ROMANIA’S PREMIER BUSINESS WEEKLY MAY 26 - JUNE 1, 2014 / VOLUME 18, NUMBER 19

INTERVIEW: The local delivery sector will expand this year,boosted by the B2C segment, while more companies are exploring fresh markets outside the EU, says Daniel Kearvell,managing director at DHL Express Romania »page 8

INTERVIEW

Brand and deliverThe social media revo-lution means firms nolonger need huge re-sources to make an im-pact, says GabrielaSalinas, global brandmanager at Deloitte» page 7

CITY

Film lovers’ TIFFOrganizers have an-nounced the star-stud-ded line-up of theTransilvania Interna-tional Film Festival,the hottest ticket in thelocal movie calendar» page 12

Real estate developers have residentialprojects in mind – but banks are still keeping

a tight hold on financing, complain industryplayers » pages 10-11

LINKSCYBERCRIMINALSARE BECOMINGMORE AND MORESOPHISTICATED INTHEIR ATTACKS,AS SOARING DATAMAKE MORE FIRMS VULNERABLE,WARN ONLINESECURITY EXPERTS »PAGE 6

ANOTHER LEVEL?TAX & LAW

SUPPLEMENTissue 2 focuseson insolvency

NEW S 3www.business-review.eu Business Review | May 26 - June 1, 2014

NEWS in briefNEW S 3

BANKINGRaiffeisen profit slumps 27.5percent in Q1 2014Raiffeisen Bank International (RBI) post-ed a first-quarter post-tax profit of EUR22 million in Romania, down 27.5 percentfrom EUR 30 million in the first quarterof 2013. Pre-tax earnings dropped 30percent, from EUR 36 million to EUR25 million. Operational income de-creased by 2.8 percent, from EUR 115million in the first quarter of last yearto EUR 112 million in the same periodthis year. Net income from interest rateswere down 6 percent year on year, toEUR 67 million, while net income fromtaxes and commissions rose 4.3 percentto EUR 38 million. Income obtainedfrom transactions dropped 7 percent toEUR 6 million. RBI assets in Romaniawere down 4 percent, from EUR 6.53billion in December to EUR 6.26 billionat the end of March. The credit balanceincreased 1.2 percent to EUR 4.32 billion,while deposits decreased 5 percent inthe interval, from EUR 4.34 billion toEUR 4.13 billion.

MEDIAMediafax Group enters classifieds businessMediafax Group has signed an agree-ment with Anuntul de la A la Z (AZ.ro),marking the group’s entry into the freeclassifieds business, according to wall-street.ro. With this partnership, Mediafaxwill compete on a market that includesplayers such as OLX.ro (formerly Mer-cador.ro), Tocmai.ro and Okazii.ro. Ac-cording to the Ministry of Finance,Anuntul de la A la Z posted a turnoverof RON 1.47 million (approximately EUR330,600) in 2012 and net revenues ofRON 1.48 million (approximately EUR333,500). The company had seven em-ployees at that time.

ONLINECalin Fusu takes over 20 pc ofClever Taxi phone appClever Tech, a company started in 2011by two Politehnica graduates, has re-ceived financing from Calin Fusu, oneof the most well-known IT entrepreneursin the country. The firm’s main asset isthe Clever Taxi phone app, which hasbeen used to place 5 million cab orderssince its launch, writes zf.ro. As Fusuacquired a 20 percent share package inthe company, the investment is likelyto be worth about EUR 200,000. It

comes against the backdrop of Roma-nia’s burgeoning smartphone market.

PROPERTYSoravia finishes Starlight conversion, plans to invest EUR80 million in new office projectThe local subsidiary of Austrian real es-tate developer Soravia Group has com-pleted a EUR 1.5 million investment inthe conversion of the Starlight Suiteshotel in Bucharest into office space, thecompany has announced. The hotelwas located on the grounds of MetropolisCenter, an office and retail project So-ravia opened in 2009. Following theconversion, the hotel’s 70 rooms wereturned into 5,500 sqm of class B+ officespace, adding to the project’s existing11,000 sqm of class A office space. So-ravia could invest up to EUR 80 millionover the next year in developing a newoffice project in Bucharest of a similarsize to Metropolis Center, said HannoSoravia, one of the developer’s twofounders, in a press conference. Thecompany is presently negotiating thepurchase of land for the project andsaid it would provide more details overthe coming weeks.

AFI Palace Cotroceni revenueup 6.7 percent to EUR 7.3 mlnShopping mall AFI Palace Cotroceni hasreported a net revenue increase of 6.7percent in Q1 2014, to EUR 7.3 million.Officials estimate that the company willpost total revenue of EUR 29 million atthe end of the year, similar to the resultlast year. In 2013, AFI Europe reporteda net income gain of 6.5 percent, to EUR28.7 million, from renting commercialspace in its shopping mall, the Israelicompany’s first project in Romania.Moreover, AFI Palace Cotroceni recordedan increase in traffic (visitors to the mall)to 55,000 per day in the first quarter of2014 and an occupancy rate of 98 percent.AFI Palace Cotroceni posted total valueof EUR 375 million at the end of Sep-tember 2013. AFI Palace Ploiesti wentup EUR 6.2 million, to EUR 64.2 million.The traffic remained stable at 15,000visitors per day and the occupancy rategrew to 99 percent in April.

Ericsson Romania takes up additional office space in WestGateTelecom equipment manufacturer Er-icsson Romania will be expanding itsoffice space in West Gate by an additional4,000 sqm this fall. The block is one ofthe two Bucharest office projects ownedby Genesis Development, controlled byRomanian businessman Liviu Tudor.

The space leased by Ericsson in thebuilding will thereby increase to 16,000sqm. The lease was also prolonged until2019. Ericsson Romania relocated its ac-tivity to the West Gate office compoundin 2008, when it rented 4,000 sqm.

RESEARCHMillward Brown buys DaedalusConsulting from foundersDaniel and Dragos EnescuMillward Brown, owned by WPP, hassigned an agreement for the completetakeover of Daedalus Consulting fromfounders Daniel and Dragos Enescu. In-cluded in the deal is subsidiary Vision-wise Consulting, Mediafax reports.Daedalus Consulting, which became amember of Millward Brown’s networknine years ago, employs 110 people, pro-viding brand research and brand com-munication services to local and multi-national companies active in Romania.The value of the transaction has notbeen made public. Daniel Enescu willbe president of the Millward Brown Ro-mania board where his responsibilitieswill include administering and devel-oping opportunities in other markets.

