The Diplomat Bucharest - Foreign Investments in Romania

Big laundry aims to clean-up
Laundry giant Salesianer Miettes has opened a 9.5 million Euro plant to launder textiles in Militari, western Bucharest. The company offers laundry and textile renting services to firms in the hotel, health and food industries. Stretching at over 23,000 square metres, the plant has a planned processing capacity of 20 tonnes of fabric per day.
Concrete prefabs gain ground
Building material company SW-Umwelttechnik will invest 30 million Euro in erecting two concrete prefabricates factories in Giurgiu and Mures counties, said the firm’s commercial director, Emil Rotaru. The plant located in Izvoru, Giurgiu, is planned to begin production this September. The second factory, in Targu Mures, has works scheduled to begin next year.

Coilprofil makes new sandwich panels
Construction material firm Coilprofil Romania has invested four million Euro to build a new production facility for sandwich panels in Ceptura, Prahova county. This completes a larger investment programme, valued at eight million Euro, the Belgian firm began back in 2002.

Pharma producer takes on Cluj plant
Pharma producer Ferrosan has acquired the Alsifcom plant in Cluj-Napoca. The plant stretches over 1,500 square metres and is equipped with modern machines and facilities for pharmaceutical production. Officials said the factory will be used to manufacture and packaging for some of Ferrosan’s product lines. The company will also establish a new sales and distribution firm which, in collaboration with the factory’s former owner, will continue selling the current products along with Ferrosan’s products on the Romanian market.

DIY chain heads to Pitesti
DIY retailer Bricostore will open a store in Pitesti this November in a seven million Euro investment. The DIY store will occupy the same plot as the new Auchan hypermarket. The firm also intends to open four more stores next year outside Bucharest, which will take its estate to 12 outlets.
Furniture brand goes to Baneasa
Furniture and office design suppliers Corporate Office Solutions (COS) has opened a showroom for furniture brand Steelcase in Baneasa, north Bucharest and plans to open a second in Chisinau, the Republic of Moldova. Managing partner Cristophe Weller says that in 2008 COS will open Steelcase branches in Brasov, Cluj-Napoca, Timisoara and Constanta.

Shoe chain sizes up Romania
Shoe store Deichmann will open outlets in Pitesti, Arad and Roman this August, before continuing to launch stores across the whole country. The firm chose these locations because there were units available that fulfil the group’s standards, says Ulrich Effing, head of corporate communications at Deichmann Group. The spokesman says the company, which targets the mass market in shoes for children and adults, says it will open in Bucharest when it has found the correct location.
Prefab manufacturer steps in
Baupartner-owned Baulemente is set to invest up to five million Euro this year to build a prefabricates production facility in Aricesti, Prahova county. The plant will be built on a 50,000 square metres plot of land and is scheduled for completion by the end of this year.

Petrol station boost in pipeline
Oil and gas group Agip Romania will invest almost seven million Euro to open five new filling stations this year, said the company’s general manager, Nicola Meuli. The Italians will invest 36 million Euro in the next four years, aiming to boost Agip Romania’s market share from two to four per cent.
Luxury store plans four more outlets
Luxury goods retailer Cellini will invest two million Euro in another four Cellini stores and two new boutiques for Svarowski crystals. The stores, based in Bucharest, will open by the end of 2007 according to Alessandro Amato, general manager of Sodo Migliori, co-owners of Cellini.

Charter flights extend reach
Following the launch of a series of charters and scheduled flights to Bucharest and Cluj-Napoca, Air Malta last month decided to start operating a series of charter flights to Timisoara. The catchment area also includes south-east Hungary and northern Serbia. The charter flights from Timisoara will operate on Friday nights for nine weeks in the peak July and August months.

Iasi outsourcing firm opens new office
IT outsourcing company Code40, with a main shareholder in Dutch company Maxcode, has opened a new office in Iasi. Code40, with 25 employees, targets the markets in custom software and offshore development in the IT sector. “We believe in ‘outsourcing’,” says Ilie Ghiciuc, one of the shareholders in Code40, “but only when it happens in such a way that the ‘us versus them’ sentiment is avoided and collaboration happens on a peer-level, appealing to the professionalism of all parties concerned.”

New seed factory for US giant
Seed producer Monsanto is building a processing facility for seed manufacturing on the outskirts of Bucharest. The investment, worth in the tens of millions, aims to create easier access to the company’s products for Romanian customers and decrease the amount the firm imports. At present, more that 50 per cent of Monsanto’s products are exported from the rest of Europe.
Fund buys into online ads
Investment fund Tiger Global Management has bought a minority stake in two Romanian recruitment websites, ejobs.ro and Neogen, owner of bestjobs.ro. The first transaction took place with a Dutch investment fund. The value of the transaction is estimated at around ten million Euro.