Nawaf Salameh: “Alexandrion Group is exclusively represented in the public space by me or by individuals designated by me”

Nawaf Salameh, Founding Chairman of the Alexandrion Group, the biggest producer of spirits and sparkling wine in Romania, said that Alexandrion Group is represented in the public space exclusively by its founding chairman or by individuals designated by him, a company release shows.

Salameh stressed the fact that for the global business strategy of the Group, it is essential that the messages are sent directly to the public, through individuals, designated by him, who hold key positions in the management structure, to avoid distorting the message or the message being perceived wrongly by the public. This kind of communication would limit the potential negative impact on the positioning and image of the Group.

“Alexandrion Group is expanding aggressively. I want us to be present in all the 248 countries of the globe as soon as possible and I am certain that this will happen sooner or later. In this context, in which the stake is very high and our global footprint becomes stronger and stronger it is crucial that both I as a leader and the individuals designated by me, from the family office structure or from the top management, communicate directly with the audience, in order not to allow the spreading of wrong information at international level, which could damage our credibility and reputation if they are not communicated properly.

I understand the role of the business associations and I respect the work that they put in to create visibility for their members and to support their development, but we were faced with situations in which our vision was different from the vision of the majority and the message that they sent out publicly did not represent us. Given these situations I have decided to communicate the fact that any information about the Alexandrion Group, presented in the public space, is valid and correct only if it is transmitted by me or by the individuals designated by me. Therefore, I would like to ask all those who have questions regarding different aspects related to the activity of our group to address them directly to us and to only take into account the statements made by Alexandrion Group representatives I have designated for this purpose.

I would like to highlight the fact that Alexandrion Group is not represented by any association of spirits or wine producers or distributors. It is also important to understand the fact that no association represents all the producers and distributors on the Romanian market, but only its members.

These days I read a message issued in the public space by an association of spirits producers and importers from Romania, which sought a Government  postponement in the application of the excise tax on alcohol and spirits to the annual inflation rate, until January 1^st 2024. In 2021 state budget official statistics recorded in the press reported revenues worth 850 million RON from this tax paid by the entire spirits industry. Alexandrion Group contributed 125,685,293 RON to this amount, which is around 15%.

The main issue that the alcoholic beverages market is facing is not the increase of this tax, but the fact that the legislation is not adequate and should be improved to protect the business sector. The market in Romania is flooded by alcoholic beverages with fake stamp, from neighboring countries, because we don’t have an efficient control system at the borders of the country.

The state must give a correct direction to the alcoholic beverages sector. We need laws that discourage the acquisition of counterfeit alcoholic beverages, which put health at risk, undermine the legitimacy of the authorized international companies in the area, jeopardize jobs and lead to huge financial losses to the state’s revenues, resulted from fees applied to alcoholic beverages producers.”