PHARMA: The authorities have not specified when the claw back tax will be axed, despite numerous requests by producers of generic drugs, says Laurentiu Mihai, APMGR executive director, who will attend this week’s Focus on Pharma event organized by BR »page 6
ROMANIA’S PREMIER BUSINESS WEEKLY
INTERVIEW
SEPTEMBER 22 - 28, 2014 / VOLUME 18, NUMBER 31
NOLAN TOWNSEND, COUNTRY MANAGER AT PFIZER ROMANIA, SAYS THAT THE US DRUGS MAKER IS GOING TO INVEST USD 5.4 MILLION IN EXPANDING THE PACKAGING OF MEDICINES AT ITS PLANT IN CLUJ » PAGE 8
RINGING THE CHANGES Sister telcos Romtelecom and Cosmote will now come under the Telekom brand, reshaping the local market. DT board member Claudia Nemat says building the brand could take five years » page 10
NEWS
NEWS
German angst
Raising dough
German investors are worried by the improper administration of EU funds in Romania, which dents the growth potential of the local economy
Tax evasion in the bakery industry is down by about EUR 68 million one year after the VAT cut on flour and bread
» page 4
» page 5
www.business-review.eu Business Review | September 22 - 28, 2014
NEWS 3
NEWS in brief
WEEK AHEAD September 24 – 25 SEM Days
ECONOMY EY study: local businesspeople getting more pessimistic Romanian businesspeople have become more pessimistic in the last eight months about business growth this year, according to an Ernst & Young study. Turnover growth perspectives have dropped over the last six-seven months, with a larger number of firms expecting contraction (12 percent in August against 2 percent in February). Companies’ expectations regarding profit growth largely stayed the same – at the beginning of the year 84 percent of respondent businesses were expecting an increase in profits while by August the share had dropped to 81 percent.
ENERGY Hidroelectrica’s 8-month gross profit up 12 pct State-owned hydroelectricity producer Hidroelectrica increased its gross profit by 12 percent to RON 719 million (EUR 162.4 million) in the first eight months of 2014 y-o-y, following a 14.5 percent hike in electricity sales and falling operational costs, according to Mediafax. The company delivered 12.4 TWh of electricity in the first eight months, and aims to reach 17 TWh by year-end. It initially predicted it would generate 13.9 TWh this year.
OMV Petrom completes EUR 600 mln Petrobrazi refinery modernization Austrian oil company OMV Petrom last week completed the modernization of its Petrobrazi refinery in Ploiesti after four years of work and a EUR 600 million investment. As a result, the refinery will now be able to produce more diesel, which should allow Romania to reduce its imports of this product to the benefit of the country’s current account, according to Mariana Gheorghe, CEO of OMV Petrom.
FINANCE Soufflet raises EUR 20 mln from EBRD for investments in Romania, Poland and Ukraine The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) has approved a EUR 20 million loan to French group Soufflet, which it will use to finance investments in grain storage and seed production facilities in Romania, Poland
and Ukraine. Soufflet is looking to set up a new company called International Grain Silos, which will consolidate its business in the three countries. The EBRD will own a 35 percent stake in the new firm.
Only 70 pct of Romanians pay invoices on time, says EOS KSI survey Romanians and Bulgarians are the least punctual bill payers in Europe, with only 70 percent of invoices dealt with on time, according to an EOS KSI survey conducted in 12 European countries this year. Overall, the share of invoices settled on time in Romania fell for a second consecutive year in 2014, the survey revealed. Romania comes below the Eastern European average of 72 percent and the pan-European average of 75 percent.
IT IT distributors post lower revenues, higher profits – Coface survey IT distributors last year posted revenues that were 22 percent lower than when the financial crisis struck in 2008, but net profit stood at 2.4 percent of turnover, the highest level of the past ten years, according to a Coface survey quoted by Mediafax newswire. The survey looked at the 2013 financial statements of 1,263 companies in the IT and software distribution industry.
MANUFACTURING Germany’s SGB-SMIT makes EUR 7.7 mln bid for Retrasib German transformer manufacturer SGBSMIT International will launch a RON 34.14 million (EUR 7.7 million) takeover offer for local engine producer Retrasib Sibiu, according to Mediafax. The takeover price is RON 3.414 (EUR 0.0772) per share, according to the preliminary announcement. Retrasib’s share price increased by 3.5 percent to RON 0.3390 following the announcement. The company, which is controlled by Octavian and Calin Buzoianu, posted a RON 43.57 million turnover and a profit of RON 2.1 million last year.
PROPERTY Carrefour buys 12,000 sqm ParkLake Plaza ParkLake, the EUR 180 million shopping
mall developed by Sonae Sierra and Caelum Development in Bucharest’s District 3, has just signed a contract with retailer Carrefour Romania for the ownership and operation of a 12,000 sqm hypermarket on its grounds. With a leasable area of 70,000 sqm, ParkLake will open in 2016. Expected to host some 200 stores, about 65 percent of its surface area has been pre-leased, according to company representatives.
Artemis Real Estate to develop five projects near Timisoara Swiss group Artemis Real Estate, the local division of Artemis Holding, has announced it is developing five projects near Timisoara. The projects include industrial and residential buildings. The surface for the real estate development reaches 128 ha and includes the Sanandrei Industrial Park, Swiss Park Giarmata, Swiss Village Giarmata, Timisoara Airport Industrial Park and Dudestii Noi Industrial Park.
RETAIL Dedeman opens EUR 12 million store in Targu Jiu Romanian DIY retailer Dedeman has increased its local network to 40 stores countrywide after opening a branch in Targu Jiu last week. The new outlet covers 12,000 sqm and required a EUR 12 million investment. This is the fourth store opening for Dedeman in 2014 and is part of the retailer’s twoyear expansion strategy, the target of which is to reach 50 stores by 2016. Dedeman is the leader of the local DIY market.
STOCK EXCHANGE Property Fund 8-month profit grows to EUR 227 mln The Property Fund (FP), the EUR 3.4 billion closed-end fund managed by Franklin Templeton, registered a profit of EUR 226.6 million in the first eight months of this year, almost double compared to the same period of last year. The net asset value (NAV) of the fund grew slightly to EUR 3.39 billion, with listed equities accounting for 50.37 percent. The FP’s biggest shareholder is US-based hedge fund Elliott Associates, which has 15.2 percent of the share capital.
