Business Review Issue 28, July 28 - August 3

ROMANIA’S PREMIER BUSINESS WEEKLY JULY 28 - SEPTEMBER 1, 2014 / VOLUME 18, NUMBER 28

INTERVIEW: Ravinder Takkar, recently appointed CEO of Vodafone Romania, tells BR that the focus of the telecom company’s future strategy is on bringing as many Romaniansas possible into the digital lifestyle »page 9

NEWS

Talking strategyThe EBRD and IMFhave visited Bucharestin two separate missions to assess thecountry’s investmentpriorities and the stateof its public finances» page 4

PHARMA

Bitter pillMSD Romania’s saleswill fall this year following the delay inupdating the reim-bursed drugs list, saysFabrizio Giombini, thecompany’s MD» page 10

PROPERTYSUPPLEMENT

APPROXIMATELY 130,000 SQM OF OFFICE SPACE WILL BE DELIVERED THIS YEAR IN BUCHAREST AND REAL ESTATE PUNDITS SAY THAT DEMAND IS ON THE RISE » SEE INSIDE

FDI to Romania is set to reach EUR 3

billion this year, but poor infrastructure

and opaque regulation could reduce the

country’s attractiveness, warn

economists and investors » page 8

FDI POSTS TIMIDGROWTH

NEW S 3www.business-review.eu Business Review | July 28 - September 1, 2014

NEWS in briefNEW S 3

AUTOOperational leasing marketgrows 12.3 percent in Q2The local operational leasing marketrose by 12.3 percent to over 45,000 unitsat the end of the second quarter, againstthe same period of last year, accordingto data from the Association of Opera-tional Leasing Firms (ASLO). Operationalleasing companies registered around5,400 new cars in the first six monthsof this year, accounting for over 15 per-cent of all registrations of cars and lightcommercial vehicles. The associationexpects the market to reach 47,000 unitsby the end of this year.

BANKINGRaiffeisen Bank integrates localinvestment banking arm ongroup decisionAustria’s Raiffeisen Bank International(RBI) has decided to integrate its Ro-manian investment banking activities,both on the capital market and in theM&A area, into Raiffeisen Bank. Theoperations are being grouped under anew directorate within the treasury andcapital markets division, led by vice-president James Stewart. The investmentbanking arm will be coordinated byDana Mirela Ionescu, the former generalmanager of Raiffeisen Capital and In-vestment.

EIB lends EUR 30 mln to BCRLeasingThe European Investment Bank (EIB),the lender controlled by EU memberstates, has granted EUR 30 million toBCR Leasing, a financial leasing firm,which will be used to finance SMEs,midcap companies and public entitiesin Romania. This is the second trancheof a EUR 75 million loan approved bythe EIB, the first tranche of which, EUR15 million, was disbursed earlier thisyear. Mihai Tanasescu, EIB vice-president,said that the financing of SMEs and mid-cap companies was a key objective forthe lender in Romania, adding that theyrepresent the engine of growth and jobcreation. The loan is being granted underthe Joint IFI Plan for Growth in Centraland South Eastern Europe.

ENERGYOMV Petrom modernizes Petrobrazi refineryAustrian oil major OMV Petrom hascompleted a four-year modernization

program at its Petrobrazi refinery, whichrequired a EUR 600 million investment.The move will allow the company toprocess its entire local crude productionin one refinery. Following the modern-ization program, diesel and jet fuel willhave a 45 percent share in Petrobrazi’sproducts yield structure. Diesel produc-tion has almost doubled to 1.5 milliontonnes.

Hidroelectrica HI gross profitgains 5.5 percent to RON 509mln over slashed costsHidroelectrica, the state-owned hydro-electricity producer, said its gross profitshad risen by 5.5 percent to RON 509million (EUR 114 million) in the first halfof this year against the same period of2013, on the back of cost-cutting meas-ures. The producer, which is undergoingjudicial reorganization, cut expenses forthird-party services by 22 percent, whilepersonnel expenses fell by 13 percent inthe first semester. Its bank debt wasdown to EUR 216 million in June fromEUR 841 million two years ago. Hidro-electrica’s revenues fell by RON 110 mil-lion (EUR 25 million) to RON 1.49 billion(EUR 335 million) due to the soaringoutput from renewable producers andlower consumption, which has draggeddown the trading price of electricity.

ITRomtelecom works with Ciscoto build nationwide 100G networkRomtelecom has lit what it claims is thefirst 100G link in Romania, as part of aninvestment to modernize its nationalnetwork using technology from Cisco.This will be the first of multiple 100Gconnections across the country as theoperator increases its network capacityto cope with spiraling bandwidth de-mand. The new network architecturewill be flexible and scalable, reduce net-work complexity, increase operationalefficiency, and allow delivery of a newgeneration of services, says the operator.The enhancement of Romtelecom’s IPcore network began in 2013 and will befinished in 2015.

HUMAN RESOURCESCGS opens support center inTargu Jiu, advertises 100 vacanciesAmerican outsourcing firm CGS has an-nounced the opening of another support

center in Romania, in Targu Jiu. This is the fourth such venue in thecountry, joining three in Bucharest,Brasov and Sibiu. At first, the US company will employ approximately100 people in its new facility. The outsourcing firm is currently advertisingpositions in the HR, administrative, ITand tech support departments. Sincethe start of this year, CGS has advertisedover 350 roles, of which over 150 werein Sibiu, approximately 100 in Brasov,and now approximately 100 in TarguJiu.

MEDIASurvey: adspend close to EUR284 mln in H1Adspend amounted to nearly EUR 284million (ratecard value) in the first sixmonths of the year, according to theMonitoring of Investments in Advertising,cited by the Romanian Circulation Au-diting Bureau (BRAT). The survey ana-lyzed advertising campaigns rolled outthrough more than 200 national, localand regional publications, eight nationalradio stations, approximately 3,000 web-sites, as well as 13 of the biggest OOHcompanies.Ten sectors of the economyaccounted for approximately 65 percentof the total investments in advertising.The line-up of brands that have spentthe most on advertising has changed,with Zdrovit and Lidl having supplantedmobile operators Orange and Vodafone.Standard/barter advertising went up by13 percent while classifieds declined inH1 2014, compared to the same periodin 2013.

RETAILStarbucks opens 8th Bucharestoutlet in Novo ParkStarbucks will open a 200 sqm branchin Bucharest’s Novo Park this September,Genesis Development, the office project’sdeveloper and owner, has announced.This will be the tenth Starbucks outletin Romania and the eighth in Bucharest.The lease was brokered by Colliers In-ternational. The coffee shop will be lo-cated on the ground floor of D buildingin Novo Park, with direct access fromDimitrie Pompeiu Boulevard. The cof-feehouse chain “is in constant expansionin Romania,” added Petko Zahariev,shareholder of the company that recentlyacquired the Starbucks franchise in Ro-mania. The local franchise was previ-ously owned by Marinopoulos, whichopened the first local Starbucks branchin 2007.

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WEEK AHEAD

August 1

PSD announces presidential candidatePSD will announce its candidate forthe presidential elections in Novem-ber on August 1, according to VictorPonta’s statements this past month.

Health cardThe Health Ministry will launch thenational Health Card. By September,authorities hope that distribution willbe completed and, from January 2015,all patients will be required to presentthe card when accessing medicalservices.

August 5

Political right announces presidential candidateThe PNL-PDL joint presidential can-didate will be revealed on August 5,according to PDL national leaderVasile Blaga. He says the two partieswill run as an electoral alliance in thisNovember's presidential election.