TELECOMVodafone revenues, customerbase remain stableVodafone Romania had 8.19 million mo-bile customers on March 31, markinggrowth of over 104,000 subscribersyear-on-year, according to key perform-ance indicators for the fiscal year fromApril 1 2013, to March 31, 2014.Servicerevenues for the year reached EUR 703.7million, down by 0.9 percent on theyear before, on an organic basis, mostlydue to the cut in mobile terminationrates. Excluding the effect of the cut(effective September 1, 2012), servicerevenue for the year increased by 2 per-cent. Service revenue for the quarterended March 31 was EUR 173.6 million,up by 3.8 percent year on year, also onan organic basis. Total revenues reachedEUR 748.5 million, down by 2.2 percentfrom last year. Mobile data revenue in-creased by 20.5 percent in the quarterended March 31, compared to the sameperiod of last year. For the full year, mo-bile data revenue increased by 25.1 per-cent. Vodafone’s EBITDA reached EUR248.4 million. On March 31, postpaidcustomers accounted for 41 percent,and prepaid customers 59 percent ofthe mobile base. The proportion re-mained flat compared to the last finan-cial year.

MOST READ www.business-review.eu

1 Romania’s team wins gold at the European GymnasticsChampionships

2 Romania joins the F-16 family

3 New scandal rocks insurance industry: Omniasig CEO and 40 directors, suspects in forgerycase

4 Bucharest, one of the Top 10 rising summer destinations thatattract American tourists

5 Oracle president: The Romanianbranch is the fourth most important worldwide

WEEK AHEADMay 26SMEs HOW TO For the second year in a row, BusinessReview is organizing SMEs HOW TO, anevent dedicated to providing fresh andrelevant information for the SME sector.The event will bring together entrepre-neurs, policymakers and SME supportorganizations from the private and pub-lic sectors, with other intermediarybodies. Register on the business-re-view.eu website or email events@busi-ness-review.eu.

08.30, Platinum Hall, Howard JohnsonHotel, Bucharest

May 29Course in Romanian MentalityCasa Paleologu presents a course on

“the Romanian mentality” aimed at for-eigners residing in Romania who wishto learn more about local mentalitiesfor professional or personal reasons.The first meeting will take place on May29, and BR readers who sign up for thecourse get a free six-month online sub-scription to Business Review. More in-formation can be found on thebusiness-review.eu website.

19.00, Casa Paleologu.

May 31 - June 2TechsylvaniaThe first edition of Techsylvania will bedivided into two sections: Hackathon onwearable technologies and a series ofconferences on innovation and technol-ogy. BR readers get a special discountwhen registering for the tech event.More information can be found on thebusiness-review.eu website.

Cluj Arena (Hackathon) and ClujHub(conference).

4 NEWS www.business-review.eu Business Review | May 26 - June 1, 2014

INVESTMENT

Prime Minister Victor Ponta saidlast week during a joint press con-ference with US Vice-President

Joe Biden that the government has start-ed to implement an action plan to in-crease the presence of US companies inRomania, covering an array of fields in-cluding commerce and economic de-velopment.

Biden said that the most importantstep Romania could take to attract in-vestments and create jobs would be tostrengthen its rule of law and at thesame time continue clamping down oncorruption.

Valeriu Nistor, president of AmChamRomania, and Eric Stewart, presidentof the Romanian-American BusinessCouncil, said in an opinion piece thatthe action plan was intended to improvethe quality of public policy in Romania.

“Decision makers will benefit fromthe crucial experience of industry expertswhen drafting legislation in the publicinterest – it is free, qualified advice. Ad-ditionally, guaranteeing the appropriatepublic access to draft legislation andconducting proper impact assessmentsprior to adopting new rules will allowthe business community and other stake-holders to flag potential unintendedconsequences that could harm ordinaryRomanians,” said the two advocacygroup representatives in a statement.

During a joint press conference with

President Traian Basescu, Biden saidthat there was still “important workahead” in order to further enhance trade,investment and energy security betweenthe two countries.

Mihail Marcu, president of RomanianBusiness Leaders, an association pro-moting entrepreneurship, told BR thecountry was “looking good” from anmacroeconomic perspective, althoughthere were still unresolved issues related

to legislation and corruption. Biden’s visit comes on the backdrop

of the ongoing tensions in Ukraine, fol-lowing Russia’s annexation of theCrimean Peninsula. NATO has expandedits presence in the region and the vice-president strongly stated that the USwould honor Article 5 of the NATO Treaty,which says an armed attack against oneNATO member is an attack against thewhole alliance.

“We also spoke at some length aboutenergy security and how national secu-rity and energy security come togetherin this part of the world in the need toensure that Russia can no longer continueto use its energy resources and Europeandependence on those resources as aweapon – a weapon against anyone inthis region,” said Biden. “And that's whyI believe that the development of asecure, diverse and interconnected en-ergy market in Europe is the next bigstep for our European colleagues to ini-tiate in a great project of European eco-nomic integration,” he added.

Two American oil majors are cur-rently working on projects in Romaniathat could enhance national energy se-curity, according to commentators.Chevron has started shale gas explorationin eastern Romania, while ExxonMobilhas an ongoing exploration programwith Austrian company OMV Petrom inthe Black Sea. Analysts say that if thesedeposits are proven viable, exploitationwill start by the end of the decade. Inthe meantime, Romania is building agas pipeline that has reached the Re-public of Moldova, in a bid to reduce itsdependency on Russian imports.

PM Ponta also assured the US VPthat Romania will ramp up its publicdefense spending to 2 percent of GDPin the next two years. ∫

Ovidiu Posirca

All the vice-president’s men: VP Biden met President Basescu and other leaders

Romania adopts ‘action plan’ to boosteconomic ties with US

REAL ESTATE

After officially delivering the EUR57.5 million Green Gate officeproject in Bucharest last week,

Czech developer S Group is lookingto buy more land in the capital foranother office project, said VladimiraNovakova, managing director of GreenGate Development.

The Bucharest office market isgrowing, with demand being mostlyfueled by out-sourcing, call center andIT companies, she went on. At presentthere are several large players activein these fields from the US that are inthe process of registering local entities,added the MD.

A firm decision regarding S Group’snext project in Romania will be takenthis autumn as the company’s mainfocus at present is leasing the remain-

ing 40 percent of the 31,000 sqm officeproject located on Tudor VladimirescuBlvd.

The developer wants to buy landin the project’s vicinity or in a similarlycentral location as it does not want tocompete against the Pipera and Flo-reasca areas in northern Bucharest,said Novakova. The land on whichGreen Gate was developed was boughtin 2007 for about EUR 1,000/sqm, butin the meantime the prices of premiumland in Bucharest have dropped toabout EUR 600 to EUR 650/sqm, sheadded. For its next development, SGroup is also considering a mixed of-fice and retail scheme and entering ajoint venture, added Novakova.

As in the case of Green Gate, thefuture project will most likely be fi-

nanced by a foreign bank, said theMD. “Speaking of the local banks, Ithink I personally met with all of themat a high level (…) and we were notable to get financing locally (…) I thinkmost of the developers are walking inthe same shoes as us. Financing usu-ally comes from their home countryor from Austria and Germany,” shesaid.

Green Gate was opened followinga EUR 57.5 million investment, aboutEUR 39 million of which came fromCzech lender PPF Bank.