Keynote speakers will offer participants a complex perspective on the evolution of online media in the last year. The event schedule includes two panel conferences, nine presentations and 15 workshops. BR readers are entitled to a 20 percent discount on registration (email events@business-review.ro for details) and find out more about the event at www.semdays.ro. Willbrook Platinum Business & Convention Center September 25 Focus on Pharma The third edition of Focus on Pharma organized by Business Review explores the fiscal and legal implications of the current claw back tax for the pharmaceutical sector. The industry is set to post only slight growth in Romania, given the reduced availability of medical services for patients and the negative impact of the claw back tax. Find out about upcoming legislative changes and how they will affect the pharma industry at the third Focus on Pharma event. 9.00, Ramada Plaza Hotel, Europa Hall September 25 – 28 Modexpo Modexpo is a contracting and sales exhibition, for both specialists and the general public. This year’s event, the 21st run, will include clothing, footwear, leather goods and fur items from the fall-winter 2014 and springsummer 2015 collections, fabrics and accessories in autumn trends and also equipment used in the industry. Hall C5, Romexpo Exhibition Centre
MOST READ www.business-review.eu 1 Romtelecom and Cosmote re-
brand as Telekom Romania with EUR15 mln investment
2 Romania takes charge of
Ukraine’s cybernetic defense
3 World Tourism Organisation: The future of tourism is in Romania
4 Vodafone might consider acquir-
ing UPC Romania’s mother company, “for the right price”
5 Several Tarom flights cancelled
as employees stage protest without warning
www.business-review.eu Business Review | September 22 - 28, 2014
4 NEWS ENERGY
Syscom 18 hit by Iraq woes S
Courtesy of Syscom 18
yscom 18, a system integrator for the oil and gas sector, is grappling with the ongoing conflict in Iraq, which is threatening several energy projects in the country and could have a negative impact on the Romanian company’s turnover. General manager Ion Andronache said the projects are worth “several millions of euros annually”, a significant figure. He added that business ties with war-torn Syria had long been cut, while the ongoing conflict in Ukraine was not impacting operations, because the company has never focused on Russia and the Community of Independent States (CIS). Over the last eight years, Syscom 18 has been working extensively in the Middle East and North Africa, especially with national oil companies. “We have a project in Abu Dhabi that should have been finished this year, but it has been significantly delayed and will be continued next year. We are waiting for confirmation of other orders in the Gulf region,” Andronache told BR. He added that the company has
Gas measurement system set up by Syscom 18 in Ungheni, Republic of Moldova
also signed a contract with the European Space Agency (ESA), and is negotiating a second one. The GM commented that these contracts are smaller
,“but have an exceptional technical value.” In Romania, Syscom 18 has a key contract with Romgaz, the state-owned
gas producer, for the measurement of well gas flow. The company will measure around 70 percent of the gas production of Romgaz. It also worked on the Iasi-Ungheni gas pipeline project, which was finished in August following a EUR 26.5 million investment. Syscom 18 completed a fiscal measurement and automatization system in Ungheni. The 43 km pipeline linking Romania and the Republic of Moldova has an annual transport capacity of 1.5 to 2 billion cubic meters of gas. Romania will initially export 50 million cbm to its eastern neighbor, according to the local authorities. The Republic of Moldova is also seeking to expand the pipeline to its capital Chisinau, and the European Commission, the executive arm of the EU, has said it will allocate EUR 10 million to the extension project. This year, Syscom 18 aims to reach a turnover of around EUR 12 million, with profit expected to remain low. Ongoing international contracts amount to EUR 2.5 million. ∫ Ovidiu Posirca
INVESTMENTS
Improper administration of EU funds worries German investors R
omania’s faulty management of European Union money is damaging the economy’s growth potential, according to the Romanian-German Chamber of Commerce and Industry (AHK Romania). The biggest bilateral chamber of commerce in the country, it currently has around 530 members. “For the construction and adaptation of economic structures at the level of the European Union, the EU funds that are available to Romania offer important financial support. A lot of fields ranging from infrastructure to IT could benefit from them. But due to faulty administration, they are not being used adequately and the growth potential is being lost, so the country’s economic growth is below the necessary level,” the chamber of commerce said in a statement to BR. “These funds are an important financing source, which if adequately and correctly used, could become one of the main support sources in the development of various economic fields.” In the AHK Investment Climate Central and Eastern Europe survey published in August, German investors in Romania
Romania’s absorption of EU funds reached 36.39 percent at the end of August
said that the absorption of EU funds in the transport sector was developing sluggishly. The report pointed out that Romania currently has 645 km of motorway, lagging behind the EU. “This is a great disadvantage for the placement of investments, because among many things it leads to an increase
in transport costs, which cancels out a significant advantage, that of lower labor costs,” said the report. The country had used only EUR 1.4 billion for transport investments by August, out of the EUR 4.4 billion allotted to this operational program. Romania’s absorption has slowed
down this year, with Eugen Teodorovici, minister of EU funds, acknowledging that the sum attracted by Romania was “below expectations”, especially on the transport and environment operational programs. In June, Teodorovici blamed the poor absorption rate on the fact that some companies that placed winning bids to develop projects financed by EU money had undervalued their bids and could not finish the projects. He added that some firms had vanished and subcontractors had to be used to complete the contracts. For this year, Teodorovici has set the target of attracting EUR 3.5 billion from the European Commission, the executive arm of the EU, so that the country does not lose its money. Romania has two more years to spend its EU funds under the 2007-2013 EU budgetary framework. The country’s absorption of EU funds amounted to 36.93 percent at the end of August, including reimbursement requests submitted to the EC. This means that Romania has developed EU-funded projects worth EUR 7 billion to date. ∫ Ovidiu Posirca
www.business-review.eu Business Review | September 22 - 28, 2014
TELECOM
Orange rolls out 4G+ services in six cities
Photo: Silviu Pal
Orange Romania CCO Julien Ducarroz
T
elecom operator Orange Romania has announced it has launched 4G + services providing internet speeds of up to 300 Mbps in Romania, starting in Bucharest, Brasov, ClujNapoca, Galati, Iasi and Timisoara. The service is compatible with smartphone models currently in the operator’s range: the Samsung Galaxy S5 4G+, Samsung Galaxy Alpha 4G+ and Huawei E5786. From September 22, the 4G + service will be available in all the company’s Pantera bundles as well as its Business Open subscriptions. Over the past year, mobile internet traffic in the network has doubled. “Orange customers are adopting 4G services at a faster rate than 3G services,” said Jean-Francois Fallacher, CEO of Orange Romania. The telco also announced the launch of 4G internet in the subway system. It said the approximately 650,000 Bucharesters who commute daily by
metro will now have access to speeds of up to 150 Mbps. Company representatives did not reveal the exact investment in deploying 4G in the subway, only that it had cost “millions of euro.” “We are planning to have our entire urban network on optic fiber backbone,” said officials. “This technology we are bringing is not only beneficial for our customers but also for us because it allows energy savings and network optimization.” The Orange 4G network has expanded to 200 new locations. The operator now covers over 1,300 Romanian towns and cities with 4G, representing 48 percent of the total population and 78 percent of the urban population. Loyal customers will also receive 1GB of 4G traffic a month for every year they have spent as customers of the operator. The company also has in place a buyback scheme, offering a EUR 30 discount to anyone who buys a 4G compatible device and surrenders their old phone, according to Orange Romania’s chief commercial officer, Julien Ducarroz. Last week, the operator received the approval of the National Audio-visual Council to launch Orange Info, which will provide information on its range and services as well as a TV news show broadcast by Antena 1, according to Mediafax newswire. The service will broadcast around the clock and will mainly offer Orange programs (80 percent) alongside productions by other content providers (20 percent). The schedule will comprise news (45 percent), education and cultural programs (30 percent), entertainment (13 percent), advertising and teleshopping (12 percent). ∫ Otilia Haraga
