Pedro Company, a construction company that posted EUR5 million revenue in 2015 and is fully owned by Petre Niculae, has built more than 25 real estate projects in Bucharest, especially in sector six of the city where ZF estimates at least 1,000-1,500 homes have been built by a company Petre Niculae is a shareholder of.
“Pedro Company – well-known for building and providing consultancy for more than 25 real estate projects, among which 19th Residence and 20th Residence,” is the description of the company on the website of Cotroceni Politehnica Residence residential project near the Polytechnic University of Bucharest and AFI Cotroceni mall, a 12-story building with 240 apartments due for completion this summer.
Petre Niculae did not return ZF’s calls for comment on the projects in sector six.
Petre Niculae also owns stake in other real estate companies like Rezident Suport (90%), Imob Construct Center (80%), Activ Global Construct (40%) and Smart House Concept (32%), according to Trade Registry data. These companies, too, developed residential projects in Bucharest. Petre Niculae was also a shareholder in Oscar Downstream, which he no longer is. Oil products trader Oscar Downstream is controlled by Alin Niculae, 46, another low-profile entrepreneur. Neither Petre Niculae nor Alin Niculae returned ZF’s calls for comment about whether they are related or not.
The Politehnica (Polytechnic University of Bucharest) area and the area around the Basarab and Ciurel overpasses are but some of the main spots of the sector six where Petro Company built ten story tall residential buildings with hundreds of apartments.
Unlike foreign developers that buy former industrial sites in Bucharest to build several buildings with hundreds of apartments, the strategy of Petre Niculae’s group is to build one or two smaller apartment buildings in very good locations.
(English version by Loredana Fratila-Cristescu)