1. Alpine insolvency
Alpine SA, the local subsidiary of Austria’s bankrupt Alpine group, went insolvent several months after the main infrastructure contracts it had, the construction of the Brasov beltway and of a segment of the Nadlac-Arad highway were cancelled by Romania’s company in charge of national roads and highways, CNADNR.
Alpine posted some EUR115 million revenue with about 440 employees in Romania last year, which made it one of the most important foreign builders in the country working on private and public sector construction projects.
2. Delta ACM wins EUR70 million contract in Algeria
Bucharest-based construction company Delta ACM 93, of businessman Florea Diaconu, won two public housing contracts worth EUR70 million to build 2,750 homes in Tebessa and El Bayadh in Algeria. These are its first contracts in this country, after receiving work from Iraq and Gabon, ZF has learnt.
The contracts for the construction of the 2,750 homes amount to some EUR70 million, but Delta ACM 93 is also supposed to build the necessary infrastructure for them (streets, water supply and sewage systems etc.) for another 20% to 30% of the contract value or EUR15 million to EUR20 million, according to ZF’s calculations.
3. Sale of Deutek to Axxess Capital fund
Private equity fund Advent International, which sold drug producer Labormed last winter, completed a new exit this year when it sold paint producer Deutek to a fund held by Axxess Capital.
Advent International had bought Deutek, which posted EUR26 million revenue last year and owns such brands as Danke!, Oskar and Superweiss, in 2005.
4. AdePlast takes over local operations of Dufa and Schomburg
Romanian entrepreneur Marcel Barbut, who owns construction supplies producer AdePlast, started an aggressive expansion plan, inaugurating plants on the three industrial sites the company has in Oradea, Ploiesti and Roman. AdePlast also took over the local operations of paint maker Dufa, and of Schomburg Romania, a company specializing in waterproofing solutions, additives for mortars and concrete and other products.
5. Kingfisher buys Bricostore
British home improvement retailer Kingfisher announced in April it took over the 15 Bricostore do-it-yourself stores in Romania from France’s Group Bresson. The 15 stores posted EUR131 million sales in 2012 and Kingfisher paid GBP35 million in cash for them, in addition to GBP35 million in debt settled right away.
6. Failure of AdePlast IPO
The initial public offering of construction materials producer AdePlast on the Bucharest Stock Exchange failed because investors subscribed less than the 70% of the shares offered for sale, required for the operation to be a success.
7. Umbrarescu fires 1,000
Builder Tehnostrade, of businessman Dorinel Umbrarescu, announced it would fire 1,000 people, because it only has one major contract left, the building of a Lugoj-Deva highway segment for EUR95 million.
8. New plants in Moldavia
One of the most attractive regions of the country for new construction supplies plants is Moldavia, which had few such facilities before the boom years.
One of the companies that decided to start production there is AdePlast. It inaugurated an adhesive and dry mortar plant in Roman, Neamt County (NE Romania) this spring, after an about EUR10 million investment, to complement its other plants in Oradea and Ploiesti.
Germany’s Henkel opened an adhesives plant in Roznov, Neamt County, which required an about EUR12 million investment, while French-held Weber started production at its third adhesive plant in the country, in Stroiesti, near Suceava, where it invested EUR7 million.
9. New malls in Bucharest and other cities
Austria’s Raiffeisen Evolution invested EUR130 million in the Promenada mall in northern Bucharest, which has a lettable area of 35,000 square meters and is the most important inaugurated in the capital city in the last three years. In all, five new shopping centers were completed in the country, following EUR300 million investment, so the modern retail space stock also increased in Constanta, Galati, Ploiesti and Botosani.
10. Inauguration of Floreasca Park business park
The investment in the Floreasca Park business park, the biggest office project delivered this year with a lettable area of 38,000 square meters, amounted to EUR70 million. The investor was Portland Trust, financed by BCR and the most important tenant is Oracle.
(English version by Loredana Fratila-Cristescu)