unit in Romania at the beginning of 2011. At the moment, the 50 employees in Cluj-Napoca are involved in web/e-commerce, ERP, business intelligence and software R&D projects. iQuest, with development centers in Cluj, Brasov and Sibiu, announced in March that it was planning to boost its headcount by an additional 100 people this year. The office in Cluj numbers 308 workers. In Brasov, iQuest employs 87 while in
www.business-review.ro Business Review | June 18 - 24, 2012
Sibiu, the most recent center of the company, the staff has reached 23. Its services focus on several strategic directions: life sciences, financial services, telecom, logistic and mobile services. Cornelius Brody, CEO and founder of iQuest, tells BR the choice of location was influenced by the European culture available there and the level of training offered by university centers in Cluj, Brasov and Sibiu. Another important factor when choosing these cities was their infrastructure, which allows good international connections to Western European countries. “Romania’s key strength remains the professional IT services that it offers. IT professionals in Romania are recognized for their technical excellence, as well as for their strong engineering background – which comes from a long-established tradition in technical higher education,” John Cotterell, chief executive of Endava, tells BR. IT centers in Romania “conveniently provide good flight connections to European capitals, have office space available and an excellent telecommunications backbone,” he adds. Endava has three development and support centers in Romania, in Cluj-Napoca, Iasi and Bucharest, and a headcount of approximately 500 employees in Romania, of whom 250 are in Cluj, 210 in Iasi and 30 in Bucharest. “Our immediate plan is to grow to a total of 750 people in Romania. We will achieve this mainly by upping staff numbers in Iasi and Bucharest. On the medium term, we plan to increase to 2,000 employees in Romania,” says Cotterell. The company is in a race to gain more clients in Europe in the following year,
mainly on the German market. “At the moment, approximately 90 percent of the group’s revenues are generated by projects delivered to UK and US clients, mainly in the financial services sector. Only 10 percent of revenues are generated by clients in Central and Eastern Europe. Over the coming year, we will focus our efforts to gain more clients on other European markets,” said Cotterell. The majority of the IT projects outsourced in Romania are the development of applications, software testing, digital media services, services of management of software applications and infrastructure and IT service desk services, according to the Endava official. As budgets are shrinking, companies in every industry, but especially those in the financial services sector, have started to look for ways to cut their operational costs, therefore there is a noticeable trend for outsourcing projects to nearshore destinations. This situation will create new opportunities for IT outsourcing companies in Romania that have a high level of expertise on verticals for which they provide IT services, says Cotterell. Romania is competing as a nearshore location with other states in the region, such as Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Ukraine as well as the Baltic states and Russia. “We see Romania as a unique location. It is easy to reach, a two-three hour flight from major European capitals. Furthermore, it is an EU member and has five major IT clusters to choose from: Bucharest, Cluj, Timisoara, Iasi and Brasov,” he concludes.
otilia.haraga@business-review.ro
www.business-review.ro Business Review | June 18 - 24, 2012
CITY 13
www.business-review.ro Business Review | June 18 - 24, 2012
14 CITY FILM REVIEW
The Avengers
Famous five: Disney dishes up a super-sized helping of superheroes
DEBBIE STOWE Director: Joss Whedon Starring: Robert Downey, Jr., Chris Evans, Mark Ruffalo, Chris Hemsworth, Scarlett Johansson, Jeremy Renner, Tom Hiddleston, Samuel L Jackson On at: Cinema City Cotroceni, Cinema City Sun Plaza, Grand Cinema Digiplex Baneasa, Hollywood Multiplex, Movieplex Cinema, The Light Cinema It is not enough for the people at Disney to roll out their Marvel Comics superheroes one by one, making hundreds of millions of dollars, and then put out sequels that make hundreds of millions more dollars. No. They have to make yet further hundreds of millions by putting all the characters in one film, for that extra superhero bang for your buck. The earth is in peril. (Again.) An alien race wants to subjugate the planet and bring the human race to its knees with the Tesseract, a magic device that gives off a special energy. It seems a lot of effort to go to, when brief observation of the earth will reveal that vast swathes of the human race can quite easily be subjugated with a combination of TV talent shows, the desire to acquire garish items and nicotine, but, nonetheless, this is the way the aliens have chosen. Helping them is Loki (Tom Hiddleston), whom regular Marvel fans will remember as the poorly adjusted brother of Thor, Norse god of thunder. Loki is a bit miffed because in the film Thor he found out he was adopted and wouldn’t get to become king, so he has gone rogue. Well, the massed ranks of dormant su-
ISSN No. 1453 - 729X
