Business Review

Mineral exploration company Valhalla Resources Limited is seeking approval for two new exploration licenses in the Apuseni region of Romania in the next couple of months. Joel Hayes, executive director of the company, told Business Review about the plans to list the company on the Toronto Stock Exchange this fall. He estimates around 5 million Canadian dollars will be generated, money which will be invested in various development projects. Hayes said Valhalla Resources was considering a joint venture with a major mining firm to build mines in two exploration locations where the company discovered copper and gold, and to pursue additional target areas in Romania.

Paper consumption in Romania will double in the next five years, players estimate. Segments such as advertising and wrapping materials are expected to grow, while books, print magazines and newspapers will trail their commercial counterparts, according to statistics.

Last year, agriculture was the poorest performing sector of the economy. Total damages on account of the drought amounted to EUR 400 million, which represented about 0.4 percent of the GDP in 2007. This year, the administration wants to avoid a rerun of last year's grim scenario and has rounded up three of the biggest lenders in the system to give farmers a helping hand.

More than ten years after the government started the restructuring process for local mines the local coal production seem on the rise. Energy companies such as Energy Holding, Enel or heavy industry companies such as Alro Slatina have plans to build thermal power plants based on coal. But until the mining sector will dig up for needed investments, the solution is imported coal.

France Telecom CEO Didier Lombard was present in Romania last week to celebrate the company's 10 million local customer landmark. "We are very pleased with the results posted by Orange Romania which places the Romanian operator in sixth place in the France Telecom group for number of customers," said Lombard. He added that Romanian customers were even more pro-active in adopting new technologies than their counterparts in more developed countries.

The Romanian labor market is suffering from a lack of specialists, while the segments of industry with the greatest development in recent years, such as construction, are desperately short of workers. A recent study by Manpower found that 43 percent of employers in Romania expect to hire more employees in Q2 of 2008. While sectors such as FMCG, retail and finance should be able to meet their employment gaps, others such as construction and IT are just keeping their fingers crossed.

Either with hybrid models or "green" engine systems, the automotive industry has stepped up its efforts to find a "green solution" to the pollution problem. But the higher prices of cars with lower CO2 emissions mean hybrid models have not yet managed to carve out a large market share, and Romania is no exception to this. Fewer than 100 models of the Honda Civic hybrid and Toyota Prius have been sold in the last two years in Romania.

Ahh, Bucharest. What can I say about a city in which I have spent most of the last twelve years of my life? Indeed it is rather daunting to think how much the city (and I for that matter!) have changed in those past dozen years. But when Bill Avery, the publisher of Business Review, asked me to submit my thoughts on the landmark 10 year anniversary of his veritable publication, I felt compelled to respond.

I came to Romania in the summer of 1995 to work with an investment fund called the Romanian American Enterprise Fund. I worked with that fund from 1995 until the end of 2002. After that, I left to begin my own advisory practice and at the same time got involved with a minerals exploration company, Valhalla Resources. I have been here ever since; I never had any reason to leave. Romania is interesting, professionally challenging and there are all kinds of opportunities on the market. I never meant to leave and at least for the medium term I do not intend to.

The decision of carmakers like Renault and Ford to produce in Romania has led to the growth of the car making industry locally, but it has also attracted various manufacturers to the country. The opportunities on this segment are likely to last, as General Motors and Daimler Chrysler are also expected to step in. Nokia's start of production in Romania has also underlined the hardware manufacturing opportunities provided by the country.