TAX
Tax evasion in bread industry down by EUR 68 mln due to VAT cut, says minister One year after the government cut VAT on flour and bread from 24 to 9 percent, the first results show that tax evasion in the industry has dropped by RON 300 million (approximately EUR 68 million), finance ministry Ioana Petrescu told a press conference last week. Tax evasion in the industry presently stands at 70 percent, added Petrescu, without specifying how much of this figure the EUR 68 million represents. After providing a set of data, the minister left the press conference without answering journalists’ additional questions. Data from Rompan, the association of local milling companies and bakeries, indicate a lower reduction in tax evasion – RON 200 million – but a drop in the overall level from 70 percent to 50 percent. While the cut has brought more of the black market into the light, it cost the budget EUR 281.4 million (approxi-
mately EUR 64 million), added the finance minister. Overall, the measure has proved beneficial for both consumers and producers despite “the initial reluctance”, she said. For consumers, bread prices fell by 10.25 percent between September 2013 and July this year, while the industry saw gross profits increase from RON 169 million in 2012 to RON 250 million last year. Taxed quantities of flour and bread were up by 16 percent and 18 percent respectively and no more insolvencies and bankruptcies were reported. Present during the press conference, PM Victor Ponta said that cutting VAT on bread had proved a successful move and that he hoped the future government would extend the measure to new products such as fruit and vegetables and meat. However, no actual timetable was put forward for this. ∫ Simona Bazavan
NEWS 5
www.business-review.eu Business Review | September 22 - 28, 2014
6
Scrapping of claw back remains in limbo
Pharmaceuticals producers are grappling with a claw back tax that absorbs around 20 percent of their sales, on a market worth EUR 2.6 billion last year, and there are no signs it will go away soon. Experts say that price-volume agreements could be the first step towards removing the claw back, which was initially billed as a temporary measure. to pay more in co-payment, and the state, which will have subsidize drugs that are twice as expensive,” warned the APMGR head. Data from Cegedim show that generic drugs accounted for 63.3 percent of all drugs sold in Romania and 29.1 percent of the value of pharmaceuticals sold in the first quarter of this year.
∫ OVIDIU POSIRCA
Romanian policy needs EU impetus Mihaela Scarlatescu, senior external associate, D&B David si Baias
Laurentiu Mihai, executive director, APMGR
Photo: Mihai Constantineanu
Courtesy of ARPIM
“Since 2008, the entire pharma industry has been under pressure, on one hand because of the introduction of new molecules onto the list of free and reimbursed medicines, and on the other because regulated drugs prices are the lowest of 12 EU countries (HMO no.75.2009) and because of the claw back tax (EGO no. 77/2011),” Mihaela Scarlatescu, senior external associate at D&B Davis si Baias, the law firm affiliated to professional services firm PwC Romania, told BR. She argued that the claw back tax should be fairly regulated, considering that this year the allocated budget for compensated medicines was based on the real consumption of drugs in the fourth quarter of 2011. In addition, the tax is levied on the shelf price of the drug, which also includes the profit margins of the distributor and pharmacists – in theory borne solely by producer. VAT was removed from the computation of the claw back after it was declared unconstitutional. Laurentiu Mihai, executive director of the Generic Drug Manufacturers Association in Romania (APMGR), commented that the authorities have not clearly stated when they will scrap the controversial tax, despite requests by the association. “The claw back should have been treated as an interim measure, and scrapped when the economic situation stabilized, as was stipulated in the bills that introduced it,” Mihai told BR. “Instead it has become a permanent contribution towards financing the public healthcare system, but which seriously impacts patients’ access to drugs, as well as the sustainability of the local
Courtesy of APMGR
Courtesy of D&B David si Baias
Producers of innovative drugs, meanwhile, are pinning growth hopes on the update of the reimbursed drugs list that should be carried out by the end of this year. Pharma executives have complained that the claw back tax is unpredictable and unsustainable. Experts say this mechanism has been adopted by other EU member states to prevent the consumption of medicines from spiraling out of control, while in Romania it is used simply to cover the public budget deficit for subsidized drugs.
Dan Zaharescu, executive director, ARPIM
Petru Craciun, general manager, Cegedim Romania
pharmaceuticals industry, which is exclusively made up of generic drugs makers.” According to Cegedim Romania, a provider of data for the pharmaceuticals sector, the local market grew slightly by 0.3 percent to EUR 1.3 billion in the first half of this year, helped by growth in the over-the counter segment. Dan Zaharescu, executive director of the Romanian Association of International Medicine Manufacturers (ARPIM), has pointed out that in the last year, two out of ten patients have been treated exclusively through the claw back.
Mihai of the APMGR said that manufacturers of generic drugs had been hit the hardest since the roll out of the claw back in 2011. Consumption of generics, which are cheaper drugs with expired patents, has fallen from 36 percent to 28 percent, while investments in local production facilities worth tens of millions of euros have been put on hold since the adoption of the tax. “Maintaining it will only see this trend continue and in time it will lead to the bankruptcy of the Romanian pharmaceuticals industry, with negative consequences for patients, who will be forced
Amended claw back or new agreements? Health authorities are currently looking to enforce a differentiated claw back for producers of generics and innovative drugs, but have also been open to confidential deals between producers and authorities, known as cost-volume agreements. An amendment to the claw back would see the tax computation reflect a price limit on generic drugs of up to 65 percent of the cost of their innovative equivalents. This measure has been approved by the Ministry of Health, the healthcare insurance body (CNAS), the Ministry of Finance and international lenders as neutral from a budgetary perspective, but its implementation has been “unjustifiably delayed”, according to Mihai of the APMGR. He cautioned, “The correction of the computation mechanism of the tax, which would reflect both the price limitation imposed on generic drugs and the greater impact that the current tax has on the producers of generic drugs, is absolutely necessary for the survival of the local pharmaceutical industry.” The authorities are now looking more carefully into price-volume agreements, which experts believe could in theory replace the claw back. Players say these confidential agreements between authorities and producers on the sale of drugs could work, and are already being used in the EU. Petru Craciun, general manager of Cegedim Romania, commented that, theoretically, price-volume agreements could successfully replace the current claw back, which is too high, unpredictable, and sometimes discriminatory. “In practice, however, I am afraid of several matters, because our mentality has not advanced too much. First of all, price-volume agreements could be introduced without giving up the claw back, as an expression of immaturity that aims to bring the price of drugs below a sustainable level,” Craciun told BR. He added that these agreements,
www.business-review.ro Business Review | September 22 - 28, 2014
which are mainly based on financial figures, may not “pursue strongly enough the interests of Romanian patients”, or may not have an optimum outcome and could further constrain the already reduced options in Romania’s therapeutic package. Zaharescu of ARPIM commented that price-volume agreements are currently under discussion, but that they could not replace the claw back. “These agreements are a long way from implementation because the Romanian legislation does not provide a legal framework for companies and authorities to sign such agreements,” said Zaharescu. He suggested that drugs sold under such agreements should not be affected by the claw back, and the regulated prices of these drugs should not change. Mihai of the APMGR added that the price-volume agreements that are currently under discussion could be beneficial if additional funds were allocated to this area.According to media reports, price-volume agreements are already being used in countries such as France, based on a stable and agreed budget that allows the launch of innovative drugs as long as there is a limit on overall spending. Some industry executives argue that these agreements could be used for the update of the reimbursed drugs list, which has long been awaited by producers and is slated to be rolled out in 2015.