EUR 5.5 million in revenueson the tableWith a 31,000 sqm GLA of class Aoffice space, Green Gate is the largestoffice scheme to be delivered this year

in Bucharest. More than 60 percentof the project is leased, with the maintenant being local IT company Team-net, which has leased around 10,000sqm for its 600 employees for a sev-en-year period. Other tenants areMapei Romania, Teaha ManagementConsulting and Fujitsu Siemens.

A building the size of Green Gategets fully leased in about a year, saidNovakova. When this happens, SGroup expects a net operating incomeof EUR 5.5 million per year. Averageheadline rents in the projects arearound EUR 15.5/sqm/month, accord-ing to the company.

The 11-storey building was com-pleted in 19 months and the generalcontractor was Bog’Art Group. ∫

Simona Bazavan

Czech-ing out the market: S Group seeksland for new office project in Bucharest

Courtesy of presidency.ro

NEWS5www.business-review.eu Business Review | May 26 - June 1, 2014

ART MARKET

Lavacow, the Artmark art group’sinternational subsidiary, was dueto be launched at last week’s Art

Safari pavilion. Specialized in technology,it is the first online auction house dedi-cated to emerging European art, with afocus on post-war and contemporaryartists from Eastern Europe. The costsare half as much as traditional auction

houses charge, 8-12 percent comparedto 18-27 percent, and may be waivedentirely if the user recommends theplatform and brings new users to use it.The project involved a concept calledthe New Revolutionary Auction Room,which allows users to experience an artauction simulation, similar to an onlinegame, where they can customize their

presence through an avatar designedby comic artist Alexandru Ciubotariu ofPisica Patrata street brand. Followinglog-in, bids can be placed online beforethe start of the auction in a preview orreal-time, during the online live auction.At the first bid credit card details mustbe provided. The online platform sup-ports sales, with Lavacow promotingworks by contemporary Eastern Euro-pean artists of international renown.

According to Cristina Olteanu, co-founder and CEO of Lavacow Romania,the Contemporary East, Lavacow Auc-tion #1 will put up for sale a selection ofworks by up-and-coming Eastern Eu-ropean artists, alongside those of theirmore established counterparts. VictorMan, Dora Maurer and Dan Perjovschiare just a few examples of artists formedin Eastern Europe who today enjoy in-ternational acclaim. The auction willtake place on May 27, at 21.00, and willconsist of 49 works with an estimatedvalue of EUR 50,000 to EUR 70,000.Starting prices range from EUR 200 toEUR 5,000. ∫

Oana Vasiliu

Contemporary East, Lavacow Auction #1 takes place on May 27 at 21.00

Online auction house Lavacowlaunches at Art Safari

British voters went to the polls lastweek amid the latest flare-up of thecontroversy surrounding Romanian andBulgarian immigration. Figures re-leased in mid-May gave the lie to hys-terical predictions of workers floodinginto the country once the two Balkannations obtained unfettered access tothe British labor market. However, bothsides in the debate claimed vindication:while the number of Romanians andBulgarians working in the UK was downby 4,000 in Q1 since restrictions werelifted in January, it was up 29,000 on ayear before.

Since then the row has taken on adarker tone. The leader of the Euro-skeptic minority party UKIP (the UK In-dependence Party), Nigel Farage, wasroundly criticized after making and re-peating anti-Romanian comments. “Anynormal and fair-minded person wouldhave a perfect right to be concerned ifa group of Romanian people suddenlymoved in next door,” he claimed in astatement, citing statistics on criminalgangs.

Political leaders condemned his re-marks as “unpleasant” and “nasty”.Even UKIP’s traditional supporters dis-tanced themselves. Right-wing tabloidThe Sun, no champion of immigration,wrote, “This is racism, pure and simple:Romanians, he is suggesting, are crim-inals to be feared… It is not racist toworry about the impact of millions ofmigrants on Britain, as we have arguedfor years. It IS racist to smear Romani-ans for being Romanian.”

Despite being a privately-educatedformer stockbroker, Farage has man-aged to cultivate an image as an anti-establishment “man of the people” tak-ing on the unaccountable forces inBrussels and standing up for Britishsovereignty. Though UKIP is derided bymuch of the British public – before be-coming prime minister, David Camerondescribed its members as “fruitcakes,loonies and closet racists” – it has madeheadway particularly among low-paid,low-skilled workers, who fear the im-pact of driven and hard-working immi-grants on their job security and wages,and residents of low-income neighbor-hoods alarmed by the influx of foreign-ers.

Britons who value Europe’s open-ness and free movement, which haveallowed many of us to thrive profes-sionally and personally in Romania, willhope that Farage’s bigoted slurs bringhome to the electorate the real face ofhis party.

debbie.stowe@business-review.ro

OPINIONDebbie StoweEDITOR

Will anti-Romanianslurs derail UKIP?

Georgiana Andrei has been promotedto director of the of-fice and retailagency at ColliersInternational Ro-mania. She hasbeen working forthe real estate serv-

ice firm since 2003, and has experi-ence in consulting, brokerage as wellas HR management. Since 2009, An-drei has headed the firm’s retail de-partment, which presently has twodivisions – shopping centers and highstreet – and a team of 10 consultants.

Veselin Milicicihas been appointedCRM manager ofWizz Air, and willbe based in the air-line’s Budapest of-fice. He has beenwith the airline forfive years as re-

gional marketing manager and willnow be handling the CRM system de-velopment across the entire Wizz Airnetwork. Milicici, a Romanian profes-sional, joined the Wizz Air team in

2009 since when has been responsiblefor various markets such as Romania,Bulgaria, Serbia, Macedonia, Turkey,Lithuania, Ukraine, Slovenia, Italy,Spain, France, Germany and the UnitedKingdom.

Oana Olteanu has been promoted tosenior associate byBiris Goran. Shejoined the firm in2008 and has exten-sive experience in liti-gation, arbitration,and insolvency mat-

ters. Olteanu has a special focus oncorporate governance, debt recoverydisputes, tax and customs disputes aswell as labor matters. In February 2012,she was admitted as a licensed insol-vency practitioner, and in this capacityshe is acting as liquidator and trusteeon numerous multi-million EUR insol-vency and bankruptcy cases through-out the country, including industrialand real estate companies.

Oana Tanasesculead marketing manager for Philips’consumer lifestyle department for

South Eastern Eu-rope and regionalmarketing managerfor domestic appli-ances at PhilipsCentral and East-ern Europe, willstep down from the

position and leave the company at theend of May. She started working forPhilips in 1998, since when she hasheld various positions in the market-ing department. In the first 12 yearsTanasescu was responsible for themanufacturer’s local subsidiary,holding positions such as countrymarketing manager and corporatecommunication manager. In 2010 shewas given regional responsibilities.

Catalin Trifuis the new general director of theRomexpo exhibition center inBucharest, replacing Mariana Suciu.Trifu has been working for Romexpofor the past 20 years, having heldvarious leadership positions. Thecompany declined to provide furtherdetails about the managementchange or the new director’s back-ground, according to Mediafax.