August 10

Bucharest Summer University beginsThis international cultural and aca-demic event, which will take placefrom 10-24 August, focuses on eco-nomic problems and related fields ofinterest and has as a main objective topromote common academic values.This 10th edition of the internationalsummer school gathers studentsfrom all over the world to discuss dif-ferent topics in the economics field.Together with speakers and profes-sors from top universities and compa-nies around the world, the 55participants will spend 2 weeks in thecampus of the Bucharest University ofEconomic Studies including one ex-tended week-end exploring particulardestinations across the country. Moreinformation is available at bsu.ase.ro.

4 NEWSwww.business-review.eu

Business Review | July 28 - September 1, 2014

President Traian Basescu during an official meeting with members of the EBRD board

ECONOMY

International lenders arrive in Romania

Board members of the EuropeanBank for Reconstruction and De-velopment and delegates from

the International Monetary Fund (IMF)have travelled to Romania over the pastfortnight on separate missions to discussthe country’s investment requirementsand the state of its public finances.

IMF experts came to Bucharest todiscuss the first budget rectification ofthis year, according to Agerpres newswire,which quoted official sources. The coun-try has an ongoing EUR 4 billion stand-by arrangement with the IMF and theEuropean Commission, the executivearm of the EU. The loan deal is linked toa massive reform program that spansvarious sectors, and includes the priva-tization of state-owned companies andthe deregulation of energy prices.

Meanwhile EBRD board membersmet with President Traian Basescu,Prime Minister Victor Ponta, governmentministers, central bank governor MugurIsarescu, partner banks, and represen-tatives of the private sector and NGOs.The board members were on a four-daymission and were also scheduled to visitBuzau and Ialomita counties, nearBucharest.

President Basescu said that Romanianeeded the EBRD’s expertise in attracting

COSMETICS

Ivatherm salesup 18 % in H1

Ivatherm sales grew by 18 percent inthe first six months of 2014, year-on-year, officials have announced.

Last year, the firm has sold almost200,000 anti-aging dermo-cosmeticsproducts, making it the fourth biggestsuch company in Romania.

Locally, its products are sold exclu-sively through pharmacy chains, wherethey are available in more than 1,000units nationwide, generating almost 70percent of total sales, and online, via itsofficial website. Currently, online salesgenerate 5 percent of the total sales vol-ume. “Consumers, both Romanian andthose from other markets, spend an av-erage of almost RON 200 (EUR 50)”, saysRucsandra Hurezeanu, founder and gen-eral director of Ivatherm.

Although the Herculane thermalspring water used in Ivatherm productscomes from a saline spring in Romania,research is carried out and the productsare made in France. The packagingcomes from the UK, Spain, Italy, Greeceand Slovenia, with the cardboard ele-ment provided by a supplier in Romania.

Hurezeanu says that the largestpathology for dermo-cosmetics is acne,followed by seborrhea dermatitis, atopicdermatitis, sensitive skin, xerosis, andanti-aging. However, in Asia and theMiddle East, the most popular productsare solar and skin whitening treatments.

Currently, the company’s productsare sold in Egypt (its major internationalmarket), Ukraine and Hong Kong, andthey will go on sale in Jordan and otherregions of China. After participating ininternational fairs in cities such as Shang-hai and Istanbul, discussions are in ad-vanced stages with countries in Asiaand the Middle East.

On the Romanian dermo-cosmeticsmarket, Ivatherm competes with Avène,Eucerin, La Roche-Posay and Vichy. Ina study released by PMR Research Com-pany in June 2013, Romania and Polandwere the only two countries found tobe sustaining the growth of the cosmeticsmarket, which was evaluated at EUR8.6 billion for Central Europe. ∫

Oana Vasiliu

foreign investments, the food industry,infrastructure, the absorption of EUfunds and the energy sector.

The visit was part of a consultationprocess to establish the EBRD’s strategyfor Romania for the 2015-2017 period.

The group of ten representatives dueto arrive in the country included Ro-manian Virginia Gheorghiu, alternatedirector for Turkey, Romania, Azerbaijanand the Kyrgyz Republic at the EBRD.

The EBRD is the biggest institutionalinvestor in Romania, having put EUR

6.7 billion into the country. The bankrecently paid EUR 73 million for an 8.6percent stake in the privatization ofElectrica, the electricity distributor andsupplier. The company was listed inJuly on the Bucharest Stock Exchange(BVB) and the London Stock Exchange,with a free float of 51.2 percent.

Electrica raised around EUR 444 mil-lion from its listing, making it the biggestinitial public offering (IPO) in the historyof the BVB. ∫

Ovidiu Posirca

Mobile broadband penetration in Ro-mania is one of the lowest in Europe

ONLINE

Romania trails rest of EU for broadbandpenetration, leads for speed

Despite continuing to makeprogress in fulfilling the targetsof the Digital Agenda for Europe,

Romania is still playing catch-up withsome telecom indicators, according toa report published by the EuropeanCommission on the state of the telecommarkets in the 28 EU member statesover 2012-2013.

Fixed broadband coverage reached90 percent in Romania. But while fixedbroadband penetration increased to 18.9percent, this is still the lowest rate inthe EU and well below the bloc averageof 29.9 percent. The number of fixedbroadband lines in Romania reachedover 3.79 million in January 2014, theninth most lines in the EU.

What Romania lacks in broadbandpenetration, it makes up for in speed.Fast broadband penetration, of at least30Mbps, reached 10.5 percent of thecountry, which is well above the EU av-erage of 6.3 percent. Ultrafast broadbandpenetration, of at least 100Mbps, reached4.6 percent, also above the bloc averageof 1.6 percent.

Mobile broadband coverage reached99.7 percent, while mobile broadbandpenetration stood at 40.7 percent, one

of the lowest rates in the EU. In January 2014, there were over 8.15

million mobile broadband users in Ro-mania. Three telecom operators in Ro-mania were offering LTE services, as ofOctober 2013, with a focus on urban ar-eas.

The RoNET project, which aims to

support the deployment of backhaulnetworks in ”white areas” of Romania –where broadband is not yet available –which was in an incipient phase for fiveyears, was finally tendered out in De-cember 2013 by the Ministry for Infor-mation Society.

According to the EC report, in 2011,revenues in the electronic communica-tions sector amounted to EUR 3.65 billion.Investment in the telecom sector de-creased by 1.7 percent in 2011 but re-bounded by 8.8 percent in 2012. Telecominvestment as a proportion of revenuein 2012 stood at 17 percent, above thereported EU average of 13 percent.

In 2012, Romania ranked 14th by in-vestment in the sector out of EU memberstates, amounting to EUR 605 millionout of the total EUR 41.9 billion, andcame 16th by revenues in the market,which stood at EUR 3.65 billion out of abloc total of EUR 324.3 billion.

The Romanian Digital Agenda Strategy must still be completed by theMinistry for Information Society andwill be sent to the commission servicesfor consultation, according to the EC report. ∫

Otilia Haraga

Rucsandra Hurezeanu of Ivatherm

Courtesy of presidency.ro

Photo: M

ihai Constantineanu

NEWS 5www.business-review.eu Business Review | July 28 - September 1, 2014

IT

CIT Grup plans to triple turnoverover next three years

∫ OTILIA HARAGA

“In Romania, CIT Grup was the first ITdistribution company to launch therefurbished concept, but later theterm was also used by Microsoftwhen it introduced Refurbished li-censes on the Romanian market,” Ili-escu tells BR.

He adds, “Unfortunately, in Roma-nia, second hand products are alsobeing sold under the refurbished label.For us, this is a threat, and this is pre-cisely why we are trying to imposeour own standard by creating the Re-furbished by CIT Grup brand and po-sitioning it as such on the market.”

This concept usually involves pro-fessional branded products that havealready been used or have spent sometime on the shelves. Such productstypically go through a complex re-technologization process.

