Major deals in 2007

The energy market, the IT & C field, and financial services yielded the most significant business in 2007, with private deals dominating both in terms of numbers and value of the local business environment.

The sale of oil group Rompetrol by its former owner, businessman Dinu Patriciu, estimated at some $2.7 billion, the Initial Public Offer (IPO) for state-owned gas distribution company Transgaz, the start of the mandatory pension market, and the decision of cable and telecom operator RCS & RDS to forego listing on the London Stock Exchange (LSE) and borrow a record $500 million from international lenders were the events with the highest impact on Romania's business market, with reverberations on the oil market, Bucharest's Stock Exchange (BVB), the labor market and the international financial markets.

Another trend in the business field was the decision by leading businesspeople to attract foreign capital into the businesses they established in the 1990s and which they can no longer develop on their own.

Patriciu gave up control of his company, Rompetrol, a business worth a mere several million dollars in 1998 and currently estimated at some $7.5 bln.

Businessman Horia Ciorcila, President and shareholder of Banca Transilvania, decided to sell the lender's insurance unit, BT Asigurari, to French group Groupama, while software company BitDefender founder, Florin Talpes, sold 7 percent of his company to seven investors.

Business Standard