WHO’S NEWSBR welcomes information for Who’s News. Submissions may be edited fo r length and clarity. Get in touch at simona.bazavan@business-review.ro

Photo: M

ihai Constantineanu

6 LINKS www.business-review.euBusiness Review | May 26 - June 1, 2014

Companies brace themselvesfor worsening cyber-attacks∫ OTILIA HARAGA

To know one’s opponent is perhapsone of the unwritten rules in any bat-tle. But in order to know one’s oppo-nent, one needs to know their goalsand motivations. So what are cyber-criminals after, when hacking intocompanies’ security systems?

“If we’re talking targeted breaches,the perps are usually after some sortof confidential data – credit card num-bers, drawings, blueprints, docu-ments... you name it, it’s being stolen.A second area of exploitation is tomap the relationships of the breachedsystem, find other systems whichtrust it, possibly in other companies,and exploit those as well.

A payment processor might give atravel agency insufficiently secureddatabase access, for example, on theassumption that the travel agencywill properly secure its back-end sys-tems,” Catalin Cosoi, chief securitystrategist at Bitdefender, tells BR.

He adds, “The bigger the companyand the more money it is (perceivedto be) moving around, the higher thenumber and severity of attacks target-ing it and/or its customers.”

Banks and online stores are amongthe biggest targets, he says. “We’reseeing an increasing number of busi-ness websites getting compromisedand subsequently used to serve mal-ware – the smaller the IT and IT secu-rity budget, if it even exists, thelikelier the compromise,” says Cosoi.According to Thorsten Urbanski, PRmanager at G Data Software, it is notalways the size of the company thatmatters, but the value of the criticaldata.

“A lot of small and medium compa-nies don’t think that their data is im-portant enough for attackers. This isdefinitely not the case – capturedservers/IT infrastructure/computersare valuable assets in themselves andhave been borrowed for other cyberattacks in the so-called undergroundmarkets, for example for DoS (denial-of-service) attacks on companiesworldwide,” they say.

Last year, Romania came 25th in aworldwide ranking of the most ex-posed countries to cyber-attacks, hav-ing improved by one position sincethe previous year, according to the In-ternet Security Threat Report carriedout by Symantec.

Top was the United States, fol-lowed by China, India, the Nether-lands, Germany, Russia, Great Britain,Brazil, Taiwan and Italy.

“In 2013, much attention was fo-cused on cyber-espionage, threats toprivacy and the acts of malicious in-siders. However, the end of 2013 pro-vided an important reminder thatcyber-crime remains prevalent andthat damaging threats from cyber-criminals continue to face businessesand consumers,” Vasile Aniculaesei,country manager at Symantec for Ro-mania and Bulgaria, tells BR.

Warns Cosoi, “There is a definitemove away from cookie-cutter, auto-mated attacks and into targetedbreaches, using all sorts of techniques,from bespoke exploits for zero-dayvulnerabilities to social engineeringtechniques and even physicalbreaches. As companies move to thecloud, we are also seeing the first at-tacks against cloud service providers.”Zero-day vulnerabilities are attacksthat exploit a previously unknownvulnerability which developers havenot had time to address.

He adds that there has been asurge in Trojan malware charging cus-tomers by sending SMS to premiumnumbers without their consent.

In the EMEA section of the ranking,Romania was deemed the 11th mostvulnerable nation to informatics at-

tacks, behind Spain, France, Poland,Turkey and Hungary.

Romania was ranked 14th world-wide by the origin of spam, with 2.3percent of the total volume of spamattacks starting here, according to thereport.

It came 21st worldwide for thenumber of phishing attacks generated,at 1 percent.

“Attacks are becoming more sophis-ticated and more targeted, so theyloom large in the minds of consumersand organizations of all sizes, espe-cially as social media and mobile de-vices proliferate and are creating aninformation explosion,” says Anicu-laesei.

He says that 90 percent of theworld’s data has been created over thepast two years and many companiesforecast that their information willgrow by 60-70 percent within oneyear.

“The number of breaches recordedworldwide last year increased by 62percent from 2012, with 253 totalbreaches amounting to more than 552million data records exposed, puttingconsumers’ financial information,birth dates, government ID numbers,home addresses, medical records,passwords and other personal infor-mation into the hands of cybercrimi-nals,” comments Aniculaesei.

According to the Internet Security

Threat Report, the number of tar-geted attacks worldwide spiked by 91percent, and they lasted on averagethree times longer than in 2012.

Furthermore, there was a 61 per-cent worldwide growth in zero-dayvulnerabilities last year compared tothe previous year. Twenty-three zero-days were discovered in 2013. Last but not least, there were sixtimes as many ransomware attacksworldwide, corresponding to an as-tounding 500 percent growth in 2013,says the report.

“The attacks are generally planneda long time before they are executedto ensure they are highly efficient.Initially, the attacks include social en-gineering tools and progress up tousing last-generation technology inthe field and exploiting known andunknown vulnerabilities. One of themethods popular among attackers forlaunching such targeted attacks wassending dangerous attachments via e-mail services,” says Adrian Porcescu,presale group manager for EasternEurope at Kaspersky Lab.

According to Kaspersky Lab data, 9percent of companies worldwidehave been victims of a targeted attack.There is a high interest in companiesin oil & gas, telecommunications, re-search, aerospace engineering andtechnologies.

otilia.haraga@business-review.ro

Under lock and key: cybercriminals are becoming more dangerous than ever

Photo: Shutterstock

Cybercriminals are becoming more and more sophisticated and devious in their attacks, taking longer to plantheir hits. As the volume of data generated worldwide soars, so will the number of threats that companies areexposed to, warn pundits.

How firms can guardagainst cyberattacks

Know your data: Protection must fo-cus on the information – not the deviceor data center. Companies must un-derstand where their sensitive data re-sides and where it is flowingEducate employees: Firms must pro-vide guidance on info protection, in-cluding company policies and proce-dures for protecting sensitive data onpersonal and corporate devices.Implement a strong security posture:Companies must strengthen their se-curity infrastructure through data lossprevention, network security, endpointsecurity, encryption, strong authenti-cation and defensive measures, includ-ing reputation-based technologies.

*Source: Symantec

INTERVIEW 7www.business-review.eu Business Review | May 26 - June 1, 2014

Post-crisis consumersembrace social valuesGabriela Salinas, global brand manager at professional services firm Deloitte, says that moreconsumers are turning to social brands following the financial crisis.

∫ OVIDIU POSIRCA

How important is the marketing budgetfor the branding campaign of a com-pany that has limited financial re-sources?Nowadays, budget is less important.In terms of brand support, socialmedia allow us to reach the right au-diences with a lower budget, if thecontent and execution are right. Togive you an example, Brandy Melville,a new fashion brand targetingteenagers, which has only 19 stores inthe US, has achieved more impactthan Abercrombie (with 900 stores)on Instagram.

For promotional purposes it reliesmore on Instagram followers than onTV or graphic ads.

Part of the success of BrandyMelville probably has to do with the fact that it has a very differentstyle and its clothes don’t display itsname.

Muji, the Japanese brand synony-mous with simplicity and the “no-frills” approach, is another exampleof a brand that invests very little inadvertising and whose main commu-nication vehicles are the stores themselves.

