Spedition UMB and Tehnostrade for instance, two companies controlled by Dorinel Umbrarescu, based in Bacau, won at least EUR388 million worth of contracts in the Moldova region in 2011, while Romstrade, a company controlled by businessman Nelu Iordache, based in Giurgiu chose the southern part of the country, Oltenia and Muntenia, where it won at least EUR258 million worth of projects.
The same goes for Straco Grup in Bucharest, of brothers Alexandru and Traian Horpos, which won at least EUR111 million in projects in Muntenia last year.
In 2012, the asphalt kings may bet on the 111 kilometers of highways worth EUR1.1 billion that the Transport Ministry is preparing to put up
for tender in the first part of this year, as well as rehabilitation work on county and local roads of about EUR1.6 billion, which the Development Ministry held tenders for last year, but has not awarded the contracts yet.
Most of the contracts won by Romanian builders either on their own or in partnership with other companies in 2011 include construction and rehabilitation of roads in the regions where they are based, shows a ZF analysis of the contracts awarded by the Transport Ministry, by the Development Ministry or by the county councils last year.
Georgica Cornu, a businessman who controls Timisoara-based Confort construction company, which won at least EUR141 million in road infrastructure contracts mainly in the Banat area (where Timisoara is located in western Romania) last year, says that site organization is less costly if working closer to the company’s headquarters.
“Being there in that area, site organization expenses are lower, which gives you an edge right from the start. (…) Then there are also companies that probably have their own areas of influence,” Cornu says.
Things are different when it comes to building highways, so that Romanian companies forgot about the home turf criterion when participating in tenders.
The Transport Ministry awarded highway contracts worth more than EUR1.3 billion for sections of the Pan-European Corridor IV, especially in the west of the country in 2010 and 2011. Romanian builders participated in tenders in partnership with foreign companies and part of them even won. The winners include Romstrade, Straco Grup, Euroconstruct Trading 98 and Spedition UMB.
Spedition UMB, deemed Moldova’s main “road building and repair company”, which has won at least EUR530 million worth of governmental contracts in the past year and a half, also has a series of contracts in NW Romania, which amount to at least EUR65 million. Umbrarescu’s company is currently conducting rehabilitation work on two roads in the area for EUR25.6 million and EUR40.3 million.
One of the most important asphalt kings of the previous years was not included in the latest ZF analysis. Costel Casuneanu, owner of PA&CO International, had become one of Moldova’s main road builders. The reason may be that PA&CO International only won several road infrastructure contracts last year.
ZF’s analysis is based on the press releases of the Transport Ministry and of the Development Ministry in 2011 and takes into account the bulk of the contracts won by Romanian builders. The above-mentioned builders also won contracts in parts of the country other than the region they are based in but most of their contracts entail work on their home turf (except for highways).
A potential trend of the coming years is the move of Romanian builders from road infrastructure to railway infrastructure works. Such an example is Euroconstruct Trading 98, controlled by businessmen Sorin Vulpescu and Dan Besciu, which participated in railway rehabilitation tenders in the west of the country, thus winning two contracts in partnership with foreign and Romanian companies. The contract value was EUR565 million.
Only a few of the Romanian builders provided estimates about their 2011 revenue, which should have increased considering the billions of euros in contracts put up for tender in 2011.
Businessman Georgica Cornu’s company Confort posted 44% higher revenue in 2010, to EUR178.8 million, while Tehnologica Radion, a company controlled by Theodor Berna, saw its revenue up 32% to EUR142.4 million, ZF has calculated based on the Finance Ministry information.
Bucharest-based builder Delta ACM 94 controlled by Florea Diaconu posted 28.1% higher revenue in 2010, to EUR93 million. Diaconu said at the end of the summer that he expected the full-year figure to reach EUR100 million.
On the other hand, Euroconstruct Trading 98, controlled by Dan Besciu and Sorin Vulpescu, ended 2010 with an 8.4% increase in revenue to EUR64.3 million.