Cluj-based businesspeople Silvia and Zsolt Fodor could relinquish control of the last big player in GSM retail, in order to focus on real estate (a five-star hotel and a housing & commercial space complex).
Orange, the largest mobile phone operator in Romania, is in advanced talks to take over Euro-GSM, the last major GSM retailer held by local entrepreneurs and one of the biggest partners of the operator, market sources told ZF. The value of the transaction is estimated at around 20 million euros.
Silvia and Zsolt Fodor, who entered the business in 1997, own Euro-GSM, which currently has a network of 130 Orange partner stores and posted turnover worth 40 million euros last year. In fact, Euro-GSM is one of Orange's oldest partners in Romania.
The Fodor family also owns a second mobile phone business, Mobile Distribution, the largest local distributor of pre-paid Orange and Vodafone cards, which also sells mobile phones and accessories, provides electronic recharging services and distributes Cosmote and Romtelecom cards.
The company posted turnover worth 130 million euros last year, 10 million euros below initial estimates.
If the deal were to include Mobile Distribution, in addition to Euro-GSM, the value of Orange's acquisition would increase to around 40 million euros, but if this were the case the Fodor family would still retain a stake in the company and remain involved in the management of the business.
Euro-GSM officials could not be contacted for comment, whilst Orange Romania representatives were unable to give a definite answer.
"We will invest extensively in expanding Orange's distribution network, both by opening our own stores and through partner stores. We are considering several ways to meet our retail objectives this year, but we will provide more details when the time is right," Florin Popa, Sales & Distribution Director of Orange Romania, told ZF.
The largest player on the local mobile phone market has strong reasons to expand its retail network, after its main rival, Vodafone, bought two networks which retailed only Orange products and services (Proton and Vegastel), networks which together amounted to around 120 stores.
In fact, Olaf Swantee, vice-president of France Telecom, in charge of the group's mobile phone operations, signalled Orange's aggressive retail expansion (from 86 own stores and 1,000 partner stores at present).
He recently told ZF that the Orange Romania Board had approved aggressive network expansion, with acquisitions also being considered.
An exit by the Fodors from GSM retail would not come as a surprise: after Dasimpex's acquisition by GED Capital in 2006, local entrepreneurs have exited one after another.
Examples include Tel Sim GSM, Petrocom D&V, Proton and Plus GSM. The exits come in the wake of a maturing mobile phone market, which generates a much slower increase in client numbers.
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