The secret of Muji’s success is the consistency of its experience. It is extremely simple, eco-friendlyand functional, and its stores, produc-tion line, products – all its touchpoints – are consistent with these values.

Many banks invest a lot of moneyin communicating, much more thaneither of these two brands. And theydo not achieve strong association ordifferentiation – even less, advocacy.Why? Because most of their campaignideas, slogans and themes changeevery year or are very inconsistentlyexecuted.

How has the branding industry changedfollowing the global economic crisis?Different studies show that trust inbrands has declined significantlysince the financial crisis, as percep-tion of value and price has been im-pacted.

The perception of white labels (e.n.product or service produced by onecompany that other companies sell itas their own) and low-cost haschanged, and now buying these categories is perceived as an intelli-gent choice. Consumers now prefer a

more thrifty, frugal and sustainablelifestyle. In the past, this phenome-non has been described as “déclasséconsumption”. This change in atti-tudes and behaviors on the markethas affected the way in which manybrands position themselves and nowthe values on the rise are related tosimplicity, austerity, honesty, cooper-ation. Brands are becoming less

“bling”, more real – in a way, morehuman.

We are moving away from themore individualistic values of capital-ism and embracing more social values.We feel more attracted to brands witha credible and original story to tell.We feel more attracted to brands witha higher-order purpose related to so-cietal issues, like helping kids in need,women at risk of exclusion, the envi-ronment, etc.

What Romanian brand would you liketo work for?I am not familiar enough with the Ro-manian market yet, so it is a trickyquestion. Although it is difficult tomiss the presence of brands such asUrsus, Dorna, Borsec and Dacia, I donot know enough about them to bemore inclined to choose one over an-other.

I would say that in any market, Iwould like to work for a brand that isdifferent, but also that believes inwhat I believe in: that values are moreimportant than value, and people aremore important than profit.

ovidiu.posirca@business-review.ro

Courtesy of D

eloitte

8 INTERVIEW www.business-review.euBusiness Review | May 26 - June 1, 2014

Local companies startventuring outside EUDaniel Kearvell, managing director at DHL Express Romania, says that SMEs account for 80 percent of thecourier firm’s portfolio. He adds that more local companies are starting to look for new markets outside the EUand tips the business-to-consumer segment as the main growth engine for the delivery market.

across Romania and we serve every-where. When the capacity is notenough we expand. For example,around five years ago we moved to ourEuropean hub in Leipzig, Germany, butalready we have had to expand furtherand invest EUR 140 million because thedriving (growth) in customers is fillingthe space. We have the same pressure inBucharest and we will invest to expandour facility.

How is the poor road infrastructure im-pacting your business?I think in every country there is alwaysan issue. I used to work in Moscow, Rus-sia, and it used to take our employeestwo to three hours to get to work in cen-tral Moscow. They have got a problemwith the roads. It is the same in the US.In Los Angeles, DHL has just recentlydecided to use helicopters for the deliv-ery of important documents into thecenter of LA. In Romania I would sayfirstly that our air network is more im-portant than the road network. Typi-cally, 70 percent of imports and exportsare with the EU (Germany, France, Italyand the UK) and this happens throughour air network.

At DHL we measure somethingcalled clearance on arrival, which is thepercentage of the shipment that iscleared and out for delivery one hourafter arriving in the facility. That figureis around 80 percent. That is the mostimportant thing. Yes, clearly, if there

were more highways it would improvethings. I drive around Romania a lot, Ivisit all the stations, all of our customers,and I have to say that the roads here arequite good. Could they be expanded?Yes. Would improved infrastructuremake our country a more competitiveand attractive destination for investors?Absolutely.

What are the most lucrative sectors inRomania?DHL Romania has over 5,000 customersso we are a pretty big country in termsof this. Typically, all of the main in-vestors are DHL customers so we part-ner with them, including Cameron andEmerson. The main foreign investorsthat bring FDI require express servicesto make sure that their production runssmoothly.

So there are traditional internationalcustomers, but we also serve small andmedium-sized enterprises. In Romaniawe have a big retail footprint – around20 retail offices where customers cancome in and drop off their shipment.That business has grown 12 percent overthe last 12 months. If you compare na-tional and international customers, it isnational customers driving the growth.

What share of your total client portfoliodo SMEs make up?It depends on how you define an SME.The EU definition is a company with arevenue/turnover of up to EUR 50 mil-

lion and fewer than 250 employees. Iwould say SMEs account for around 80percent of our total customer base. It isa considerable share and we have had toadjust our services, communication,pricing and products to target that mar-ket. We are increasingly focusing our ef-forts on how to support SMEs, forexample through simplified tariffs, sim-plified zoning, a helpful website, anddos and don’ts.

Are your SME customers heavy ex-porters?Romania is an inbound country, so theratio of inbound and outbound expressshipments is two to one. If you look atour total shipments but take the domes-tic ones out, we have more inboundthan outbound shipments. This has notchanged dramatically (e.n. in recentyears).

How do you expect the local deliverymarket to do this year and what is DHL’smarket share?Our market share for international ex-press in 42 percent. As I said, I expectthe local domestic market to grow,driven by B2C shipments. I think we willsee some growth in domestic B2B. Themarket is quite competitive here andcustomers demand quality and reason-able prices. In our cash/retail businesswe have not increased our prices for thelast two years. We have a very flexiblepolicy in that respect, because the mar-ket is becoming more demanding.

ovidiu.posirca@business-review.ro

∫ OVIDIU POSIRCA

What is DHL’s investment policy?Our entire approach is that we have togrow with our customers – to respond ifour customers tell us, for example, thatwe need to import more, volumes aregrowing and we need to invest there. Inthe past two years we have had to dou-ble our aircraft capacity in Cluj and Arad,because that is where we’re seeinggrowth. We have 3.5 tons of materialcoming into both Cluj and Arad everyday. We have upgraded the aircraft be-cause that is what our customersneeded. Just last year we completed aEUR 3 million investment in a completenew fleet – over 100 new VolkswagenCrafters. We continue to invest. Wehave been here for 23 years and we con-tinue to develop. If I look at the areas inRomania where we are seeing growth,one example is Cluj and that area ofTransylvania. To improve our perform-ance there we opened just last week (e.n.May 8) a new terminal in Cluj airportwhich is going to improve transit timesfor our customers by up to 60 minutesbecause it is in the airport, we have cus-toms and we have improved facilities.

How much has DHL invested in Cluj?Over 20 years it is a significant figure – Ican tell you that for the Cluj operationthe investment is well in excess of sixfigures. Express does not require thou-sands of square meters of warehousing;what it requires is airside access andgood customs facilities. For example,we have customs offices in Otopeni thatwork in our facility and this enables thefast transit of goods through the process.So express typically does not requirehuge space; the investment is more inpeople. In Cluj it is in excess of six fig-ures but not in the millions.