“Equipment still on the shelves soldas new products is at least 20 percentcheaper. For a previously used model,we are talking about 40 percent sav-ings on average but in some cases itcould even reach 80 percent, depend-ing on how old the model is and howlong it was used for,” Iliescu explains.

Companies that have used refur-bished products from CIT Group in-clude McDonalds, UniCredit TiriacBank, Vodafone, Realitatea TV, TVR,

Lufthansa, ABN Amro Bank, Fornetti,UPC Romania, ProTV and Petrom.

The state has also been a client.“We have delivered several hundred

computers to the Ministry of Finance,and to schools, universities and thelocal administration,” says Iliescu.

At the moment, the company’steam numbers 30 people, of whom 15work in sales, where the firm is con-stantly recruiting. “We are thinkingabout opening new offices across the

country, because the market potentialpoints in this direction. Our target by2017 is for turnover to exceed EUR 10million, which would represent athreefold growth compared to 2013,”adds the founder. “Distribution is ourmain business and we will grow inthis direction.”

CIT Grup has developed a networkof over 3,000 re-sellers throughoutthe country.

“We created a dedicated line forpackaging servers, computers, moni-tors, laptops, points of sale (POS), UPS,printers, and more recently tablets,”says Iliescu.

CIT Grup has a warehouse withmerchandise stock worth nearly EUR2 million, and can deliver any productwithin 24 hours. “Apart from thewarehouse, in Timisoara we have ashowroom with a surface of 354 sqmand we have planned an expansion ofup to 700 sqm, which would make itthe largest IT store in the country,”says the CEO.

“The demand for PCs and laptops isgrowing, and the acquisition ofservers has stepped up. (…) Thisgrowth in demand has made us de-velop the capacity to deliver on de-mand a physical stock of 100,000products, evaluated at several mil-lions of euro.”

[email protected]

CIT Grup, a seller of refurbished IT products, is planning to expand its footprint inRomania by opening new offices. Founder and CEO Dan Iliescu tells BR what therefurbished concept is all about and outlines the company’s plans.

R&D

South Korea and Romania team up forjoint IT research center

The South Korean Science Ministryand the Romanian Ministry forInformation Society have just

opened an information technology re-search center that will conduct a handfulof IT projects in Romania over the nextthree years, according to representativesof the Korean authorities, quoted byYonhap News Agency.

The two countries will inject USD 1million each to fund projects at thecenter, which is based in Bucharest. Thefacility will map out pilot projects inthe IT industry, focusing on the expan-sion of broadband networks and im-provement of public key infrastructure(PKI) and information securities.

“Through the establishment of the IT

cooperation center in Romania, we hopethe two countries will be able to forgedeeper ties in the technology industry,”said the South Korean ministry.

According to South Korean officials,Romania has one of the fastest growingIT markets on the back of fully-fledgedgovernment support. Technology com-panies from the East Asian country willalso be able to pursue business oppor-tunities through the center.

Romania can therefore act as a bridge-head for the firms to tap more deeplyinto the European market, as they canexpand shipments of verified IT solutionsto surrounding nations, according tothe Yonhap article.

In August 2012, Romania and South

Korea signed an IT&C memorandum. The South Korean ministry is plan-

ning to open a similar research cooper-ation center in Colombia in November.The East Asian state has conductedthree-year projects in Mexico, Chile,Turkey, South Africa, Bulgaria and Viet-nam since 2003.

The South Korean ministry has in-vited the Romanian Ministry for Infor-mation Society to the 19th InternationalTelecommunications Union (ITU)Plenipotentiary Conference which will take place in Busan, around 450 kilometers south-east of the capital Seoul, between October 20 and November 7. ∫

Otilia Haraga

Refurbished IT products can be acquired at lower costs

ENERGY

ADX Energyto invest upto EUR 100mln in localconcession

ADX Energy has invested severalmillion euros in its Parta con-cession in western Romania and

is ready to lift the sum to EUR 100million if the explorations show viablehydrocarbon deposits, according toPaul Fink, technical director of theexploration company, which is listedin Australia.

The firm started to gather 3D seis-mic data this winter and will drill anexploration well in the second stageto test any potential discoveries ofconventional resources. The conces-sion agreement was ratified by thegovernment in November 2012. ADXEnergy said the Parta concession waslocated in an area with productive oiland gas fields.

Aside from the concession, thecompany has also secured prospectingpermits in Romania, allowing it tosearch for oil and gas, with no obliga-tion from the government to start in-vestments.

“Further concessions – of course –are always interesting for us,” Finktold BR.

“The investment climate and re-spective legislation in Romania is en-couraging capital investment, the bidding processes for concessions arein line with the European Union reg-ulations and were open, efficient andtransparent in the last bidding round.”

He added, “It is occasionally onlyat local level that some people thinkRomanian state law or European reg-ulations can be completely ignoredand that the modern times will neverreach their village, except EU agricul-ture subsidies, of course.” ADX Energyis the operator of the project in westernRomania and is responsible for all thesafety and environmental aspects, butit has a joint venture with RAG Austria,an oil and gas company that has ex-tensive experience in areas of heavyagricultural use, according to Fink.

The oil company is registered inRomania as ADX Panonia and has twooffices in Bucharest and Timisoara.Fink said that ADX would like to workwith Romanian sub-companies to carryout the local investment.

Aside from Romania, the companyhas secured oil and gas permits in Tu-nis, in North Africa, and Italy. ∫

Ovidiu Posirca

6 WHOSwww.business-review.eu

Business Review | July 28 - September 1, 2014

Ionut Bordei has joined DTZ

Echinox as di-rector of theland investmentand residentialprojects devel-opment depart-ment. He will co-ordinate a

department that will offer consul-tancy for all the developmentstages of new residential projects:land buying, construction, market-ing and sales. Bordei has over 14years of experience on the resi-dential market, having worked for11 years for Eurisko/CBRE andthen for three years as managingdirector at Cordia Futureal Roma-nia, the developer of the ParculPrivighetorilor project. In 2000,Bordei set up Eurisko’s residentialdepartment, which he coordinateduntil 2006, when he became partner, at which point he alsostarted and subsequently devel-oped the land investment and resi-dential projects development de-partment.

Catalin Jalobais now businessdevelopmentmanager at JLL.He is a memberof the Royal In-stitution ofChartered Sur-veyors RICS,with more than

ten years of experience in the realestate sector. Over time, he hasheld various roles such as seniorvaluer, expansion manager, man-aging director and euro-counseloron EU integration matters. He is aLaw graduate, holds a master’sdegree in International Law andgraduated in 2014 from the EMBAprogram of the Maastricht Schoolof Management.

Sylvia Kerzbekformerly mar-keting andevents managerat OBI, has be-come marketingdirector for retailer Domo.Before workingfor OBI, she

held the position of head of mar-keting production department atKaufland Romania. Kerzbek is agraduate of the Foreign Languages

Faculty at the University ofBucharest. German DIY retailerOBI initiated a process of stockclearance earlier this month, get-ting ready to make way for theGreek Jumbo, a major global toyseller. OBI, part of Tengelmann,sold its Plus supermarkets at thestart of 2010 to Lidl and will exitthe local DIY market by the end ofAugust.

Bogdan Neacsu35, is now vice-president ofVolksbank Ro-

mania. Withover ten years’experience inthe banking sec-tor, includingfive in risk man-

agement and governance, Neacsuwill coordinate the operations ofthe legal entities business depart-ment. The new department will ini-tiate and maintain business rela-tionships with corporate clientsand SMEs.

Norica Nicolaiwill be vice-president of theAlliance of Lib-

erals and De-

mocrats for Eu-

rope (ALDE)

group in the Eu-ropean Parlia-ment after the

Liberals elected her last week fol-lowing her nomination by ALDEleader Guy Verhofstadt. Nicolaitook the individual decision to staywith the ALDE after her re-electionin May on the ticket of the NationalLiberal Party of Romania, whichdecided to switch to the EuropeanPeople’s Party, according to Ager-pres newswire.

