Dedeman (owned by Paval brothers) in Bacau, Romaqua (Constantin Cretu) in Harghita, Altex (Dan Ostahie) in Neamt, Unicarm (Vasile Lucut) in Satu-Mare, Romstrade (Nelu Iordache) in Giurgiu, Interagro (Ioan Niculae) in Teleorman and Nexxon (Somai family) in Covasna manage to lead the ranking of the largest companies in the counties where they operate. In the remaining counties, it is multinationals who dominate or, in a few cases, state-run companies (Romgaz in Sibiu and Oltchim in Valcea for instance).
ZF has analyzed the ranking of companies in each county based on data provided by the Trade Registry (the 2011 turnover) in order to see where local entrepreneurs are stronger than foreign companies.
The share of local entrepreneurs who are market leaders is however extremely low (less than 20%), and the analysis also reveals a huge discrepancy between companies in different areas of the country.
While the largest Romanian private company in Bacau county – Dedeman – had a turnover of EUR475 million in 2011, Nexxon – the largest company in Covasna county – had a turnover of just EUR30 million in the same year. The turnovers of the largest companies in Botosani, Vaslui and Vrancea counties do not exceed EUR100 million, either.
But the number of large companies set up by Romanian entrepreneurs is higher.
A large number of private businesses with Romanian shareholders are registered in Bucharest (Dan Sucu’s Mobexpert, the businesses of Ion Tiriac and RCS&RDS – the business of Bihor-based Zoltan Teszari, though registered in Bucharest) where the leader is OMV Petrom, with sales of almost EUR5.9 billion in 2012, a figure difficult to match by a local entrepreneur.
The fact that only seven Romanian private companies are no. 1 in the ranking of the largest businesses per county shows that the local entrepreneurial environment is still largely made up of small and medium-sized businesses, with few locals being able to build businesses worth several million euros from scratch.
Moreover, sectors such as consumption and constructions, where Romanian capital had taken off during the boom years, were hurt by the crisis, with insolvencies and personnel cuts replacing the 30-40% growth rates from previous years.
However, Romania still has sectors dominated by locals (bakery, cold cuts, wine, mineral water, transport of goods, constructions), who could grow and tip the balance in their favor in many counties.
(English version by Daniela Stoican)