Spiking costs feared from reimbursed drugs list update The question raised by the update of the list centers on the mechanism by which it will be financed. Players say that the authorities may opt to finance it through the claw back, while some are suggesting that price-volume agreements would be enough. “Because the list has not been updated in the past six years, a large number of molecules and products could get on it, and the decision-makers’ fear is that the insurance budget deficit will grow significantly,” said Craciun. He added that producers have enough innovative drugs pending approval on the list to see their businesses grow “significantly”, while the rest of the producers, mainly makers of generics, would have to pay more in claw back with no concomitant hike in sales. Craciun suggested that the update would have had a limited impact on the market and the public coffers had it been carried out on a regular basis (annually, each semester) and would have been balanced by the introduction or elimination of some products. The government approved 17 new orphan drugs this summer, which are being used for the treatment of rare diseases and cancer. The major update should take place by the end of this year, giving patients access to the new drugs from 2015, according to pharma executives. According to Zaharescu, there are
FOCUS ON PHARMA 7 now 130 medicine files waiting to be evaluated. “We can only hope that the authorities will keep their promise and the list will be updated according to the established calendar, or else Romania will keep its last place in Europe as far as access to innovative therapies is concerned, with a waiting period of more than 2,500 days since the last update,” said Zaharescu. He suggested the update of the list would generate “moderate costs”, since some of the innovative medicines will replace others that are in current use. “These costs could partially be covered through the claw back tax,” said Zaharescu. The executive director pointed out that the authorities have proposed a tougher Health Technical Assessment framework, meaning that few medicines will be introduced onto the reimbursement list. The update should take place on October 29, according to the health authorities’ plans. “However, we would like to underline that the authorities collected RON 350 million more from the claw back tax than they had anticipated and that the medicine budget needs an increase of RON 175 million in order to cover all public treatment needs. A budget responding to these needs would allow the constant update of the reimbursement list, thereby increasing patients’ access to innovative treatment, and would provide space for a sustainable
claw back tax,” said Zaharescu.
Romania’s healthcare financing woes Players say that the root cause of the heavy taxation of the pharma sector is the lack of public funds for healthcare. Mihai of the APMGR said there were no signs yet of any increase in the budget for reimbursed drugs in 2015, adding that the current budget does not meet the real needs of Romanian patients. “Taking into account the constant growth of medicine consumption, it will become unsustainable for producers to bear this financing deficit,” said Mihai. The government has allotted RON 6.7 billion to the reimbursed drugs budget this year, while RON 1.3 billion takes the form of receivables through the claw back, said Local American Working Group (LAWG) consultant Radu Comsa this summer, speaking at a conference. The ARPIM executive pointed out that healthcare financing is currently 20 percent below the real needs of patients. Scarlatescu of D&B Davis si Baias warned that the continuation of last year’s measures, which lacked predictability, pushed up costs and prevented the roll out of new drugs, could persuade some producers to withdraw from the local market. ovidiu.posirca@business-review.ro
www.business-review.ro Business Review | September 22 - 28, 2014
8
Cost-volume agreements could ‘in theory’ replace claw back Nolan Townsend, country manager at American drugs maker Pfizer Romania, which has a local staff of 374 and a plant in Cluj, says that confidential agreements signed between the authorities and pharmaceutical companies governing the sale of drugs could “in theory” replace the claw back tax altogether. ∫ OVIDIU POSIRCA
CV Nolan Townsend
What is your take on the current claw back tax mechanism in Romania? I would like to start with a broader concept, which is healthcare spending in Romania, because the claw back tax actually underlines some wider issues. Romania spends about 5 percent of GDP on healthcare, well below the European Union average of 8 percent. Where this manifests in terms of impact on the industry is in the form of the claw back tax, which, in a way, maintains healthcare spending at a certain level, despite consumption in the marketplace. This is a very challenging issue for pharma companies to deal with, in that it is to some degree unsustainable. When we say it’s unsustainable, we mean that healthcare spending as a percentage of GDP per capita – whatever metric you look at – must increase. With the current claw back tax in place, healthcare spending – or pharma spending, let’s say – is actually remaining flat. So, what we have is, year after year, the pharma industry absorbing a lot of the increases in the consumption of pharmaceutical products in the market.Pfizer is paying the claw back tax in line with the rest of the industry (roughly 20 percent of sales) and it is quite a considerable amount, with a significant impact on sales. We hope as an industry to come to some sort of a solution that can, over time, phase out the claw back tax as a mechanism for managing healthcare spending.
Will the patents for Pfizer’s six innovative drugs expire soon? We have one product with patent
He has an MBA from Harvard Business School and a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from the University of Pennsylvania.
the pharma companies bearing the costs of consumption above a certain budgetary limit. Other mechanisms exist to create budget predictability, and cost-volume agreements are one such. In theory, they could replace the claw back tax as a means to control and manage the healthcare budget.
Photo: Mihai Constantineanu
When do you expect new drugs to be included on the reimbursed list, and does Pfizer Romania have innovative drugs pending approval? We have six products that we have submitted for reimbursement on the list. These come from various therapeutic areas. Based on the latest updates that we’ve had, we expect there to be some outcome by the end of this year, and we hope that by the beginning of next year there will be a newly issued reimbursement list.
He became country manager of Pfizer Romania in April 2014. Prior to this appointment, he was country manager of Pfizer Ukraine. Townsend started his career at Pfizer in 2003.