Dan Sandu45, has been ap-pointed vice-president ofVolksbank Ro-

mania. He willbe in charge ofthe business re-tail department.Sandu has over

22 years of experience in the bank-ing sector, the last 10 of whichhave been spent in top manage-ment positions at lenders such asCitibank, Millennium Bank andNexte Bank.

WHO’S NEWSBR welcomes information for Who’s News.

Submissions may be edited fo r length and clarity.

Get in touch at [email protected]

FINANCE

Women entrepreneursincreasingly seek localbank financing

Although small and medium-sized enterprises in Romaniaare grappling with high debt

levels and limited liquidity, womenentrepreneurs have been actively seek-ing fresh financing sources for theircompanies.

There are 400,000 women entre-preneurs in Romania, accounting for36 percent of the shareholding struc-ture in Romanian SMEs, said Ana MariaMihaescu, regional manager at the In-ternational Finance Corporation (IFC),a member of the World Bank.

In an official ceremony last week,the IFC signed the approval of a EUR35 million loan to Garanti Bank, outof which EUR 20 million will targetSMEs run by women.

This was the second loan taken outfrom the international financial insti-tution. The bank received a financingloan of EUR 22.5 million in early 2012that was fully used by 160 SMEs activein various sectors.

Ufuk Tandogan, the lender’s CEO,pointed out that the 500,000 SMEs inRomania employ around 2.6 millionpeople. He said this was the “mostdynamic” business segment in thecountry.

Garanti Bank, which is owned byTurkiye Garanti Bankasi, has 25,000clients in the SME segment, out ofwhich 2,700 have women as board

members or managers.The bank has seen an average

growth of 20 percent in loans providedto SMEs annually since 2010, with itscurrent exposure getting close to EUR300 million. At the same time, depositsmade by SMEs have risen by an averageof 42.5 percent yearly.

Representatives of Garanti Banksaid that the loan volume granted toSMEs managed or owned by womenhad soared by an annual average of41 percent in the last four years, whiledeposits had grown 48 percent.

Most of the companies in this seg-ment are active in trade, healthcareand retail. Women entrepreneurs typ-ically took out loans to finance workingcapital and for investments.

Ioana Maria Dumitru, head of com-mercial & SME banking at Garanti Bank,said that there are 24 SMEs per 1,000inhabitants in Romania, against an EU average of 41. She said that thereis a growth potential both for SMEsand women entrepreneurs in Romania.

According to IFC data, women gen-erate 50 percent of household incomein more than 50 percent of householdsglobally and start 70 percent of newbusinesses. Furthermore, 60 percentof annual college graduates are women. ∫

Ovidiu Posirca

Ufuk Tandogan, CEO of Garanti Bank

Photo: M

ihai Constantineanu

7www.business-review.eu Business Review | July 28 - September 1, 2014

The football mania of the past cou-ple of months stretched the nervesand emotions of many. Big surprises,champions that didn’t succeed,falling leaders and rising stars. Anexciting show repeating itself everyfour years.

The World Cup gave us a goodoverview of competitiveness, teamspirit and results. We’ve all been in-spired – I know I have. In the busi-ness arena, just as in football, thetrue test is effectiveness. Sure it’snice to control the ball with lots oftiki-taka, but, at the end of the game,it is goals that count. You must workhard, play hard and win.

Both business and football relyon managing people and teams, beit to win games or customers. As aleader or coach, you have to workwith people’s motivation, their dis-cipline, and base your management

on rules and strategies. You have tobuild a game style that your teamcan relate to and a vision that mem-bers can follow. Every team wantsto be the best. No successful com-

pany in history set its goal to be anaverage company – just as no foot-ball team went to the World Cup inBrazil to be average. Everybody iseager to win, and if a great teamcomes together, it could even be a7-1 win.

However, no matter how goodyour strategy or how inspiring yourvision, you need a team culture thatis just as strong. No business, proj-ect or World Cup was ever createdby one person. You have to convinceyour top performers that if theywork in the interest of the team,both individual and team results willget better. Sharing common goals,team commitment and collaborationare three very important pillarsleading to success. In business, justas in football, the leader needs totake a whole system approach, tak-ing advantage of the interdepend-

ency between the team’s membersthrough greater coordination andcommunication. Nobody is perfect,but a team can be.

At the end of the day (or the sea-son), football and business are notonly about reaching your goals. It isjust as important how you get there.If you want your organization to besustainable, you can’t win at allcosts. There will be unlucky mo-ments and only time will confirm ifyou are going in the right direction.In business, this happens in everyfiscal exercise. In football, you mightneed to wait another four years.

CEO CORNER

George Catalin Costache

CEO Siemens SRL

Nobody is perfect, but a team can be

8 FOCUSwww.business-review.eu

Business Review | July 28 - September 1, 2014

100,000 jobs locally. Lukavsky alsopointed out that emergency ordinancesseem to have become “the instrumentof choice for the Romanian governmentin implementing its policies.”“Thismakes policies even less predictable. Amore parliamentarian approach wouldhelp to make the decision-makingprocesses more transparent and pre-dictable. Further, overwhelming bu-reaucracy is an issue, not unique toRomania, but nonetheless a severe im-pediment for foreign investors. Highrates of black market labor and tax evasion make it difficult for interna-tional corporations to compete,” saidLukavsky. Other troublesome areas forforeign investors are the lack of trans-parency in public tenders, corruptionand the judiciary.

Sebastian Metz, general managerand member of the board of directors atthe German-Romanian Chamber ofCommerce and Industry (AHK Roma-nia), said that authorities often lack

“professionalism”, adding that theyshould cooperate more with the privatesector. “Unfortunately the essentialissue is commonly the different time-frames for planning between the privatesector and political decision makers.This is why companies want a line toexist between the relevant economicthemes that can be pursued consis-tently, independent of political coali-tions,” Metz told BR.

AHK Romania currently has around530 member companies, making it thebiggest bilateral chamber of commercein the country by the number of mem-bers.. Romania has attracted EUR 6.5

billion of German investments, makingit the third biggest generator of FDI lo-cally.

Metz acknowledged that the localauthorities have also moved to help thebusiness environment, for instance byapproving a new employee inventionslaw, which should increase Romania’sprofile as a destination for research anddevelopment (R&D) activities.

A survey by professional servicesfirm Deloitte Romania published lastweek found that 81 percent of partici-pating local companies were planningto increase their expenditure on R&D inthe next three to five years. The surveyalso found that more than half of the re-spondent companies spend up to 3 per-cent of their turnover on R&D.

According to Deloitte, R&D expendi-ture in Romania amounts to 0.49 per-cent of GDP, which is the lowest figureamong the 10 CEE countries surveyed.

Lukavsky of the Austrian Embassycommented that investors are also look-ing for skilled labor, and suggested theAustrian dual education system wouldbe a fit. Some technical schools have al-ready emerged in Romania with sup-port from German, Austrian or Frenchcompanies. Essentially, the dual educa-tion system allows students to attendclasses while working part time forcompanies that are mainly active in theindustrial sector. Economists say thissystem has given Germany, for instance,a very low youth unemployment rate(under 8 percent). In Romania, the fig-ure stands at over 20 percent.

[email protected]

∫ OVIDIU POSIRCA

FDI to Romania rose to a four-year highof EUR 2.7 billion in 2013, up 26.8 per-cent on the previous year, when the in-dicator registered its first growth sincethe start of the financial crisis.

FDI to stay in EUR 2-3 billionbandPrime Minister Victor Ponta com-mented last week that the advance inforeign investments this year provedthe “interest and trust” of investors. Headded that these were investmentsmade in the real economy, in industry,production and services.

