Advertising holding group Epa (Europaische Plakat und Aussenwerbeholding) has bought 85 per cent of outdoor advertising firm Euromedia from Constanta-based Plasty Prod. Local press has estimated the undisclosed sum at around 13 or 14 million Euro. Last year Euromedia said it posted a turnover of ten million Euro. Epa has operations in the majority of central European nations and one third of the outdoor advertising market in Austria. The firm renames all its foreign subsidiaries ‘outdoor akzent’.

 

Construction project developer Liebrecht & Wood is planning to enter the office space market in Bucharest with a building covering a total surface over 20,000 square metres and an investment estimated at between 20 to 22 million Euro, understood to be in the business district around Piata Victoriei. The new project will be made of four connected buildings with a surface area of about 5,000 square metres each.

 

Energy firm CEZ has won the privatisation process for Electrica Oltenia, buying a 24.6 per cent stake for 47.4 million Euro. The firm is expected to increase its interest to 51 per cent through a share capital increase of 103.6 million Euro. The Czech group is ready to pay up to 201 million Euro to control the main stake in Electrica Oltenia, which runs the electrical network in Turceni, Rovinari and Craiova. Electrica Oltenia has 1.36 million customers.

 

France Telecom's Orange will invest a further 155 million Euro this year in its telephone services, including development of its data services. So far Orange has invested around one billion USD in Romania and has over 5 million customers, as well as operating profits of 238 million Euro for 2004, a rise of 41 per cent on the previous year. Orange Romania CEO Richard Moat told Ziarul Financiar he aims to sign up a further million customers by the end of the year.

Louis Delhaize-owned retailer Cora is starting to build a new hypermarket in Cluj in an investment estimated at around 25 million Euro. 600 jobs are likely to be created. This follows the opening of hypermarkets in Brasov and Bucharest.

Energy group E.ON has paid 31.37 million Euro to buy a 24.62 per cent stake in Electrica Moldova from the state and will boost its interest to 51 per cent through a share capital increase of 68.63 million Euro. The German group, through its gas division Ruhrgas, will also take over the main stake in Romanian gas producer Distrigaz Nord, which covers most of the counties where Electrica Moldova is operating. Electrica Modova has 1.31 million customers.

Electric connector producer Weidmueller will invest five million Euro in a greenfield factory in Tautii Magherus, Maramures, close to the Ukraine and Hungarian borders, to be completed by 2007. After one or two years, the Romania Agency for Foreign Investments predicts that Weidmueller could also invest a further five million in Romania. Boasting a 330 million annual turnover, Weidmueller works with Bosch, Siemens, General Electric, Honeywell, Nokia, Rockwell, Mitsubishi Electric, Toshiba and Kawasaki.

 

Alpha Bank plans to invest over 30 million Euro over the next three years, says Christos Giampanas, executive president of the financial institution. This year the plan includes opening ten new branches at first in the wider Bucharest area. By the end of 2007 the strategy is to achieve a total of 50 branches in Romania.

Packaging producer MJ Maillis is investing up to 500,000 Euro in the building that will double the size of its factory, to be finished March 2005, followed by financing in machinery and production of new products. The company will also increase the free float of the company’s shares on the BSE from the current eight per cent listed. For more information, see the Greek investment focus.

Cleaning product producer Interstar Chim will invest around 300,000 Euro in its product supply and modernising its warehouses. It will also built another production unit in Ukraine and expand more onto this neighbouring market. In 2004, Interstar Chim invested some one million USD in the construction of a new 3,500 sqm warehouse in Bucharest.

BST Development and Construction Company has opened the first Golden Tulip hotel in Romania, in an undisclosed investment, on Calea Victoriei. The hotel has 82 rooms all with free high-speed Internet access and 24-hour room service. The company says there will be other investments in Golden Tulip hotels in other cities of Romania and in other accommodation facilities, including a building to be constructed with 120 high class apartments in the city centre of Bucharest.

 

Aluminium can producer Can-Pack will open a new production facility for beer and refreshment drinks in south Bucharest this year in an investment of around 26 million Euro. The facility will be completed in early summer with a yearly capacity of 650 million cans. As well as its domestic market, Can-Pack also has operations in Tecuci, Moldova and Ukraine. US-based F&P Holdings is the main shareholder in Can-Pack.

 

Trading house Glencore has bought 51 per cent of grain and non-ferrous metallic waste trader Barter Trading Constanta. The acquisition, by Glencore Protein Romania SRL, was estimated at between 2.5 and 4 million, according to sources reported in Ziarul Financiar.

 

New Century Holdings has opened an investment fund for Romania with a capital of around 275 million USD. This follows the firm's establishment of Broadhurst investment fund, which owns bakery firm Vel Pitar and Libra Bank.