expiration just a couple of years away, and while waiting for reimbursement the patent life has gotten quite close to expiry. We have a couple with slightly longer patent lives, but this is an issue. The industry has been waiting for quite some time to get these products on the market, and to some degree the costs of R&D are recouped through selling these products over the course of the patent life. So, when we limit the time a product is on the market, we also limit the degree of return versus the R&D investment we made. With the products where loss of
exclusivity is close, I still expect we will launch them on the market because we feel strongly that these are products that patients need, and I think there is still a lot to be done in terms of meeting certain healthcare goals in Romania. Do you hope the government will scrap the claw back tax at some point? There are two things that the health authorities are looking at: the cost of healthcare per capita and budget predictability. We see the claw back as a mechanism employed to ensure budget predictability, basically with
How do cost-volume agreements work in other countries? There are a lot of different structures for cost-volume agreements, but in effect they are typically a confidential agreement between a company and the health authorities to set a level of consumption and certain prices at which products would be sold. It is beneficial for both parties because the health authorities are able to meet their goal of allocating a certain budget to a product, and pharma companies are often able to reach their goals as well. Are the health authorities looking at these agreements? I think this is being seriously considered as a mechanism and I hope that over time it is employed more broadly to make sure healthcare spending is sustainable. Do you think this could replace the claw back altogether? I think ultimately it’s one of the few mechanisms that could allow for the phasing out of the claw back tax. In concept it has a very similar goal in
www.business-review.ro Business Review | September 22 - 28, 2014
“Our intention is to increase our investment in the plant in Cluj. We will be bringing products that are manufactured or packaged in other countries in Europe to this site in Cluj. Romania has the makings of a very compelling market for pharmaceuticals packaging, in terms of labor costs and a few other advantages, if you compare EU countries. For us, Romania represents a very attractive investment for pharmaceutical packaging and we want to increase our presence in that area.” Nolan Townsend, country manager of Pfizer Romania terms of maintaining a consistent level of healthcare expenditure, but relying on agreements between pharma companies and health authorities, it is a bit more tailored to the needs of patients, the state and pharma companies. Who is going to pay for the opening of the reimbursed drugs list? I think it could be a bit challenging, as on one hand the reimbursement list could be re-opened at the beginning of 2015 and on the other hand pharma spending will be flat versus the current year. It’s my hope that we can establish a cost-volume arrangement that will allow for mutually beneficial agreements between the authorities and the industry to avoid the claw back being the mechanism through which this reimbursement list opening is funded. What is Pfizer Romania’s strategy for the nutritional supplements plant it owns in Cluj? Our intention is to increase our investment in the plant in Cluj. We will be bringing products that are manufactured or packaged in other countries in Europe to this site in Cluj. Romania has the makings of a very compelling market for pharmaceuticals packaging, in terms of labor costs and a few other advantages, if you compare EU countries. For us, Romania represents a very attractive investment for pharmaceutical packaging and we want to increase our presence in that area. Where do you export the products packaged in Romania? We export them globally, to various countries in Asia and the Middle East. The products being packaged do not just go back to the EU, but really across the world. How much do you plan to invest in your Cluj plant? We plan to invest another USD 5.4
million in expanding the plant, raising its capacity, and allowing us to bring products from other countries within Europe. How many employees does Pfizer have in Romania? We have 374 employees, many of whom are either located in the main factory in Cluj (124) or in the field. What turnover do you expect this year? The way we look at it is that we need to effectively communicate the value of our products, the value of Pfizer medicines in the market, which allows us to grow our sales. If we do this effectively I think we can expect to continue to grow our presence in the market. So we expect low single-digit growth this year and in the coming years, which would see us slightly outpace the market, but this would be based on our work in terms of communicating the value of our medicines to patients and to payers. How do you expect the pharma market to perform this year? The expectation was originally that the reimbursement list would open in 2014, and I think what has become clear is that this will probably not be the case and it will open in a future year. So I think we will see very similar dynamics driving this year’s sales to previous years. I therefore expect the market this year to be flat or to slightly decline, because it will not benefit from the increase that will come from the new consumption of products on the reimbursement list. The expectation is that in future years we will see an increased budget for pharma, to fund the higher consumption associated with bringing new innovative products and also an uptick in the market of over-thecounter drugs, of which patients are very much in need. ovidiu.posirca@business-review.ro
FOCUS ON PHARMA 9
www.business-review.eu Business Review | September 22 - 28, 2014
10 ANALYSIS
T for two: Romtelecom and Cosmote undergo German regeneration With a EUR 15 million budget, a coordinated international effort and ample dedicated resources, the new identity of Cosmote and Romtelecom –Telekom Romania – is the rebranding of the year. BR investigates how easy it will be for the German brand to stick in the minds of Romanian consumers and what clout it will have on the market. ∫ OTILIA HARAGA Brand and deliver
Courtesy of Telekom Romania
“The whole rebranding exercise involved an international team which included Romanians, Dutch, French, Greeks, Germans.... There was a lot of top talent resource allocation to get it done,” Claudia Nemat, member of the board of management Deutsche Telekom AG, Europe and Technology, tells BR. More than 2.000 people worked on over 100 complex projects in marketing, sales, IT, HR and real estate. The IT teams dedicated 68,000 working hours to implement the changes, including the joint website and the single contact center, which the companies calculated was the equivalent of 35 years of work concentrated in just four months. By the end of the year, more than 500 workshops will have been run for all Romtelecom and Cosmote Romania employees – a total of 1,855 training hours – introducing the new brand, with its values and philosophy, and boosting employee commitment in order to deliver on the promise of the new Telekom Romania brand. The rebranding cost EUR 15 million. When questioned by Business Review, Telekom Romania officials did not provide a breakdown of the investments. The creative part of the campaign was implemented by GMP and Webstyler, while Media Investment, part of The Group, is in charge of the media planning. The agencies signed a two year contract. Thus, Media Investment is managing the Telekom account, after winning a pitch that took place at the end of 2013- the beginning of 2014. Another four media agencies participated. Apart from the media pitch, there was a pitch for the creation part, which was won by GMP. Another three creation agencies participated, according to the company. The rebranding was announced over two days, on the first of which the company made the official announcement at a press conference attended by Romanian PM Victor Ponta, ANCOM president Catalin Marinescu, as well as local and regional officials of OTE and Deutsche Telekom, such as Claudia Nemat, Deutsche Telekom board member for Europe and Technology, HansChristian Schwingen, chief brand officer at Deutsche Telekom AG, and Nikolai
Hans-Christian Schwingen, chief brand officer, Claudia Nemat, board member, DT; CEO Nikolai Beckers, comms director Ruxandra Voda, Telekom Romania
Beckers, CEO of Telekom Romania. The second day was dedicated to interactive events in three major cities: Bucharest, Iasi and Cluj-Napoca. While Romtelecom and Cosmote will be active on the market as Telekom Romania, the companies under their wing will keep their appellations. “The names and identities of Germanos Telecom Romania, Sunlight Romania (the Bucharest subsidiary), NextGen Communications and Telemobil, as well as the names of the services, will not be subject to the rebranding,” company officials told Business Review.