In a report also released last week,Garanti Bank projected that FDI to Ro-mania would reach EUR 3 billion in 2014.

“We expect FDI to stay in the area ofEUR 2-3 billion annually in the comingyears for several reasons. First, Europe’seconomic growth will remain rathermodest compared to the US or emerg-ing markets, which will see more relo-cations being carried out to marketswith high growth rates than Central Eu-ropean countries,” Radu Craciun, chiefeconomist and director of financialmarkets research at BCR, the biggestlender in Romania by assets, told BR.

“Second, the modest pace of the devel-opment of Romanian infrastructure isnot expected to generate a radicalchange in the strategy of foreign in-vestors.”

The poor infrastructure, mainly theunderdeveloped highway network, hasbeen cited by all major foreign invest-ment communities as one of the main

Although foreign direct investments (FDI) to Romania rose 13.9 percent to EUR 1 billion in the first five monthsof this year, economists and foreign investors say the country has to tackle issues such as its poor road infrastructure and sudden changes to regulation to secure FDI on the long term.

Weak infrastructure, unpredictablepolicy to curb FDI growth

Radu CraciunBCR chief economist

Sebastian MetzGM of AHK Romania

Rudolf Lukavsky, commercial counselor at the Austrian Embassy

deterrents to doing business locally. Dif-ferent 50 km sectors of highways wereunder construction in June, and theroad agency CNADNR carried out ten-der feasibility studies for another 1,800kilometers earlier this year, according tobusiness daily Ziarul Financiar.

Craciun suggested Ukraine’s pro-EUapproach could turn Romanian into aregional center with access to theUkrainian market. However, Romaniawould have to compete with Poland,which has better road infrastructure, forthis role.

Investors grapple with policy-makers’ short-sightednessForeign investors have mentioned redtape and opaque policymaking as someof the ingrained issues besetting thecountry, which hinders their ability tomake long-term plans locally.

“Political stability and predictabilityare probably the biggest concerns ofAustrian investors in Romania. An in-vestment requires long-term planningand calculation. With the frequentchanges of government personnel inleading positions, it becomes very diffi-cult for investors to rely on a steadystrategy,” Rudolf Lukavsky, commercialcounselor at the Austrian Embassy inBucharest, told BR.

He said that Austrian investments inRomania reached close to EUR 11 billionat the end of 2012, making it the secondbiggest investor in the country, with an18.5 percent share of the total FDI to Ro-mania. The country is home to over6,700 companies with registered capitalfrom Austria, which have created over

6,157number of FDI jobs created in Romaniain 2013, down 13 percent year-on-year,according to EY’s European Investment

Monitor 2014

311number of FDI projects in Romania im-plemented between 2009-2013, down by301 compared to 2004-2008, accordingto EY’s European Investment Monitor

2014

Courtesy of B

CR

Courtesy of AH

K R

omania

Courtesy of Austrian Em

bassy

INTERVIEW 9www.business-review.eu Business Review | July 28 - September 1, 2014

tary wanted to pay the salaries of theirpersonnel there on m-pesa. The Afghangovernment, for example, switched topaying government employees on m-pesa; it’s safe and secure in that envi-ronment. It doesn’t require asophisticated device – the cheapest mo-bile phone is enough. It works on SMS.The service is there for everybody,that’s the beauty of it.

How does it actually work?

The m-pesa platform is the actualmoney platform, where people register,get accounts, and transfers are made.It’s a very robust, financial services plat-form connected to a bank. Since we arenot a bank – we don’t have an e-moneyor banking license – the money itself iswith a bank, 100 percent protected.Consumers cannot lose their money.We are an e-money operator licensed bythe National Bank, and the bank we areworking with here is Raiffeisen. Wehave to build a distribution network tomake the service available to as manypeople as we can, not only in Vodafonestores and dealers, but in other retail

chains. The whole idea is convenienceand confidence: I’m not far away frommy money and if I want it back, I can godown the street and get it.

The digitalization of companies is the

next big challenge for the local business

environment. Where would you be in this

game?

We have a role to play, along with ITfirms and the government. We are play-ing a very central part as the communi-cation and connectivity provider, thestarting point for digitalization and im-provement of these companies’ infra-structure. There are synergies betweenus and some IT firms around solutionswe can bring together. Other things canhappen in infrastructure, such as smart-metering, a project the government canstart to energize today.

This is why I’m excited about bring-ing more to enterprises, because thereare plenty of opportunities to transformand digitalize businesses. One of the in-novations that came from m-pesa inKenya is a micro-financing platformthat runs on the platform – it is very suc-

cessful. Can m-pesa do it? It can and itis. There are venture capitalists with alot of money and large companies withaccess to it. But when you get down tosmaller businesses and individual en-trepreneurs in rural areas, that doesn’texist. Our colleagues in Kenya haveused this platform to say “I have EUR500 extra that I can lend to entrepre-neurs.” There is no innovation limita-tion on this platform; it depends on thecreativity of those who use it.

Do you have plans to launch a TV service

in the near future?

Connecting people is not enough. Realchange starts when people use applica-tions and services. So our vision is tobring people relevant content, whethermusic, sport or videos, and letting themdecide how to use it, as opposed to say-ing, “I just want to be another TV player.”TV is important in the Romanian mar-ket, no question, but the current TV for-mat – predominantly linear, sitting infront of a not very smart TV box – whileinteresting to consumers, is not that in-teresting for our business, which is dig-italizing people’s lives. If you mix inother devices, tablets, smartphonescreens, then it becomes interesting. Isit really TV? I’m not sure.

What is your definition of leadership?

Everything we do, in a complex world,is about the employees. Hire the bestpeople, thereby creating the best foun-dation for your business, and then letthe machine run, empower employees,give them time, enthusiasm, tools,money, things that they can use to com-pete on the market. If you don’t do that,it’s difficult to be successful. As a leaderyou have to take personal responsibilityfor making sure the environment youare creating is conducive to your busi-ness. At Vodafone we have this concept:speed – simplicity – trust.

Which is a paradox. How can such a com-

plex business be simple?

This is where leadership comes in. Sim-plicity is the hardest thing to achieve.Exposing complexity is very easy. Thisis my job, to make complex things sim-ple. Don’t underestimate it! It is hardwork, but with huge value. Our cus-tomers don’t buy complexity, they buysimplicity.

[email protected]

∫ ANCA IONITA

What is the focus of Vodafone’s future

strategy?

Bringing as many Romanians into thenew digital lifestyle, and that starts byconnecting them to the Internet andthen helping increase their productivity,which has a direct impact on GDP.

There are opportunities to bring in-novation to the market, which I’d clas-sify separately. One is around enterprisecorporate customers, where we are amarket leader. We have done cleverthings with some enterprise customers,but the key is to scale them up to moreorganizations, including small busi-nesses, where we can add value andbring more productivity.

There are more innovations in thepipeline, certainly in a new area like ma-chine-to-machine, properly known asthe Internet of things. We are in theearly stages, but those opportunities aretransformational for business environ-ments, changing the way some bricks-and-mortar firms are run. Eventuallythey will reach consumers, which is asecond focus for us.

The third thing is a leap of faith, anexperiment. It’s something we’ve had agood history with in other countries andwe want to bring to Romania – a step to-ward financial services. We recentlylaunched a product called m-pesa,which was successful on other markets.On paper, our demographic and socialinformation on Romania seems con-ducive to such a product. It’s a bit tan-gential to our core business, but has anice affinity with our products. It willtake time to build. You need to buildconfidence in the service, consumersneed time to understand what are weoffering, but even from a regulatoryperspective, since it’s a financial service.We are a telecom company, and we haveto build regulator confidence that wecan provide the service. We are workingwith them closely as the product is developed. In a place like Kenya, where we launched the service and it’s very popular, we’ve seen creativethings, innovations that consumers de-veloped based on our core platform,which, frankly, we were not expecting,such as NGOs using m-pesa forfundraising! This is the kind of innova-tion I’m talking about. We’ve launchedm-pesa in Afghanistan and the US mili-

Ravinder Takkar, recently appointed CEO of Vodafone Romania, tells Business Review how he sees the democratization of the digital lifestyle of local consumers and all-size businesses, its transformational powerand achieving simplicity as a key to successful leadership in the telecom industry.