What is your current delivery capacity inRomania and how many people do youemploy?We employ 450 people. In terms of ourcapacity we have over 200 vehicles,three aircraft which serve our cus-tomers and a Boeing 757 that comes toBucharest every day. We have two Saab340s, one in Cluj and one in Arad. Wealso have a ground network for heaviergoods, with typically slower transittimes over land. We have 41 locations

Photo: M

ihai Constantineanu

June 2012 – present managing director,DHL Express Romania2010 – 2012 country manager, DHLQatar2009 - financial controller, emergingmarkets, DHL Brussels/Dubai2006-2008 - area manager, DHL, WestRussia2012 – present Warwick BusinessSchool, MBA1998 – 2002 - University of Nottingham,History and Russian

CV Daniel Kearvell

10 PROPERTY www.business-review.euBusiness Review | May 26 - June 1, 2014

New housing marketlimps towards recoveryDemand for newly built homes is on the rise, but while banks are more open to financing buyers, the same cannot be said about developers. Nonetheless, Bucharest’s and Ilfov County’s stock of new apartments is expected to surpass 30,000 units by the end of this year, and should market conditions further improve, severaldevelopers are waiting in the wings to start new projects.

∫ SIMONA BAZAVAN

For the moment there is “no chance atall” of securing the necessary financ-ing for a residential development inBucharest, said Hanno Soravia, one ofthe founders of Austrian developerSoravia Group, last week, summing upthe general market feeling. “It is a vi-cious circle of pre-sale and financing.To get the financing, the developerneeds to pre-sell. Given the conditionshere, this is not really possible,” addedLorenz Tragatschnig, managing direc-tor of Soravia Romania.

While for office developmentsthere are signs that banks are loosen-ing their grip on lending to some de-gree, the residential sector has yet toreturn to favor. Back in 2007 the mar-ket’s upward trend seemed like a one-way street and in the frenzy anythingsold despite sky-rocketing houseprices. Come the crisis and subse-quent market collapse, a new realityset in and residential developersstarted to go to the wall, contaminat-ing the banking system.

Indeed, what little has been built inrecent years has been funded almostentirely from developers’ private eq-uity. Real estate developer AdamaGroup, which last year delivered 210apartments in Bucharest and will de-liver 50 more new homes in Iasi thisautumn, has been expanding since2012 solely using its own funds. Theapartments, which are part of the Ede-nia Titan and Evocasa Optima resi-dential projects in Bucharest andCopou Bellevue in Iasi, required atotal investment of close to EUR 16million, Alina Necula, head of market-ing & sales at Adama Group, told BR.

“Regarding relations with the banksand their openness towards financingreal estate developers, we can say thattheir appetite is not very high. Bankscontinue to be rather cautious. To fi-nance the projects I mentioned before,we considered the option of getting aloan, but the terms weren’t that ad-vantageous so we opted for an invest-ment covered by the company,” sheoutlined.

Average prices of new units havedropped by more than half in the

meantime, from a whopping EUR2,576/sqm in March 2008 to EUR1,192/sqm at present, according toImobiliare.ro data. Nonetheless, thelion’s share of transactions continuesto come through the Prima Casa (FirstHome) government-backed loanscheme, where new apartments aregetting serious competition from oldhousing stock. This could change ifthe government goes ahead with amove to change Prima Casa so it ap-plies only to the acquisition of newproperties. However, no actualtimetable for this change has been an-nounced so far.

“There are two types of residentialprojects. First there are those built ordesigned during the boom period,which qualify to a lesser degree for thePrima Casa program and which are

now more difficult to sell. Then thereare those residential projects whichwere adapted to the market condi-tions, where one-bedroom and eventwo-bedroom apartments – which arethe most sought after – fit the criteriafor the Prima Casa loan. For this lattercategory Prima Casa has been an im-portant financing source,” DanielCrainic, head of marketing & commu-nications at Imobiliare.ro, told BR.

At the other end of the spectrum,while financing conditions for devel-opers remain tight, the situation hasdefinitely improved when it comes tofinancing buyers, thinks Necula. Inaddition to the Prima Casa program,banks have launched attractive stan-dard loan schemes. This has been onefactor fueling the increase in demandfor new apartments, along with the

fact that there is a limited supply ofresidential projects that offer a goodprice-quality ratio and which are lo-cated within the city limits, she be-lieves.

Last year demand went up by 50percent, according to AnnemarieFabian, associate in the valuation &advisory services department of Col-liers International. “This was mainlycaused by the change to the PrimaCasa program, but also because therewas a growing preference for newapartments. There has always beensupply in the years following 2008;the problem was the gap between de-velopers’ expectations and buyers’purchasing power,” she told BR. Lastyear, the Prima Casa program waschanged to include only loans in thenational currency.

Success storey: Adama Group invested EUR 14.1 million from its own funds in 210 new apartments in Bucharest in 2013

Courtesy of Adam

a Group

PROPERTY 11www.business-review.eu Business Review | May 26 - June 1, 2014

Crainic too agrees that demand ison the rise. “This is something whichis confirmed by the more than 800real estate agencies we are workingwith. There are small residential com-pounds which have managed to per-form well during this period. Takenone by one they are small develop-ments (20-50 units) but there areenough of them to add up to a signifi-cant volume of new units,” he said.

Good intentionsOver 27,300 new flats located in 115residential compounds of over 20units have been built in Bucharest andIlfov County since 2006, according toCBRE data. More than a third of thisstock is in Ilfov County. In the capital,district three takes the lead with a 17

percent share of the total modernstock. Headline prices are below EUR1,000/sqm (gross built) for 69 percentof the modern stock.

Around 4,000 flats located in 31compounds were in various stages ofdevelopment by mid-2013 and wereexpected to be delivered by 2015, ac-cording to the same source. However,the majority of these homes representexpansions of existing developments.

As for new developments, thereare few concrete plans. Soravia Group,which owns the downtown office andretail scheme Metropolis Center, hasno intention of expanding into resi-dential in Romania for now and is in-stead planning to invest EUR 80million in another office scheme. Backon its home market, Austria, the de-veloper is building some 2,000 apart-ments in Vienna where “theresidential market is booming” at av-erage prices of between EUR2,500/sqm and EUR 3,800/sqm andannual growth rates of about 6 per-cent.

Another large player, AFI EuropeRomania, the developer of the AFIPalace Cotroceni and AFI PalacePloiesti shopping malls, is looking atexpanding into residential, the devel-oper’s CEO, David Hay, told BR in aninterview earlier this year. However,there are no firm plans for next year.

“It is in the cards. Not next year, forsure, but the market will change. We

see this and we are getting ready forwhen it does. It could take one, two orthree years, but it will change. Rightnow the demand is, let’s say, only forapartments that qualify for the PrimaCasa scheme. We’re hardly seeing anysales outside of this. The market willmove past this when people feel moresecure and are ready to take risks,” hepredicted.

Adama has land in Bucharest to de-velop new residential compounds andis considering the Berceni and Ra-zoare areas of the capital for its nexttwo projects. Starting works dependson getting all the permits and the waythe market evolves, said Necula.