Dialing it up a notch Leaving the EUR 15 million rebranding effort aside, the question is how well Romanians will react to the German brand, which replaces two household names? “Romanians have always received the introduction of global brands onto the local market well, regardless of the industry – be it in banking, telecom or fashion,” Dinu Bumbacea, partner, management consulting, and Ciprian Negura, senior manager, management consulting, both of KPMG, tell BR. They add that the two operators are currently addressing slightly different customer segments. “While Romtelecom is the undeniable leading provider of high-quality integrated services for the enterprise market and the most significant player in some of the fixed residential markets, Cosmote is still perceived as affordable mobile option primarily for the
residential segment,” they say. Telekom officials told BR the rebranding was a long-term process that would take years to complete. “We had a similar experience in this field in the Republic of Macedonia, where we also started to build the T brand from scratch. Building the brand and creating something customers consider valuable and are willing to pay for are things we cannot manage in one or two quarters – I believe it will take a period of five years. Five years is needed to move the market because it is not only about us; it’s about understanding that if you spend nothing, in the end you get nothing,” Nemat told BR. She added that while Romania is, population-wise, the third largest market after Germany and Poland where the Deutsche Telekom group has T in Europe, the brand is fighting a harsh price battle locally. “The level of investment in a country’s networks varies because countries are competing against each other for the best capex, and from my perspective it has of course to do with the macroeconomic situation. (…) Romania is a very tough market for us. The average revenue per user is only EUR 5, so from a ROI perspective, Romania is a pretty difficult market,” Nemat said. On the short term, the impact on the migration of customers will be negligible, Adrian Ciobanu, managing director of Reimens Group, told BR. “The consumer’s perception will change on the medium and long term only if the quality of customer service
improves significantly. In the case of Vodafone and Orange, the companies they took over, Connex and Dialog, had a culture of customer care services, with the quality of services having a special status in the commercial policy. T Mobile took over two companies that come with big challenges in this field. We will find out in a year or two what targets the Germans have,” said Ciobanu. According to the KPMG experts canvassed by BR, “The Romanian telecom market has gone through a shy consolidation in the last few years, but the current large number of electronic communications operators – approximately 1,500 at the end of 2013, according to an ANCOM annual report – invites further consolidation, be it in the TV, internet or fixed/mobile voice markets.” They describe Romania as “one of the most competitive markets in the EU with still different competitive landscapes in each of its sub-markets: a mobile service penetration of more than 120 percent and ARPUs as low as EUR 6.5. Also, a somehow constant number of fixed telephony lines, 4.75 million, and a fixed broadband access penetration rate significantly lower than the EU averages, 46 percent of Romanian households, despite fairly good broadband coverage, especially in urban areas.” Moreover, the Romanian market – in line with the EU and international markets – is also facing other types of challenges that bring into discussion the entire design of the telecom ecosystem for the future, the experts comment, such as the tightening regulatory environment, the pressure of OTT and other ICT service providers. “Therefore, Telekom will need to adapt quickly to the challenges that lie ahead for this industry,” conclude the KPMG representatives. With this change of identity, Telekom Romania announced it aims to offer a new customer experience, built around the one-stop-shop philosophy, which delivers simplified, integrated and customized fixed and mobile solutions. “I think the typical Romanian household is between three and four people. Our offer is really designed with the consumer in mind, with the family in mind, to give them state-of-the art-services at good value for money. I am not saying it’s cheap but you get something
www.business-review.eu Business Review | September 22 - 28, 2014
that is reliable,” said Beckers. “We clearly have a focus to roll out the fiber network, especially in urban areas, and also to strengthen the LTE,” Beckers told BR. This translates into integrated fixed and mobile services shops, with 43 corporate stores undergoing a complete makeover, in line with the new brand identity. Out of these, seven concept stores will offer a hi-tech, interactive customer experience, according to Deutsche Telekom standards. The two companies now operating under the same brand have come up with a new IPTV platform and all-inclusive communication packages. “If we are talking about fixed voice, mobile voice and data, there is nothing new. If we are talking about bundles that comprise IT solutions that are accessible to a large pool of customers, then we may have surprises, especially in the IT services area, such as cloud services, virtualization and outsourcing,” comments Ciobanu. “The competitors’ reaction will be first of all to wait. And they will react, as slowly as they do now, until they feel they are losing revenue or market share.” Prices for the all-inclusive packages range from RON 91 to RON 444, and include smartphones and tablets, depending on the offer. “There is always room for one operator who is just centered on price in every kind of industry. The only thing
that we find unacceptable is that not all operators will play according to the same rules,” Beckers told BR. Telekom Romania is entering the market with a one-stop-shop philosophy. On a single bill, customers will have unlimited communication for mobile and fixed broadband, mobile and fixed voice and also TV entertainment. In addition, all packages from Telekom Romania will include access to the new interactive Telekom TV, web and mobile services, according to company officials. “The strategy is simple: boosting profit, stopping losses, maybe laying off some staff in the next six months, and maybe a reengineering process that other companies have also gone through, with the aim of becoming more efficient. How they will do it is another matter, but I don’t believe anyone can ‘rip the market apart’ with an offer. Perhaps in prepaid we can talk about a ‘wow!’ solution, but in the case of postpaid services, it is highly unlikely,” Ciobanu told BR.
The ball is in the state’s court Meanwhile, a decision on the privatization of the remaining Romtelecom shares and the merger between Romtelecom and Cosmote has stalled. Currently, the Romanian state has a 46 percent stake in Romtelecom. The majority stake in the operator is owned by Greek Group OTE and Deutsche
ANALYSIS 11 Telekom, which owns a 40 percent stake in OTE. Romtelecom also has a 30 percent stake in Cosmote. The ball is clearly in the state’s court. “Our target for Romania is to have a full merger and this means not only a merger from the legal point of view but integrated operations and networks,” Nemat told Hotnews.ro. In terms of the stake that the Romanian state owns in Romtelecom, Beckers said the government has yet to make a move on the matter, since it has not completed its evaluation of how the privatization should be conducted. On February 28, the state signed a contract for consultancy services with representatives of a consortium headed by SSIF Swiss Capital, which also includes UBS Limited, Musat si Asociatii SPARL and BT Securities. Hogan Lovells, Banca Transilvania, and KPMG Advisory are subcontractors. “The government should complete the evaluation and tell us what its demands are, we will come back to them, and I think eventually we will all agree that the merger is a good process. If and when – we will see how this goes. Can it be completed in 2014? I believe it is a rather ambitious deadline, but we are here and we will offer all our assistance to the Romanian authorities,” Beckers told HotNews. In April, Alexandru-Razvan Cotovelea, minister for the information society, told the media that the privatization of
