German know-how and cheap labour from Romania - this is the recipe of the entrepreneur Florentin Banu, who has already sold two of the businesses he founded, the producer of Joe wafers and the Artima supermarket chain.
"I have bought an engineering company in Germany. It''s not a big firm, having only 10 employees, but it will bring with it the know-how and, of equal importance, customers for our car parts production unit in Timisoara. We''re talking of a complete services package that we can offer at a competitive price," says Banu.
Last year he set up the company Interpart Automotive in Timisoara, which has a 1,000 square metre production hall where it will manufacture a range of car parts.
"It is harder for us to produce and fit metallic parts, so we will focus on plastic," explained Banu, who says he has invested around one million euros in the car parts business, a sum that also includes the acquisition of the German firm. For the moment fitting operations for electrical home appliances are performed in the production hall in Timisoara.
"Once we have orders for parts for the car industry, investment will rise," Banu added. This spring, after the sale of Artima supermarkets to Polish Enterprise Fund V Polish, Banu said he would invest around 2 million euros in the car sector in the first phase.
Together with the other shareholders, Banu, who owned over 27% in Artima, sold the 14-store-strong supermarket chain for 17 million euros.
Artima was founded in 2001 with money Banu derived from the sale of another business, the producer of Joe wafers. Joe International Business Company was created by Florentin Banu together with his brother Daniel and two foreign investors.
At the time it was sold to Swiss giant Nestle in 2000, the business had reached a turnover of 12 million euros and occupied around two thirds of the wafer market. The same strategy is to be used by Banu with the money from the sale of Artima. Beside the car parts business, Banu has also announced investments in real estate.
"I''ve bought some land worth one million euros in Timisoara, which we will use to build a residential complex of 260 apartments for medium-income buyers. Construction will start this autumn and the first apartments will be ready in the second half of 2006," he said.
Banuinvest, a company owned by Florentin Banu and his brother and active in the car business and in real estate, already performed a share capital increase worth 1.6m euros this May to this end, Trade Registry data show.
The car industry and real estate market have attracted large investment to the Romanian market over recent years.
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