“These are two good projects but fornow it is difficult to estimate a date forstarting works or other details regard-ing the investment or the develop-ment phases,” added the head ofmarketing & sales. Based on how the210 apartments delivered last year areselling, the developer is also consider-ing expanding its existing projects. In2013 Adama sold 25 percent moreproperties than the previous year andhas set the target for this year to main-tain monthly sales of at least 12-15units. So far sales have been higher,with a 30 percent increase in the firstquarter y-o-y, said Necula.

Fabian, on the other hand, is opti-mistic that some of these intentionscould start materializing into actionover the next year. “There are many

developers/investors who are gettingready to start new projects. Ratherthan having a record number of deliv-eries this year, I would say that nextyear we will see the launch of morenew projects,” she said. Moreover, in2014, more than in the years before,there is greater interest in buying largeplots of land for residential develop-ments, she added.

Prices stabilizeThe average asking price of new apart-ments in Bucharest is currently1,192/sqm compared to EUR 1,011 /sqmfor old apartments, according to Imo-biliare.ro data. Over the past year thesituation has been relatively stable,with asking prices dropping by 2.5percent. Despite monthly fluctuations,prices are expected to remain stableover the next period should the eco-nomic and political context remainstable as well, said Crainic.

Necula also expects the market topost fluctuations of no more than 5percent over the next 12 months.

“These are normal fluctuations on amature and stable market, which issomething that the segment is head-ing towards. We will definitely notwitness significant price hikes ordrops like before and after the crisis,but more likely stabilization,” she con-cluded.

simona.bazavan@business-review.ro

City 2014 2008

Bucharest 1,192 2,576Brasov 940 1,619Timisoara 863 1,290Constanta 865 1,780Cluj-Napoca 807 1,382

Prices are expressed in EUR/sqm

Source: Imobiliare.ro

Average prices of new apartments

12 CITY www.business-review.euBusiness Review | May 26 - June 1, 2014

And action: red carpetrolled out for TIFF 2014Organizers of the most prestigious entry on the country’s film calendar, the Transilvania International Film Festival, have announced details of the scheduleand guest stars.

OANA VASILIU

Two hot-ticket events will open andclose the 13th Transilvania Interna-tional Film Festival (TIFF), in Cluj-Napoca’s Unirii Square. On May 30, the opening ceremony willfeature the premiere of a Best FilmOscar nominee, Philomena, fromStephen Frears.

Meanwhile, on the last day of TIFF, June 8, moviegoers can finallysee one of the most highly anticipatedcinematic events of the year, Boyhood, a one-of-a-kind experimentthat earned Richard Linklater the Silver Bear for Best Director inBerlin.

During the festival, US actressDebra Winger will receive a LifetimeAchievement Award. The same tro-phy will also go to the Polish film-maker Krzysztof Zanussi, while theExcellence Award will be presented toRomanian actor Florin Zamfirescu atthe closing ceremony, which will takeplace on June 7 at the National The-ater.

Nicolas Philibert is the specialguest of the 3X3 section of TIFF.Three of the Frenchman’s documen-taries will be screened in Cluj alongwith works by Peter Solan and IulianMihu, the other two filmmakers cele-brated at the festival in 2014.

The movies are Être et avoir (2002),shot over a whole year in a Frenchmountain village and featuring theteacher of the only class there, hispupils and their parents, the direc-tor’s breakthrough work; Nénette(2010), the story of a female orang-utan in a Paris zoo, when she reachedthe venerable age of 40; and La mai-son de la radio (2013), his most recentfilm, which explores the behind-the-scenes activity of Radio France and itsinvisible tool, sound.

Five special events bringing the music of cinema to unconven-tional spaces, will take place: Faust screened in a Church, by one ofthe most popular and influentialorgan players in the world MartinSchmeding, Battleship Potemkin ac-companied live by the daring soundsof turbo-polka-ska Austrian bandRusskaja, a reinterpretation of thefilm version of the novel 1984 byBritish band Teeth of the Sea, a visualhistory of 3D film by Stefan Droessler, director of the Munich Filmmuseum

Flying high: US actress Debra Winger Local luminary: Florin Zamfirescu

Pole position: Krzysztof Zanussi Judi Dench in Philomena

What are the cultural institute’s majorprojects this year?The most important one is Festitalia – alittle bit of Italy in Bucharest. An outdoorfestival for the public, it will be held onthe lawn in front of the Pescarusulrestaurant (Herastrau Park). This secondedition will take place from June 25-July1, as we celebrate together the beginningof the Italian presidency of the EuropeanUnion. Festitalia aims to familiarize theBucharest public with Italian culture,traditions, cuisine and folklore and pro-mote shared knowledge between Ital-ians and Romanians.

Moreover, we have Cineforum,through which recent Italian films arescreened every Thursday at the Institute.

How many students learn Italian at theinstitute?The Italian Cultural Institute organizesongoing general Italian courses for anylevel, once there are 10 requests to forma new study group. For example, lastyear over 500 people attended ourcourses, some of whom were enrolledin several modules, at progressive levels.Certification exams take place in twosessions a year, based on agreementswith the University for Foreigners of Pe-rugia and Siena.

How developed is cultural manage-ment in Romania?I think it is quite developed. Since I cameto Romania, we have found that there is,especially in Bucharest and in othercities like Cluj and Sibiu, intense culturalactivity, clear evidence of an extremelyvaried range of cultural events. For me,culture means promoting excellentproducts made by a civilization, whichare worthy of being held up as examples,and cultural management is the abilityto make them known to a larger numberof people.

oana.vasiliu@business-review.ro

3QEzio PeraroDirector of theItalian VitoGrasso Institute

and one of the top experts in the evo-lution of the stereoscopic image, anda visual show inspired by MariaTanase, interpreted by the BălănescuQuartet.

Romanian sceneThe Romanian Days section will

include 22 local stories, 14 featuresand 8 shorts, some of them world pre-mieres. Four out of the 14 featurefilms are world premieres: White Gate,directed by Nicolae Mărgineanu andstarring Cristian Bota, Sergiu Bucurand Bogdan Nechifor, tells the dra-matic story of two Romanian studentswho, in 1949, ended up in the forcedlabor camp of the Danube-Black Seacanal.

In The Crypt, the new feature filmby Corneliu Gheorghiță (Europolis), a

French businessman is imprisoned ina courtyard. A Last Year in 114 Min-utes marks the feature debut of visualartist Daniel Djam, whose workchronicles the last year in his grand-mother’s life.

The only local movie also selectedfor the International Competition isQuod erat demonstrandum, the black and white second feature fromAndrei Gruzsniczki, starring OfeliaPopii, Sorin Leoveanu and Florin Pier-sic Jr.