The democratization of the digital lifestyle

• appointed CEO of Vodafone Romania on May 1, 2014

• CEO of Vodafone Partner Markets from January 2012-

May 2014

• EBU (enterprise business unit) director and strategy director ofVodafone India

• group product development manager for Vodafone Live

• CTO for Vizzavi• member of Vodafone India and

Indus Towers• joined Vodafone in 1994• management consultant at DMR

Group prior to joining Vodafone• has a Bachelor’s Degree in

Computer Science from Loyola Marymount University,Los Angeles

CV RavinderTakkar, 45

Photo: M

ihai Constantineanu

10 PHARMAwww.business-review.eu

Business Review | July 28 - September 1, 2014

MSD Romania hit by delay toupdate of reimbursed drugs listFabrizio Giombini, managing director of innovative drugsmaker MSD Romania, predicts the company’s sales tofall to around RON 390-400 million this year, mainly because no new drugs have been approved for reimburse-ment on the market.

∫ OVIDIU POSIRCA

He expects the list of reimburseddrugs to be updated at the end of Oc-tober, warning that the growing clawback tax cannot alone plug thehealthcare system’s funding gap.

Giombini came to Romania thiswinter in a challenging period for thepharmaceuticals sector. The market isfacing stagnation this year, followinga six-year delay in the approval of newdrugs. Having previously spent al-most four years in Italy, Giombini hasbeen working for MSD (known in theUS and Canada as Merck & Co) for 25years.

“Our sales last year were aroundRON 420 million. This year they willbe below that, and again this showsthe difficulties facing the company. In2014, we expect sales to be aroundRON 390-400 million. It is very diffi-cult for a company with innovativedrugs to grow without getting newdrugs on the market,” Giombini toldBR in an interview. MSD Romania hasa staff of 150, out of whom 100 aremedical representatives selling drugsand providing consultancy services tophysicians.

The MD says he is confident thatsomething will happen “this time” re-garding the update of the list, citing asthe first concrete step the inclusion of17 orphan drugs on the list earlier thisyear.

“Looking at what the Ministry ofHealth is promising today, the plan isto have the new reimbursement listapproved at the end of October thisyear so that in 2015 Romanian pa-tients could have access to new inno-vative medicines on the market.”

MSD Romania has four medicinesawaiting the authorities’ approval forinclusion on the reimbursed drugs list.One is a treatment for Hepatitis C, an-other is in the immunology area, andtwo are in the diabetes and oncologyareas.

Giombini commented that thepatent on these drugs is not close toexpiring, but the company was ex-pecting to launch some of them three-five years ago.

“Now, because we have had to wait,the risk is that new or second-genera-tion drugs will arrive on the market atthe same time. We do not think this isfair, because we should have been al-lowed enough time – and this is good

for competition – on the market be-fore the next generation or next com-petitor arrives, and we did not havethis opportunity here in Romania,”protested the managing director.

The Ministry of Health has pointedout that the 17 innovative drugs,which are used to treat rare diseases,were included on the list at the ex-pense of the public budget.

Giombini said that the claw backwould not include the innovativedrugs that are waiting to get on the list,according to a draft that is under dis-cussion with officials at the Ministryof Health. He added that the authori-ties are also looking into a newmethodology for cost-volume agree-ments.

“The methodology is still not clearand is currently being debated. Thefirst point of the Ministry of Healthwas: Let’s open up the list, but keepthe innovative medicines out of theclaw back. Let’s see if the authoritieskeep their promise this time,” saidGiombini.

“This is something new for Romania.In other countries, for example Italy, itis already in use. You need to grow a

bit and then you can start to give somediscounts so that the level of dis-counts is proportional to the level offuture growth. I am not sure the Ro-manian authorities interpret the cost-volume analysis this way, but thegood news is that a joint team fromthe Ministry of Health, the NationalHealth Insurance House (CNAS) andthe local industry association are tocome up with a common fair and sus-tainable methodology for the future.”

Claw back places financingburden on pharma industryThe managing director pointed outthat the public budget for medicinesis at the same level as three years ago,which is one of the key issues that thepharma industry has put on the tableduring discussions with the Ministryof Health.

“We believe that we need to in-crease the budget, because today it isinsufficient, and the difference be-tween the budget and consumption ispaid by the company – this is the clawback. Today, there is a little bit of con-cern because the claw back tax is in-creasing every quarter. We believe

that we need to increase the budgetnow, at least to the level of currentconsumption,” said Giombini. Headded that the claw back tax stood at15 percent last year, while in the firsthalf of this year it rose to 21 percent ofsales.

The MD expects MSD Romania topay an estimated RON 50-60 millionin claw back this year.

The claw back mechanism wasadopted by the government in late2009 after the financial crisis hadstarted to bite. The tax was supposedto be temporary but has beenchanged four times to date and no of-ficial announcement has been maderegarding its removal, which has beencalled for by the industry. The clawback tax has been used in other EUcountries to curb the excessive con-sumption of drugs, according to ex-perts.

Pharmaceutical companies havealso proposed a change to the calcu-lation formula for the claw back tomake it more sustainable for firms,according to Giombini. This, alongwith the review of the budget forpharmaceuticals and the reimburse-ment of the drugs, is under debate bythe pharmaceuticals industry withpolicymakers, he noted.

“The solution will be to find otherways to co-fund healthcare here inRomania. We are open to collaborat-ing with the government in a risk-sharing kind of approach. Today,everything is on us,” said the manag-ing director.

Potential for clinical studiesMSD Romania has a lot of ongoingstudies in several areas in Romania,supporting research & development(R&D), according to Giombini.

“Romania is becoming more andmore interesting in terms of invest-ment in clinical trials because thereare very good quality centers, thereare a lot of patients here that neednew drugs, and again the quality ofdelivering clinical studies is improv-ing. So Romania, I think, is one of thecountries in Central and Eastern Eu-rope with the highest number of clin-ical trials, at least for MSD. This tellsyou about MSD’s commitments to thegood health of Romanian patients,and we will continue to invest in thefuture,” said Giombini.

[email protected]

Photo: M

ihai Constantineanu

January 2014-present

managing director, MSDRomaniaJune 2011-January 2014

executive business unitdirector, primary care,Merck Sharp & DohmeJanuary 2008-2011

regional business director, general management of MSDItaly, key macroregion(Lazio, Abruzzo and Sardinia)Holds an MBA-ISDA, Istituto Superiore Direzione Aziendale, in Rome

CV FabrizioGiombini

11www.business-review.eu Business Review | July 28 - September 1, 2014

Ursus Cooler lands Gold Effie for the “Beer and lemonade mix.Only Cooler” launch campaign In July 2014, the Effie Awards, the

event that gives recognition to the

most effective advertising cam-

paigns in Romania, rewarded once

again Ursus Breweries this year.

The company received The Gold

Effie prize in the Alcoholic Bever-

ages category –Beer with the

launch campaign of “Beer and

lemonade mix. Only Cooler”/ “Mix

de bere și limonadă Ursus Cooler”.

The campaign was signed by

Graffiti BBDO.

