AUSTRIA

• New brick factory opens in Cluj
  Brick producer Wienerberger has opened a 25 million Euro factory in Romania in Petrestii de Jos village, Cluj county. The plant stretches over nine hectares and will produce about 140 million brick units per year. Wienerberger entered the
  Romanian market in 1998. The company has another two plants in Sibiu and in Gura Ocnitei, Dambovita county and works with 150 distributors.

UK

• Cash loan provider expands west
  Small cash loan provider Provident Financial plans to expand to Arad, Timisoara and Cluj-Napoca by the end of this year in part of an 11 million Euro investment strategy. The company will expand its staff from 300 to 450 and its independent representatives from 800 to 2,000 people.
  Posting a 5.4 million Euro loss in 2007, the company plans to break even by 2010.
  Based in Bucharest, the company is open in eight other Romanian cities.
• Media division of Tempo bought out
  Marketing communications group Aegis Group has bought the media division of Romanian firm Tempo Advertising, Tempo Media. The company will be rebranded as Vizeum. Tempo Media has gross assets of 1.3 million Euro and a client portfolio including Tuborg, Carlsberg and
  Cetelem. “Due to its population size and fast growth dynamic, Romania is becoming a lead market for many international advertisers in the south-eastern region of Eastern Europe,” said Robert Lerwill, CEO of Aegis.
• Coffee stores aim for more
  After opening its first store in Baneasa Shopping City, London-listed coffee and sandwich bar chain Coffeeheaven plans to open at least five other stores in Romania.
  CEO of Coffeeheaven Richard Worthington told The Diplomat that the company is planning a similar development to its estate in Poland, which has 53 stores in all the major Polish cities. Coffeeheaven also
  has stores in Bulgaria, Latvia, Hungary and the Czech Republic.

FRANCE

• Chain opens ninth DIY store
  French DIY retailer Bricostore, part of Bresson, opened in Arad its ninth store in the country, in a ten million Euro investment.
  The 10,000 sqm store, inside the Armonia Shopping Center, which is
  owned by American-Spanish RED Management Capital is at the junction between the Arad ring road and the road to Nadlac, Arad county.
• Car design centre opens
  French Renault Group has opened its design centre Renault Europa Centrala in central Bucharest, on Strada Pitar Mos in the former headquarters of the Swiss Embassy. The design centre is the company’s sixth worldwide and a location where the French giant will design cars and spare parts.

GERMANY

• Health and beauty chain opens in capital
  Health and beauty chain DM (Drogeriemarkt) continues its expansion in Romania by opening a second store in Bucharest and another in Arad. DM now has seven stores in Romania, including Timisoara, Galati, Deva and Cluj-Napoca and is active in regional nations such as Italy, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia and Croatia. “We came to Romania to become market leaders,” said Milan Radin, general director DM Romania.

USA

• Bricks and tiles fi rm sets up second factory
  Investment fund Advent Internationalowned bricks and tile manufacturer Ceramica Iasi will invest 45 million Euro in expanding the capacity of its existing plant in Iasi and build a new plant. “We want to expand [production] in other regions in Romania,” said Iulian Mangalagiu, general manager of Ceramica Iasi.
  “Once the new production lines start functioning in Iasi we will have more than enough brick in order to satisfy the need of the entire Moldavia region.”

GREECE

• Steel distributor opts for Bucharest plot
  Steel products distributor Kalpinis-Simos, steel producer Hellenic Halyvoyrgia and Trigonis Bros will together process and distribute steel products in Romania through its affi liate Kalpinis- Simosroms, which will be renamed to Balkan Iron Group (BIG). The company has bought two pieces of land of 60,000 and respectively 20,000 sqm near Bucharest for two million Euro, as part of a 12 million Euro investment plan.

DENMARK

• Logistics group plans space attack
  Logistics fi rm DSV Solutions has opened a new 29,000 sqm terminal with 3,000 sqm offi ce space in Bucharest West Logistics Park on the A1 highway, where it also plans to purchase another 20,000 sqm of
  storage space. DSV aims to open its Brasov office this month, where it plans to purchase 10,000 sqm in space, while aiming to extend the capacity of its branches in Oradea, Timisoara, Cluj-Napoca and Constanta.
  In Romania, DSV Solutions bought out Dutch fi rm Frans Maas in 2007 and last year posted a 21 million Euro turnover.

ITALY

• Tyre giant to produce fi lters in Gorj
  Pirelli Tyres Romania plans to open a 25 million Euro anti-pollution fi lter factory in Gorj county industrial park, close to the Romanian-Serb border by the end of this year. This will employ 400 staff on a ten hectare plot, where it will produce 500,000 fi lters for diesel engines annually.
  Pirelli has one tyre and one metallic cable factory in Slatina, Olt county
  and plans to double its tyre production to four million units by the end of 2008.
• Constanta set to sparkle
  Sodo Migliori is targeting Constanta to open two new jewel and luxury accessory Cellini stores and a Swarovski crystal boutique. The company currently runs 14 Cellini stores and four Swarovski
  boutiques in Romania.