TIFF will take place from May 30-June 8 in Cluj-Napoca. After the festi-val, a selection of the movies will go ontour to several cities around Romania,including Bucharest.

oana.vasiliu@business-review.ro

Courtesy of TIFF

Courtesy of Italian Institute

CITY 13www.business-review.euBusiness Review | May 26 - June 1, 2014

The Bard is back! Shakespeare’sGlobe brings Hamlet to BucharestOANA VASILIU

“A slick and engaging production clev-erly tuned to outdoor touring locations”wrote the Financial Times about a per-formance of Hamlet in 2011. Bucharestaudiences will now be able to judge forthemselves, as the Globe Theatre isbringing the same production toBucharest on May 30 and 31. The iconictragedy will be staged in Saint AntonSquare, the Old City Center, as part ofthe Bucharest International Street The-atre Festival.

Encompassing political intrigue andsexual obsession, philosophical reflec-tion and violent action, Hamlet isShakespeare’s ‘poem unlimited’, acolossus in the history of the Englishlanguage and held by many to be thefullest expression of the Bard’s genius.

The production has been describedas “a young, fresh version of Shake-speare’s classic tragedy of deferred re-venge that teases out its latent streak ofgallows humor and celebrates the exu-berance and invention of its language”.The creative team behind the new per-formance includes directors DominicDromgoole and Bill Buckhurst, designerJonathan Fensom, Bill Barclay as com-poser/musical director, and Laura For-

rest-Hay, providing additional originalmusic.

Twelve actors will perform over twodozen parts on a stripped-downwooden stage in a comparatively brisktwo hours and forty minutes: LadiEmeruwa and Naeem Hayat (Hamlet),John Dougall, Rawiri Paratene andKeith Bartlett (Claudius & Polonius),Phoebe Fildes and Amanda Wilkin(Ophelia/Gertrude/Horatio/Rosen-crantz), Miranda Foster (Gertrude),Beruce Khan, Tom Lawrence andMatthew Romain (Horatio/Rosen-crantz/Laertes/Guildenster) and JenniferLeong (Ophelia/Horatio/Rosencrantz).The actors will perform different roles ineach country.

It is the same Globe On Tour produc-tion that travelled around the UK, Eu-rope and the United States in 2011 and2012, when the New York Times calledit “a production that prizes efficiency,clarity, accessibility and above all en-ergy”, while the Daily Telegraph praisedits “young, unjaded and open-hearted”portrayal of the Danish prince. This isthe Globe troupe’s second visit to thestreets of Bucharest, following a 2012tour that brought a hugely well receivedAs You Like It to the space in front of theAtheneum.

oana.vasiliu@business-review.ro

14 CITY www.business-review.euBusiness Review | May 26 - June 1, 2014

FOUNDING EDITOR Bill AveryPUBLISHER Anca IonitaEDITOR-IN-CHIEF Simona Fodor JOURNALISTS Otilia Haraga - seniorjournalist, Simona Bazavan, Ovidiu Posirca, Oana Vasiliu COPY EDITOR Debbie Stowe PHOTO EDITOR: Mihai ConstantineanuLAYOUT Beatric e Gheorghiu ART DIRECTOR Alexandru Oriean

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR George MoiseSALES & EVENTS DIRECTOROana MolodoiSALES & EVENTSSales managers: Ana-Maria Nedelcu,Oana Albu, Raluca ComanescuMARKETINGAna-Maria Stanca, Ana Maria Andrei,Iulia MizganPRODUCTION Dan MitroiDISTRI BUTION Eugen Musat

PUBLISHERBloc Notes Media ADDRESSNo. 10 Italiana St., 2nd floor, ap. 3Bucharest, Romania LANDLINEEditorial: 031.040.09.32Office: 031.040.09.31EMAILSeditorial@business-review.rosales@business-review.roevents@business-review.ro

ISSN No. 1453 - 729X

Elevation jazz group concertMay 27, 20.00ArCuB

Pianist and composer Lucian Ban is alsothe leader of super group Elevation, withwhom he will perform in Bucharest aspart of the European tour Freeflow 2014.With the return of saxophonist AbrahamBurton, jazz bassist John Hébert anddrummer Eric McPherson, the group willtake to the Bucharest stage in its originalline-up.

Described as “one of the most giftedpianists to move to New York in the pastdecade” by jazz critic Bruce Lee Gal-lanter, Ban has brought together, in aseries of highly creative projects, the bestof both of his worlds – his Romanianmusical roots and the vibrant US andEuropean contemporary modern jazzscene.

Tickets, which cost RON 35, can be bought online fromwww.bilete.arcub.ro.

BFITS – Bucharest International StreetTheater Festival May 29 – June 1The end of springtime heralds a seriesof shows on improvised stages and inunconventional spaces. The colorful uni-verse of street theater will play with con-cepts of space, rhythm and reception

over four days dedicated to the capital’sculture lovers. Performances will bestaged in several locations throughoutBucharest: Universitatii Square, UniriiSquare, George Enescu Square, Cis-migiu Park and the Old City Center.

Among the international companiesthat will entertain al fresco Bucharestaudiences this year are: Water TheatreShow, which will present an amazingaquatic-based event, in Unirii Square;Spanish company Grupo Puia, due toperform Dodoland on the city streets;Shakespeare’s Globe, taking a new ap-proach to Hamlet; French Trans Express,which will fill the city center with colorand elegant Divas dolls; and a 50-minuteshow with the impressive metropolitanlight show by Celestial Carillon.

BookfestMay 28 – June 1RomexpoThis year’s literary extravaganza consistsof interactive events, book launches,reading and autograph sessions, meet-ings with big names from culture, artand politics, concerts, films, theater per-formances for kids, photography, cre-ative writing and live drawing workshops,plus debates.

This year’s Guest Country is Poland.Under the slogan “Quo vadis Polonia?

To the next Nobel”, Romanian readerswill be introduced to writer DanutaWalesa, the wife of former legendaryleader Lech Walesa, Pawel Huelle, pre-senting his second book in Romanian, Iwas Lonely and Happy, and Janusz LeonWiśniewski who will talk about his novelLoneliness on the Net. Film projectionsabout Nobel Prize winners HenrykSienkiewicz (1905), Władysław Reymont

(1924), Czesław Miłosz (1980) andWisława Szymborska (1996) will also bescreened. Admission is free of charge.

Gheorghe Zamfir concertMay 29, 19.30Romanian AthenaeumThe “King of the Pan Flute”, GheorgheZamfir celebrates 50 extraordinaryyears on the stage with special guestsin a festive gala that will include exhibi-tions, awards and distinctions, an auto-graph session and other highlights.Some 150 artists will come together forthe event, including violinist EugeneSarbu, Grigore Lese, Dan Puric, NicolaeLicaret, Dumitru Farcas, Stefan Popa-Halt, Stelu Enache, Bogdan Bradu andVlad Miriţă, some of the most famousRomanian artists.

With a life dedicated to Romanianfolklore and the pan flute, Zamfir is theauthor of over 300 papers on folk, cham-ber music, choral, vocal, instrumentaland symphonic music. He has sold over120 million copies of over 160 recordedalbums.

Tickets, which cost from RON 160 toRON 320, can be bought online fromwww.myticket.ro.

oana.vasiliu@business-review.ro

DON’T MISSAROUND BUCHAREST NEXT WEEK

French street theater company Trans Express will be in Bucharest next week