Through an integrated campaign -“Beer and lemonade mix. Only Cooler”/“Mix de bere și limonadă. Dar Cooler”,Ursus Cooler launched a new refresh-ing challenge for the beer lovers bygiving them the occasion to enjoy acooler summer. From revolutionaryTV ads which illustrate, in the Ursusbrand style, the spectacular bound be-tween beer and lemonade to the Face-book application “Find out how coolyou are”/“Află cât de cool ești” or thebeach volley championship in Mamaia”Ursus Cooler Master Beach Volleyball”,this new product entered the flavoredbeer market with a refreshing solution,available also in nonalcoholic version– a first in Romania on the flavoredbeer market. Thereby, Ursus Cooler,whose success story starts right fromits name, associated with a brand withprestige, managed to overcome all ex-pectations by the end of the summer2013, following an upward evolutionin consumer preferences for flavoredbeer. But Cooler.

“The Gold Effie, received for thelaunch campaign of Ursus Cooler,confirms once again the fact that dueto an integrated communication cam-paign we managed to attract aroundthis product the optimism and joy oflife with which we develop the cam-paigns for the Ursus brand, bringingat the same time a perfect refreshingsolution for when you have fun withfriends.

Furthermore, we are happy thatour strategic planning had excellentresults, overcoming the initial objec-tives and has thus proven good man-agement of resources, as well as newcommunication channels,”said MarianOlteanu, Senior Brand Manager at Ursus.

A year later, URSUS Cooler con-tinues its innovation streak, by intro-

ducing this summer the new special canwith cooling sensor which indicateswhen the beer is at perfect temperatureto drink. Thus, Ursus Cooler strengthensits position on the beer mixes segmentafter a launch awarded with Gold Effiefor the most efficient advertising cam-paign in the beer industry.

The launch campaign was developedby the Graffiti BBDO team: Vlad Lazăr,Creative Director; Octavian Toma, Headof Art; Viorel Samoilă, Graphic designer;Alexandru Mălăescu, Art Director; Cris-tian Scurtu, Copywriter; Eleodor Ghenoiu,Strategic Planner; Roxana Mălăescu,Group Account Director; Delia Arghir,Account Director; Cristiana Plăvicheanu,Senior Account Executive and Liviu Isop,AV Producer, in close collaboration withthe Ursus Team: Marian Olteanu, SeniorBrand Manager URSUS; Ioana Tănasă,Senior Innovation Manager; LoredanaCatană, Brand Activation Manager; VictorTeioșanu, Brand Manager; Alina Marti-nescu, Junior Brand Manager; Iulia Do-bre, Junior Brand Manager and MihaiBârsan, Vice President of Marketing Ur-sus Breweries.

About URSUS

The attention for an authentic experiencebrought to the Ursus beer internationalrecognition. Ursus Premium has 24medals gained at international compe-titions on 3 continents. It’s the winner ofa gold medal in 2008 at the “World BeerCup” – the most important competitionfor beer industry worldwide. UrsusBlack has been awarded 4 times at Eu-ropean Beer Star in Germany. UrsusPremium gives a unique experience. Dueto the formula with 100% malt and 2types of hop we obtain a beer with goldcolor, a rich taste, truly of a king’s taste.

Ursus Black in turn has its own for-mula with 3 types of malt: one for thetaste, one for the color and one for theflavor. Ursus nonalcoholic offers a beerlike taste, thanks to a unique Europeanpatented recipe. Ursus Cooler with its 2types of beer reaches the consumerswith a new offer, combining the authentictaste of Ursus Beer with refreshinglemonade which has low alcohol levels.

About Ursus Breweries

Ursus Breweries, a subsidiary of SAB-Miller plc group, is one of the biggest

beer producer in Romania. UrsusBreweries brands are: Ursus, Timișoreana, Ciucaș, Peroni NastroAzzurro, Grolsch, Azuga, Redd’s, Ste-jar and Pilsner Urquell Ursus contri-bution to the state budget reached 259million euro in 2012, representing ex-cises, VAT, social insurance taxes, andother taxes. SABMiller is the world’ssecond largest brewing company withpartnerships with beer manufacturerscompanies or distribution agreementson 6 continents. The group’s brandsinclude premium international beerslike: Grolsch, Miller Genuine Draft,Peroni Nastro Azzurro and PilsnerUrquell and also an exceptional rangeof local beer brands in leader positionslike: Aguila (Columbia), Castle (SouthAfrica), Miller Lite (USA), Snow (China),Victoria Bitter (Australia) and Tyskie(Poland).SABMiller plc is also one ofthe biggest companies in the worldthat bottles products like Coca-Cola.

For more information about UrsusBreweries and its programs pleasevisit: www.ursus-breweries.ro andwww.desprealcool.ro.

ADVERTORIAL

The winning team who worked on the launch campaign, on stage to receive the award: Marian Olteanu, Senior BrandManager Ursus (speaking); (behind, left to right) Vlad Lazar, Creative Director with Graffiti BBDO; Eleodor Ghenoiu,Strategic Planner with Graffiti BBDO; Octavian Toma, Head of Art with Graffiti BBDO

12 TOURISMwww.business-review.eu

Business Review | July 28 - September 1, 2014

Peles Castle110 km north of Bucharest, Sinaia town,Prahova county; www.peles.ro

Peles Castle was built at the behest ofRomania’s King Carol I in 1914, to serveas a summer residence. Since 1953, ithas been a national museum, open tothe public, while the other estates in thePeles complex were turned into board-

ing houses for writers, artists and musi-cians approved of by the communistregime, which can now be visited by thepublic. Peles’s architectural style is a ro-mantically inspired mixture of Neo-Re-naissance and Gothic Revival similar toSchloss Neuschwanstein in Bavaria,after Carol I rejected three previous ar-chitectural proposals. Saxon influencecan be observed in the interior court-

yard facades, which have allegoricalhand-painted murals and ornaments inthe German style Fachwerk, similar tothat seen in northern European alpinearchitecture. The interior decoration ismostly Baroque influenced, with heavy,carved wood and exquisite fabrics.Peles Castle has a 3,200 sqm floor planand over 170 rooms, many with themesinspired by world cultures.

Snagov Monastery andLake

40 km north of Bucharest, Snagov village, Ilfov county; www.snagov.ro

Snagov Monastery is located on anisland on the far side of Snagov Lakeand could only be accessed by boatuntil recently, when a bridge wasbuilt.

One hundred years after thechurch was constructed (1364), VladTepes (the inspiration for the figureof Dracula) added the fortress wallsand a dungeon.

A plaque on the floor of thechurch marks the grave that is saidto contain the remains of the leg-endary count.

If you don’t have time tostrike out and tour thewhole of Romania – don’tdespair! Within easy reachof the capital are severalspecial destinations whereyou can escape the city andwind down – from monas-teries and palaces withfascinating histories, crys-tal-blue lakes and lushgreenery to luxury resorts. ∫ OANA VASILIU

The beauty beyondBucharest

Stirbey Palace20 km north of Bucharest, Buftea town,Ilfov county; www.palatulstirbey.ro

The Stirbey Palace complex comprisesthe palace itself, a wide lawn, church,chapel, summer pavilion, park, watertower and lake. Construction started in1850 by order of Barbu Dimitrie Stirbei,then prince of Wallachia, but the struc-ture was not completed until 1863,under Alexandru Barbu Stirbei. Gothicelements can be detected both insideand outside the building, but what re-ally impresses is the princely sumptu-ousness and prestige of the palace.These charms attracted the great andthe good: the building was often used toreceive the noble guests of AlexandruStirbei: public figures, cultural and po-litical personalities, scientists and mer-chants.

TOURISM 13www.business-review.euBusiness Review | July 28 - September 1, 2014

Mogosoaia Palace andLake14 km north-west of Bucharest,Mogosoaia town, Ilfov county;www.palatebrancovenesti.ro

Mogosoaia Palace, which stands onthe shores of Mogosoaia Lake, em-bodies the Brancovenesc architec-tural style, featuring traditionalRomanian staircases, balconies, ar-cades and columns.

