General Electric, world's largest company, will buy $80 million's of products from Romania this year, compared to $50 million in 2003. It also began a number of infrastructure upgrade projects together with the Romanian State and is currently looking into opportunities to enter the Romanian financial service market. This was what Nani Beccalli, General Electric's European president, told Ziarul Financiar in an interview.
"Besides the increase in acquisitions, there was also a significant growth in sales in Romania. However, we are still buying more than we sell," Beccalli explained.
GE Europe's president didn't reveal how much the group's sales in Romania were worth, but stated that sales in the Balkans had gone up by 76%.
"Romania made a significant contribution to this performance. The Balkan region is starting to show in the accounts of a company like GE," Beccalli says.
GE's revenues amount to 134 billion dollars worldwide. The company operates as an investor, a buyer and a seller in Romania.
As an investor, GE holds a joint venture together with Turbomecanica Bucharest, holds 33% in the health care company Euromedic, and has a 9% stake in Banc Post.
As a buyer, the American group subcontracts the manufacture of several types of products in Romania, which are then used by various GE divisions.
As a seller, GE participates in several programmes to upgrade Romanian infrastructure, as it is one of the world's leading manufacturers of equipment for the electrical power, railway transport, aerospace and plastics industry.
The joint venture established with Turbomecanica, a $10 million investment on General Electric's part, makes components for the aircraft engines the group produces in France. An increase in the company's business is one of the reasons for the corresponding increase in GE's acquisitions from Romania.
Last year, Euromedic initiated a project to modernise and operate eight medical centres, established under a public-private partnership. The necessary medical equipment comes from General Electric. Every centre requires investments of at least $2.5 million.
"Two centres were completed last year, with two more to go this year," Beccalli continued.
General Electric is the most complex company in the world. Besides its industrial business, it has a strong financial division involved in almost every type of financial service. At one point, this financial division owned about 17% in Banc Post, but its stake has now shrunk to 9%. laurentiu.ispir@zf.ro
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