Romtelecom was among the government’s priorities. The minister added that the Romanian state will ask for “a fair price.” “The real value is between EUR 300 million and EUR 600 million and the negotiation will be very tough, because we believe this operator has an extraordinary market potential,” he said at the time. Cotovelea also told the media that he did not rule out the option of selling the shares to Deutsche Telekom. “We don’t have anything against DT buying our shares. It is one of the world leaders in the field and, as long as it plans to invest seriously and doesn’t limit itself to short-term business plans, selling off would be an objective for us,” said the minister. “By the end of the semester, we will have a very precise report from the team of consultants, and the president of the privatization committee will come up with an analysis to see what the best method from the financial and timing point of view is. It could be an IPO, a direct negotiation. I tend to believe that if the figures, the strategy of the consultants, pay off for the government, then direct negotiation is the best,” said Cotovelea at the time. So far, even though the first semester has long ended, no information about any progress in this matter has come through the official channels. otilia.haraga@business-review.ro
www.business-review.eu Business Review | September 15 - 21, 2014
12 CITY CONCERT
FILM REVIEW
Multinational musical ensemble celebrates Maria Tanase
Life of Crime
∫ OANA VASILIU One of the nation’s greatest voices, Maria Tanase has been described as Romania’s Edith Piaf, enchanting the world with her voice for 50 years. September 25 marks 101 years since her birth, an event that will be celebrated nationwide with a special tour – Colors of Maria. Artists from seven countries have embraced the voice and music of the great Romanian chanteuse, transforming her most famous songs into unique and colorful interpretations. The event will bring together jazz improvisation, folk themes from the musicians’ countries of origin and original compositions, all in a journey between East and West. Traditional instruments such as the ney, duduk and oud will complete the atmosphere, accompanied by the exceptional local voices of Monica Madas and Maria Casandra Hausi. Behind the project is Mehdi Aminian, who plays the ney, a traditional Middle
Eastern instrument. The Iranian artist discovered Romanian folklore in 2011, when he participated in the George Enescu International Festival. Aminian was so impressed with the local folklore that he went to Maramures, in northern Romania, to find out more about the regional music. Later, the Iranian discovered Tanase, and came up with the idea of giving her songs an oriental and contemporary makeover. Aminian subsequently brought onto the same stage artists from Romania, Bulgaria, Turkey, Spain, France and Armenia to interpret Tanase’s most famous songs. The tour will run from September 23 until October 12, taking place in ten cities: Craiova, Timisoara, Oradea, Cluj-Napoca, Sibiu, Brasov, Iasi, Galati, Constanta and finally Bucharest, with two concerts, on October 11 and 12, at Sala Radio. Tickets can be bought from the Eventim network and online from www.eventim.ro. Prices range from RON 40 to RON 80, depending on the category and city. oana.vasiliu@business-review.ro
With friends like this: Jennifer Aniston and John Hawkes
∫ DEBBIE STOWE Director: Daniel Schechter Starring:Jennifer Aniston, Mos Def, Isla, Fisher, Will Forte, Mark Boone Jr, Tim Robbins, John Hawkes On at: Cinema City Cotroceni, Cinema City Sun Plaza, Grand Cinema Digiplex, Hollywood Multiplex, Movieplex, The Light Cinema Hapless ex-cons. A doomed criminal scheme. A barnstorming 1970s soundtrack. Jaunty banter. It could be the latest super-cool Quentin Tarantino flick. But instead it’s an amiable repackaging of familiar crime-caper elements lent some élan by a quality cast. Mickey Dawson (Jennifer Aniston) is the long-suffering trophy wife of Frank (Tim Robbins), a dodgy Detroit real estate developer with a finger in every pie in the city. His murky dealings have brought him to the attention of felonious losers Ordell Robbie (Mos Def) and Louis Gara (John Hawkes), who see him as ripe for blackmail. The pair hatch a get-richquick scheme involving poor Mickey, for which they enlist a mentally unbalanced Nazi memorabilia collector (Mark Boone Jr.) to provide weaponry and back-up. Guess what! It doesn’t go according to plan. Into the mix come stumbling the Dawsons’ extramarital interests, Marshall (Will Forte), a country club drinking buddy of Frank’s with designs on the lonely Mickey, and Melanie (Isla Fisher), the younger model for whom Frank was about to trade in his wife. The crooks prove inept at their task and start arguing, and the ruse soon spirals out of control. Based on an Elmore Leonard novel, Life of Crime is nicely plotted
with some deft twists, which help make up for the feeling that you’ve seen it all before. The movie is satisfyingly cynical about human nature: spineless Marshall and hard-faced Melanie both prove more interested in safeguarding their own positions than in the welfare of an innocent women who’s fallen into the hands of dangerous criminals, and Frank’s concern for the mother of his son is pathetically half-hearted. Happily, proceedings are not overly violent, given the subject matter (though there are a few wince-inducing moments). All the stars make the most of their roles, in particular Aniston, who fleshes out her trophy wife into a rounded character that is the film’s heart. Robbins is suitably loathsome as the philandering crook, who gets played like a violin by Fisher’s selfserving mistress. While its debt to Tarantino and other black comedies is manifest – some of the characters appeared in 1997’s Jackie Brown, also based on a Leonard book – Life of Crime is nowhere near as memorable as the movies it invokes. There are many iconic entries in the darkly funny crime capers and wife-kidnap genre – from Pulp Fiction and The Big Lebowski to Ruthless People (to which the plot here bears close similarities) and more recently the Oscarwinning American Hustle – and Daniel Schechter’s film does not approach that caliber. But its vivid characters and impressive cast do some justice to the story, and Life of Crime is a respectable tribute to the recently deceased Leonard, credited as executive producer, and an advert for the rest of his work. debbie.stowe@business-review.ro
www.business-review.eu Business Review | September 15 - 21, 2014
Bucharest from City of Joy to Little Paris In the Middle Ages, the Greeks called Bucharest Hilariopolis, which translates to the City of Joy. In the 1800s, its charm and elegance earned it the nickname Le Petit Paris. As the capital marks its 555th anniversary, BR takes a look at its history.
CITY 13 PARTNER CONTENT
Moving on up! Two choices for fun fitness by Delia Iliasa, General Manager of Club Moving Romania With over 30 years of experience in fitness and wellness, Club Moving is undergoing fast growth in Romania and slowly becoming one of the top players in the industry.
Bucharest in the early 18th century, in a 1717 woodcut from Leipzig
∫ OANA VASILIU Once upon a time … The official Bucharest City Hall documentation presented for the capital’s 555th anniversary indicates rival claims to have founded the city from Bucur the Shepherd, the traditional candidate, and Vlad the Impaler, cited in the first documented mention, which dates the capital to September 20, 1459. Historical research brought to light the vestiges of a fortress dating back to the second half of the 14th century. The town of Bucharest was born, and the Court of the Prince, Mircea Ciobanu’s church (1558-1559), plus the small alleys of the merchants and craftsmen sprang up around this early fortress. Flowing through the town, the Dambovita river became a link with the north of the city and its lakes. Memories of the old villages live on in the familiar names of Berceni, Floreasca, Colentina and Pantelimon, all modern-day neighborhoods. In 1659, Bucharest was made the permanent capital of Wallachia. The city continued to develop, numerous churches were erected, better fortified inns appeared and the city got its first street paved with wooden beams, Mogosoaia Bridge (1692), subsequently renamed Victoriei Street in 1878, the research found. In the 19th century, the city began to modernize, and was made capital of Romania after the union between Moldavia and Wallachia in 1862. Back
then, Bucharest was the largest city in South-Eastern Europe, after Istanbul. Most of the flagship buildings of Bucur’s town date back to the reign of Carol I (1866-1914): the Romanian Athenaeum (1888), Carol I Royal Foundation Palace (1891), the Ministry of Agriculture, the Palace of Justice, the Post Palace, Sturdza Palace, CEC Palace, the Patriarchy Palace, the Military Circle, Athenee Palace Hotel and many other impressive edifices all emerged in this period. At the end of the World War I, Bucharest was considered one of the most beautiful European capitals, with its glamorous cultural and social life, elegant atmosphere and architecture earning it the moniker Little Paris. But things changed radically in the communist period, largely because of industrialization: thousands of people were moved to the capital and housed in charmless blocks of flats, which came to dominate the cityscape.