Built by Constantin Brancoveanu,the Walachian prince, between 1698and 1702 as a summer residence forhis family, the palace features a beau-

tiful Venetian-style loggia on the fa-cade facing the lake and a balconywith intricate Brancovenesc-stylecarvings overlooking the main court-yard. Today, the palace houses theBrancovenesc Museum, whose ex-hibits include valuable paintings,wood and stone sculptures, gold andsilver embroideries, rare books andprecious manuscripts. Inside thecomplex is a church built in 1688 anddecorated by Greek artists.

The original interior murals havebeen well preserved and one includesa depiction of Brancoveanu, his wife,Maria, and their four sons and sevendaughters, all in royal dress.

Cernica Lake

14 km south-east of Bucharest, Ilfov county; www.ilfov.djc.ro

The 19th-century orthodox complexof Cernica, on a small island in themiddle of Cernica Lake, is one of Ro-

mania’s most idyllic monasteries.Two churches, some chapels, a ceme-tery, religious art and a typographymuseum are contained within thecomplex. The forest and lake are pop-ular with families, offering clean airand a quiet place to spend a day in na-ture.

Comana National Park

40 km south of Bucharest, Gradistea village, Giurgiu countywww.comanaparc.ro

Comana National Park is known asBucharest’s delta for its ecosystemsand biodiversity, which are similar tothose of the Danube Delta. This pro-tected area is home to several endan-

gered species of flowers and animalson the European red list, which ranksthe conservation status of almost6,000 European species. It offers al-most 58 kilometers of bicycle routes,boat rides among the reeds and fish-ing potential. History buffs and Drac-ula enthusiasts won’t want to missComana’s Monastery, founded byVlad Tepes. The location has also abeautiful resort, Casa Comana.

Cantacuzino Castle

130 km north of Bucharest, Busteni town,Prahova countywww.cantacuzinocastle.com

Built between 1901 and 1911 at the be-hest of Prince Cantacuzino, and de-signed by architect Grigore Cerchez,the castle stands out for its large, im-posing stone and brick building. Witha built area of nearly 3,200 sqm, it isconstructed in the neo-Romanianstyle. Brancovenesc, Byzantine andCeltic influences can also be detectedin the building. The castle is composedof a basement, ground floor and firstfloor with concrete foundations andwalls of carved stone. Covered with

tiles, it has only five bedrooms.Tourists can admire the castle’s origi-nal stained glass windows, made byMurano specialists, as well as the orig-inal parquet and floor, comprised ofFlorentine ceramics. The old-time am-bience is kept alive by stucco marble,fireplaces fashioned from the stone ofArbesti, Mures county, festooned withpolychrome mosaics, large woodendoors with panels into which the coatof arms of the Cantacuzino family iscarved, a staircase whose steps aremade of Carrara marble and banistersfrom wood, stone and wrought iron.Only one original chandelier remainsin the whole castle, hung in the lobbyof honor, which hosts a heraldic collec-tion that is unique in Romania.

Greaca Domain45 km south of Bucharest, Greaca village,Giurgiu county; www.domeniulgreaca.ro

This holiday resort provides accommo-dation in a Neo-Romanian style man-sion, and amenities include a restaurantserving Romanian and Mediterraneancuisine, wine cellar and two outdoorpools. Covering an area of 32 hectares, itis located close to the entrance to thevillage of Greaca. The mansion housesguests in 15 rooms and a suite, withprices starting at EUR 55.

14 CITYwww.business-review.eu

Business Review | July 28 - September 1, 2014

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DEBBIE STOWE

Director: Hans Petter MolandStarring: Stellan SkarsgardOn at: Cinemateca Union, Elvira Popes-cu, Grand Cinema Digiplex, Hollywood Multiplex

Stellan Skarsgard makes an unlikelyCharles Bronson-style vigilante.Known for playing mild-manneredcharacters (such as his virgin professorin Nymphomaniac), it is in this under-stated style that he starts out here, asNils, a Swedish snow-plough driverwho has assimilated so well into hisadopted Norwegian community thathe’s just been made Citizen of the Year.

But this Scandinavian hinterlandhas a darker side. While Nils is beingbigged up at a pleasant civic ceremony,his only son Ingvar is meeting his de-mise at the hands of drugs traffickerswho suspect him of ripping them off.The murder is staged to look like aheroin overdose, but Nils disputes theofficial version, which is swallowed bythe inept local police, and resolves toseek vengeance.

A tip-off leads him to drug gangflunky Jappe, out of whom Nils beatsthe name of the next man up beforedispatching him. The fledgling vigi-lante proves equal to the brutal task hehas assumed, gradually working hisway up the chain of command.

At its pinnacle sits cartoonish vil-lain Greven, or the Count as he isknown (Pal Sverre Hagen), a playboymobster who has struck an uneasytruce with a rival Serbian crime syndi-cate over airport narcotic routes. He,too, has a son. It is not difficult to seewhere things are heading.

In Order of Disappearance is ex-tremely violent, and flinch momentsabound. With a running time of closeto two hours, and little doubt aboutthe narrative trajectory, it would betempting to write the movie off early

as another grim slice of Scandinavianslaughterhouse chic, with its penchantfor snow-based torture, gruesomekillings and child abuse.

But don’t – because despite thepremise, In Order of Disappearance ishilarious. The title alludes to the film’scustom of acknowledging the death ofeach character with a black screen in-dicating the recently departed’s name,birth and death dates and religion.This funereal touch becomes a run-ning joke, particularly when about adozen deceased have to share thescreen after a deadly Mexican stand-off.

The movie is particularly funnywhen skewing the foibles of contem-porary European life, from co-parent-ing to politics and immigration. TheCount, for example, must balance thedemands of running an internationaldrugs ring with those of modern par-enting – a bitter custody battle is un-derway with his ex-wife, with a majorpoint of contention being his son’sbreakfast options (you will never haveheard the term “Fruit Loops” spat outwith such venom – or certainly not ina Norwegian accent).

The script nods to Tarantino withseveral amusing “gangsters do banalchat” scenes, in one of which a Serbiandrug trafficker extols the virtues of theNorwegian prison system, which notonly offers good food and no rapes,but also free access to dentistry. “Civi-lized people…” observes the ex-con,without irony. An interesting theoryon why cold countries produce thebest welfare states is also developed.

And it seems that political correct-ness is an issue among the criminalfraternity too. During pre-crime smalltalk, a hitman known as “Chinaman”is politely asked, “It must be cold herefor a Chinese?” “I’m Danish,” hereplies. Visual gags also punctuate thebleak snow-covered landscape: withthat toxic combination of lots ofmoney and bad taste, the Count lives

in a ludicrous minimalist show homethat the director mines for laughs.

It is this wit that lifts In Order ofDisappearance far above generic re-venge flicks, and this is beautifully ex-pressed in the final scene, theinevitable one-on-one showdown.That could perhaps have come a littleearlier – the repeated bloodshed iswearying, especially in the context ofthe predictable plot.

But overall, the refreshing humor

FILM REVIEW

In Order of Disappearance (Kraftidioten)

Snow joke: comedy and carnage combine in Hans Petter Moland’s Norwegian revenge film, starring Stellan Skarsgard

Blood in a cold climate: Nils tackles a criminal

makes this Nordic noir a blackly comictreat. The twangy guitar soundtrackmay have the whisper of a Western,but that is not where Kraftidioten’sdark heart lies. (How many Westernsfeature a gay kiss?) The blood-on-icetheme has attracted comparisons withthe Coen brothers’ Fargo, but directorHans Petter Moland has crafted some-thing far funnier.

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