In 2014, a government decision (HG 495/2014) was laying the grounds for helping large energy consumers' energy bill by introducing a reduction of 85% from the price of acquisition of green certificates. The state aid would be awarded to the companies as an “agreement of exception” after applying for it at the Ministry of Economy with a range of documents that prove investments in energy efficiency. The amount of the green certificates was estimated at about EUR 750 million in ten years this value being transferred to other consumers, especially on SMEs. ...more »

MedLife and other group entities were granted 56 million EUR from a syndicate of banks made up of Banca Comercială Română, as coordinator, BRD-Groupe Société Générale, ING Bank N.V Amsterdam – Bucharest Branch, and Raiffeisen Bank. MedLife will use the resources in order to develop its business and consolidate its position on the Romanian market.  ...more »

bpv Grigorescu Ştefănică advised the Chinese company Ningbo Joyson Electronic Corporation (Joyson Electronics) in a transaction valued at $920 million, by which the company acquired Key Safety Systems. This is one of the largest transactions in the automotive sector of the early 2016. Joyson Electronics, one of the world’s leading suppliers of automotive components, has signed the agreement for the acquisition of the auto supplier Key Safety Systems. Key Safety Systems, a US manufacturer of security systems for the automotive industry, such as airbags, steering wheels, seat belts, is operating in 32 locations around the world, including Romania, where it is present with facilities in Arad and Hunedoara. It is predicted that the transaction will result in a company with annual sales of $3 billion employing approximately 20,000 people. ...more »

Romania could become one of the best places for entrepreneurship in Europe but Romanian entrepreneurs with vision, planning on extending their opperations to regional level do not receive institutional support, said Bogdan Ion, Country Managing Partner of EY in the opening session of the Romanian Business Leaders Summit. He gave the example of Mircea Tudor, whose innovation for plane scanner "is now promoted by the Swiss government and receives tax breaks." Romanian Business Leaders Foundation Leaders is an association that aims to develop a platform for social action and involvement of private sector leaders. The ultimate goal is for Romania to become a better country for doing business responsibly. The expanding sommunity of Romanian Business Leaders includes over 400 entrepreneurs and heads of companies in Romania working voluntarily in concrete projects they generate in education, entrepreneurial culture and good governance....more »

European Commissioner Cretu mentioned during a press conference that Romania has significant delays on a number of areas for European funds. “Romania has so far met 14 out of 22 requirements set by the European Commission, but still has areas with significant delays” said Cretu. She adds that there are 280 investment projects for the next years regarding healthcare facilities nd 65 emergency care rooms at county hospitals and three regional hospitals. This follows the recent announcement by the European Commission that payments for Sectoral Operational Programme for Human Resources Development POSDRU will be interrupted again because of irregularities in the way of project selection, discovered by European officials in a mission audit conducted last year between October 21 to November 10. POSDRU payments were discontinued or suspended by the EC several times in recent years, amid suspicions of fraud. ...more »

MedLife the private healthcare market leader in Romania, signed a syndicated loan of EUR 56 million, with the Romanian Commercial Bank, ING Bank, Raiffeisen Bank and BRD, of which 20 million euros will be earmarked for acquisitions. The majority stake in the company is owned by Marcu family other shareholders being the investment fund Value4Capital and IFC. According to company representatives, the 20 million will be supplemented with own funds of € 5 million and will be used exclusively for acquisitions to extend the MedLife operations nationwide. ...more »

Polish Innova Capital Investments Fund has sold the entire shares package of Provus Group (altogether with Provus Service Provider, Romcard and Supercard Solutions & Services), the biggest payment processing center in Romania and one of the largest in Europe to German services supplier Wirecard, for 32 million EUR. With a total of 114 employees, Provus is Romania’s leading payment processing and technological service provider. The payment provider supports companies in outsourcing acquiring and card processing, e-commerce payment transactions and point-of-sale (POS) operations. Its customer base includes major Romanian banks in addition to significant telecommunications and retail players. In addition, Provus has worked with the Romanian government in the digitisation of health and payment cards. Provus was set up in 2001 and ever since it has been present on the Romanian market with card processing transactions, card personalization, as well as retail services. The group has 114 employees and over time, it has served clients like Sensiblu, MOL Romania, Cora Profi, Metro Cash&Carry Romania, but also local branches of OTP, Unicredit, and Societe Generale....more »

2015 has been the best year for the hotels in Bucharest compared to any of the past five, having had a growth of 8,6%, and reaching 68%. The growing number of tourists not only reflects in the occupancy rates, but also in the numbers of the tourism agencies that organize events and incoming. Comparing the working days with the weekends, analysts from STR Global noticed a larger market for business and corporate clients so they concluded that leisure tourism should grow faster to become at least equal to business tourism. ...more »

Veranda shopping center, located in the Obor area in Bucharest, attracted funding of EUR 25.5 million from Raiffeisen Bank SA and Raiffeisen Bank International AG, that will be used fort the project development. In this transaction, Veranda Mall was assisted by law firms Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer and PeliFilip, while financing banks have been advised by the lawyers of CMS Cameron McKenna. The credit agreement for Veranda shopping center was completed in February 2016 in order to partly finance the total cost for project development. Under the agreement, it provides the opportunity to increase funding to 28.5 million euros, while the total investment in the project is estimated to 60 million. ...more »

After three years of delays, energy trader Alpiq Romindustries and aluminum producer Alro SA lose law suits in favor of Hidroelectrica. Alro and Alpiq were requesting damages worth of 146 million EUR for not being registered in the preliminary table of claims after Hidroelectrica entered insolvency.  From October 2011 to December 2012, Hidroelectrica faced extreme dryness and therefore, the low debits of the Danube could not provide the foreseen amount of energy to its creditors. At first, it tried to compensate by buying thermic energy and selling it for an even lower price. But, when the financial resources were exhausted, the company invoked force majeure, which allowed them to diminish the quantity of energy provided to its commercial partners. The Court entitled Hidroelectrica to the reimbursement of the trial expenses, approx. 28.600 EUR. Alro was represented by Tuca Zbarcea & Asociatii, and Alpiq by law firmSchoenherr. ...more »