Following the announced acquisition of SABMiller by the Belgians from AB InBev for an estimated 100 billion EUR, the new owners announced the intention to sell the assets and local beer brands from Central and Eastern Europe, including Romania. Ursus, Timisoreana, and Ciucas are the Romanian brands in SABMiller's portfolio that will be up for sale in order to win approval from the European Commission.  ...more »

The Chinese from China Energy Company (CEFC) are the new major shareholders of Rompetrol Rafinare, after closing a deal with KazMunayGas (CN KMG), Kazakhstan’s national company for oil and gas.  The preparatory arrangements for this deal were taken care of by experts from Kazakhstan, China, and Romania, and made possible signing the Memorandum of Agreement on 14 December 2015 in the presence of the Chinese and Kazakhstani Prime Ministers, as well as its validation by the main parties of the transaction on 29 January 2016 (Term Sheet). ...more »

According to Prime Minister Dacian Ciolos during an energy conference held in Bucharest, and following Petro Porosenko's visit in Bucharest last week, Ukraine has a “strong will to continue the efforts for energy connection with the Romanian grid for gas, as well as electricity”, and that “both parties are looking for the resources to make it happen, also by stimulating the Romanian electrical companies to be a part of the project.” In the context of European financing for projects like BRUA (energetic interconnection between western Europe and Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary, and Austria), the PM suggested that the EU should also support and finance the interconnection between the states in the eastern partnership in order to develop the economic cooperation “so that these countries remain connected to Europe not only on a declaration level”, and hopes for Romania to become an “energetic hub.”...more »

The French Immochan will begin constructing the first 13 buildings out of 60 in the Coresi Shopping Resort in Brasov (that they themselves erected as well). The residential investment will reach 100 million EUR in the following years. Immochan will be the sponsor, and Avantgarden Immo Invest, the developer. "The first phase of the project consists of 13 buildings with 60 apartments. The first three will be delivered in April next year, and then another set of three at every three months. The project consists of 60 buildings with 3000 appartments, and it will be finalized in about 7-8 years", reveals Tatian Diaconu, General Manager of Immochan Romania, who also adds that the board intends to reproduce the concept in other big cities like Iasi, Constanta, Cluj, Craiova, Sibiu, and Timisoara....more »

MedLife, the leader of the private healthcare services in Romania, purchased the majority shares package of DentEstet, comprising a network of seven dental clinics with revenue of 5.5 million EUR in 2015. This is the first transaction in the dentistry segment for Medlife. "In the following period, we aim to extend the group of DentEstet clinics with at least one or two units per year, and dentistry is going to become one of the six business divisions within MedLife, along with hyper clinics, labs, hospitals, maternities, and drug stores", says Mihai Marcu, the president of the administration council of MedLife....more »

The Energetic Complex Oltenia (CE Oltenia) is going through a rough patch since losses of approximately 220 million EUR in 2015, and about 155 million EUR in 2014 have caused extreme measures of preparing for July the dismissal of 2000 employees out of their total 15 000. 150 miners from CE Oltenia have come to Bucharest today after walking over 300 kilometers in order to protest against the dismissals....more »

City Insurance, the forth RCA insurer in 2015 is expecting financial recovery since the Authority for Financial Surveillance (ASF) conducted a sudden control between November 2015 and February 2016, and it turned out the company needs over 34 million EUR in order to have a minimum solvability margin. As it appears, City Insurance has not underlayed correctly the claims backup when it comes to the Green Card policies. After actuating the financial recovery, a financial auditor will be assigned, and all the damage claims will be inventoried until late March. Also, City Insurance will be obliged to recover several loans granted to affiliated companies, and it will not be able to grant new ones. ...more »

“Noriel” group, the largest toys and games retailer in Romania was purchased by the Polish private equity fund Enterprise Investors, one of the biggest private equity funds in Central and Eastern Europe that gathers 8 funds with a total capital of over 2 billion EUR. Axxess Capital (minority shareholder) and brothers Cristian and George Constantinescu (founders and majority shareholders) closed the deal with Enterprise Investors, that also owns the supermarket chains “Profi”, for companies Noriel Impex, Toys and Games Industry, and Intertoy Zone. The sale purchase agreement was signed yesterday and the transaction will be closed subject to approval by the Competition Council and the fulfilment of other conditions precedent....more »

Deloitte’s “Deleveraging Europe 2015-2016 Survey” highlighted that Romania counts among the most active countries in the region when it comes to the non-performing loans market (“NPLs”), with estimated sales (including transactions ongoing at the end of the year) of 2.5 billion EUR last year. According to the Survey, a number of transactions initiated in late 2015 remain ongoing and will be a key driver for 2016 market trend. However, failed deals are not helping the market develop and investors retain a healthy skepticism regarding the likelihood of deals completing. Thus, establishing a servicing platform for secured portfolios is a key concern for many international investors....more »

A survey conducted by The European Association of Societies of ESCO (UE.ESCO) together with the European Federation of Intelligent Energy Efficiency Services (EFIEES)-as volunteer co-administrators of The European Code of Conduct on Energy Performance Contracts (EPC), based on Eurostat guidance note showed that EU guidance rules have negative impact on investments in energy efficiency in the public sector. Ten member states (Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Ireland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain and Sweden) out of 15, participant to the survey, have reached the previous conclusion. ...more »