… after 555 years Today’s Bucharest is a mix of traditional and modern, and is coming under the spotlight on its anniversary thanks to the Bucharest Cultural Center, ArCuB. The organizers have come up with a diverse program, from video mapping on the Palace of Parliament to alternative sounds, dancing in the Old City, concerts featuring Romanian artists and a gastronomic and cultural fair hosted in Cismigiu Gardens. oana.vasiliu@business-review.ro
Club Moving has promoted the importance of a healthier lifestyle through sports activities in over 60 clubs around the world under the slogan “Moving is life”. In the spring of 2010, the French franchise made a bold decision to come into the Romanian market, and since adapting a model to better suit local needs, it has started to become one of the top fitness options for Romanians. Today Club Moving Romania operates two different concepts: Club Moving in Bucharest, Otopeni, Cluj and Iasi and Moving Express in Ploiesti and Bacau. Although both types of clubs have top fitness equipment and an array of dynamic training programs, the difference between the two lies in the types of facilities and the market segment that each targets. “Whether you are a sports enthusiast or entering a gym for the first time, Club Moving allows you to find activities that you will enjoy. You can choose to personalize your workouts, if you want to see fast results, or to opt for group activities for a daily boost of energy and fun. If you want to relax your body and revive your senses, Club Moving has the perfect setting for you: with a semi-Olympic swimming pool, saltern, sauna and massages, your daily wellbeing can be improved,” said Alina Erbiceanu, Marketing Manager at Club Moving Romania. “Moving Express, meanwhile, targets a younger, more dynamic, socially active crowd, so our focus is more on fitness activities than leisure and the price is very attractive.”
What’s in store for the future? “Our plan is to open two more clubs by the end of this year and nine
more in the year to come. Our focus is equally divided between adding more locations to our network and making sure that our promise to customers stays true in terms of the service we offer, ensuring that with every visit each of our members has a pleasurable experience. What makes us unique on the market is the emphasis we put on the human factor, from customers to employees, to all stakeholders involved. We try to understand, satisfy our members’ needs and always come up with fresh approaches in helping them in their efforts to have healthier and well lived lives. To accomplish this we make sure not only that we hire really passionate and driven individuals, but also that we invest continuously in training and developing our employees,” said Delia Iliasa General Manager of Club Moving Romania. Contact: Club Moving Bucuresti Hotel Caro, Bd. Barbu Vacarescu Nr. 164A Sector 2, Bucureşti 010065, România tel: 0744771144 fix: 0314253249 fax 0314253250
www.business-review.eu Business Review | September 22 - 28, 2014
14 CITY
DON’T MISS BUCHAREST ART WEEK
Courtesy of Bucharest Art Week
September 26 – October 4 The first Bucharest Art Week will run under the theme “cities, borders and attitudes”, structured around the need for experiment and cultural exchange between artists from European countries, especially from Central and Eastern Europe. It will involve a series of artistic events organized in public spaces, interspersed with art expos, open workshops, talks, tours and auxiliary happenings in galleries, alternative spaces and cultural centers. Proceedings open at Foisorul de Foc / The Fire Tower (33 Ferdinand Blvd.) with a collective exhibition by 29 artists, Inner Fire, a Matter of Limits / Arderea interioara, o chestiune de limite. Musical act Fierbinteanu will perform live at the launch. Carol 53 (53 Carol I Blvd.) will host another collective exhibition by a group of young artists presenting graphics, paintings and installations, a manifesto named BITUM by Razvan Anghelache, Alexandra Baciu, Bianca Ionita and Daniela Virlan. Japanese artist Tomoaki Minoda will have a photography exhibition, Bucharest Today at Galeria IX (9 Aviatorilor Blvd.). Another space that will be given over to contemporary arts is Home Matasari (17 Matasari St.), which hosts the first personal painting exhibition of Adrian Dica, who presents to the public The Big Trash Can / Marele Tomberon, around the idea of trash and damage to the personal values under pressure to obtain social validation. Fifteen artists from Cluj Napoca will also reveal a joint canvas. Gara de Nord (1-3 Gara de Nord Square) will host five days of video content courtesy of the artists Petru Ionescu – The Line, Maia Stefana Oprea – Lining, Dijana Tomik Radevska – Drama of Gesture and Insomnia, Dimitris Palade – Fringe Dance, plus others. The National Library of Romania (22 Unirii Blvd.) plays host to two exhibitions during Bucharest Art Week, one in collaboration with The Elie Wiesel National Institute for Studying the Holocaust in Romania, called Witnesses and testimonials, as well as an international exhibi-
Hot ticket: artist Otilia Cadar will exhibit her Hominiade series at the Fire Tower
tion, Balkan Mood: Focus Macedonia, which brings under the spotlights Macedonian artists Srdjan Micic, Orhan Kamilov, Dijana Tomik Radevska, Marina Leskova, Stefan Jakimovski and Sotir Hadji Nikolov along with their Romanian counterparts, Alexandra Baciu, Anca Branzas, Alexandra Pasca, Razvan Anghelache and Florina Nita. Solitar Urban / Lonely Urban is another group exhibition due to take place at the Curtea Veche Museum (21 Franceza St.), featuring Cristi Gaspar, Raluca Ghideanu, Grupul Foc(AR) (Alina Tudor and Razvan Neagoe), Lucian
Muntean, Christian Paraschiv, Justinian Scarlatescu and Maria Pop Timaru. A double event will be hosted by Galeria Occidentului (11 Occidentului St.): The Reconstruction of the Fragment / Refacerea fragmentului, a painting exhibition by Matei Enric and Musicals, a contemporary jewelry design show by Alexandru Burlacu. The week ends at Dianei 4 (4 Dianei St.) with a closing party that will follow Alex Baciu’s Ghost Host exhibition. Business Review readers are recommended to pay attention as they pass
FOUNDING EDITOR Bill Avery PUBLISHER Anca Ionita
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR George Moise SALES & EVENTS DIRECTOR Oana Molodoi SALES & EVENTS Sales managers: Ana-Maria Nedelcu, Oana Albu, Raluca Comanescu MARKETING Ana-Maria Stanca, Ana Maria Andrei, Iulia Mizgan PRODUCTION Dan Mitroi DISTRIBUTION Eugen Musat
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Simona Fodor JOURNALISTS Otilia Haraga - senior journalist, Simona Bazavan, Ovidiu Posirca, Oana Vasiliu COPY EDITOR Debbie Stowe PHOTO EDITOR: Mihai Constantineanu
ISSN No. 1453 - 729X
LAYOUT Beatrice Gheorghiu ART DIRECTOR Alexandru Oriean
through the center of the city, where Bucharest Art Week will present a series of art manifestos by the artists EGG NO EGO (Valentina Chirita, Ana Barbu, Mina Barbu), Delia Maxim, Paul Popa, Matei Ulmeanu, Julien Britnic, Roxana Gatej, Sabin Garea and Adrian Dica, whose works of art are to be found dotted around Bucharest.
The full program of the events will be constantly updated on the Business Review website. oana.vasiliu@business-review.ro
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