perheroes are not going to stand idly by while ugly aliens mess with the earth. Hell no! So head spy Nick Fury (Samuel L Jackson) assembles a crack team of avengers to defend the planet, ensuring a nice pay day for about a dozen Hollywood stars. So on one side we’ve got Loki and the aliens, and on the other we’ve got the Incredible Hulk (Mark Ruffalo), who becomes big, green and angry; clean-cut nationalist ubermensch Captain America (Chris Evans); hammer-wielding blond Thor (Chris Hemsworth); the Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) whose gifts seem to be reading minds and wearing very tight suits, master archer Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner) and Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr), whose special power is getting through a huge pile of crumpled shirts in less than a minute. Don’t worry, if you’re not familiar with the many characters and their back stories, that you’re not going to get it. This isn’t exactly Inception. You can probably surmise the plot without even seeing the film: good will prevail, American ideals will be endorsed, teamwork and selflessness will triumph over evil, somebody will nobly sacrifice himself but survive for the sequel, the ugly will perish, watch out if you’re a bit foreign, and so on. It’s easy to be cynical about movies like this. It’s fun, too. But Disney’s been spewing out such blockbusters for years and so you’re guaranteed an entertaining near two and a half hours (yes, it’s a bit long). The set pieces are cool, the special effects topnotch and the script is not entirely witless: Thor delivers a line that got the biggest laugh I’ve heard in a cinema auditorium for a long time. Most of the actors are on multiple-movie deals, so stand by for plenty more avenging. ∫ FOUNDING EDITOR Bill Avery EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Simona Fodor SENIOR JOURNALIST Otilia Haraga JOURNALISTS Simona Bazavan, Ovidiu Posirca, Oana Vasiliu COPY EDITOR Debbie Stowe COLLABORATORS Anda Sebesi ART DIRECTOR Alexandru Oriean PHOTO EDITOR: Mihai Constantineanu PHOTOGRAPHER Laurentiu Obae LAYOUT Beatrice Gheorghiu
CULTURAL EVENTS AGENDA MUSIC Live Open Air Jazz Blues & More June 20-24, from 20.00 George Enescu Square ArCub invites music lovers to five nights of good live music featuring the magic sounds of the BKG Trio (Alexandru Balanescu, Javier Girotto, Zlatko Kaucic), Abraham Burton & Lucian Ban Duo, Teodora Enache Group, Nicolas Simion Group, AG Weinberger Band, Luiza Zan & Snaps Vocal Band, Mike Godoroja & Blue Spirit, ZUM, Accord Vibes, Emy Dragoi & Hot Jazz Club Romania and Marius Mihalache. Iris Concert – 35 years June 22, from 18.00 Constitutiei Square To mark their 35 years of performing, legendary Romanian rock music band Iris will take to the stage for a concert celebrating 16 albums, 3 singles and 2 DVDs. The band has invited the Romanian rap singer Puya and well known soprano Felicia Filip to join them. Symphonic concert – Brahms and Mozart June 22-23, from 19.00 George Enescu Philharmonic
Orchestra and Choir The George Enescu Philharmonic Orchestra and Choir will present a symphonic concert conducted by Paul Staicu and Iosif Ion Prunner.
SCREENING ShortsUp – The Long Night of Short Films June 23, from 20.00 National Library The Long Night of Short Films 2012 will be held on the terrace of the National Library of Romania, where several screens will be installed for the projection of the world’s best 23 short movies awarded at the Oscars, Berlin, BAFTA, Sundance, Clermont-Ferrand, Tribeca and Cannes.
EXPO PetExpo June 22-24 Romexpo Pet Expo Romania brings together products and services for all types of animals as well as aquarium exhibitions with rare exotic fish, tips for adopting a pet, workshops for dog training and fashion trends for animals (clothes and haircuts).
WHO’S NEWS Business Review welcomes information for Who’s News from readers. Submissions may be edited for length and clarity. Get in touch at simona.bazavan@business-review.ro
Steven van Groningen
Oana Petrescu
president and CEO of Raiffeisen Bank, has been re-elected head of the Foreign Investors’ Council (FIC) for a second term, FIC representatives have announced. He will hold the position until May 2013. van Groningen was first elected to the post last year when he replaced Mariana Gheorghe, CEO of OMV Petrom. The FIC’s new executive team also includes Eric Stab, president and CEO of GDF Suez Energy for CEE, and Jean Valvis, owner of Valvis Holding, as VPs. Daniel Anghel, taxes division partner at PwC Romania, was appointed treasurer.
has joined Deloitte Romania as partner-in-charge of consulting and leader of the financial services industry team after having previously served as vice-president responsible for the retail business at BCR. During a career of more than 20 years, she has also worked for another Big Four firm where she coordinated the business and technology risk services and the financial services group.
Stefan Roseanu has been appointed general director of state-owned railway operator CFR Calatori by the minister of transport, Ovidiu Silaghi. Roseanu is co-founder of the Railway Club, an NGO that supports and promotes national and international public rail transport. Between 2007-2012, Roseanu was secretary general of the Romania Railway Industry Association (AIF).
PUBLISHER Anca Ionita EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR George Moise SALES & EVENTS DIRECTOR Oana Molodoi MARKETING MANAGER Ana-Maria Stanca SALES & EVENTS Ana-Maria Nedelcu RESEARCH & SUBSCRIPTION Lili Voineag PRODUCTION Dan Mitroi DISTRIBUTION Eugen Musat
Alexandra Caracoti has joined Ascendis as knowledge manager. She has 15 years of professional experience in PR and communication. Caracoti previously held the external affairs & NGO liaison position at the World Bank for four years, but her experience also includes work in the corporate and governmental areas, NGOs and international financial institutions.
PUBLISHER Block Notes Media ADDRESS No. 10 Italiana St., 2nd floor, ap. 3 Bucharest, Romania LANDLINE Editorial: 031.040.09.32 Office: 031.040.09.31 EMAILS Editorial: editorial@business-review.ro Sales: sales@business-review.ro Events: events@business-review.ro