The largest stationery and office supplies company in Romania, RTC group, has ceded the main stake in its type form division to Greek company Inform P. Lykos, under a 20m DM contract.
While universal managers are dreaming of a paper-free desk, Romanian managers are not accustomed with electronic devices yet and are barely starting to crowd their desk.
Companies in this field stand to gain, especially after a government decision dating back to 1997, stipulating that personalised forms must be used in any connections between companies and the state or public utilities providers.
Euro Paper started as a division of RTC, the group of companies operating in stationery and office supplies, but gradually split from the platoon of companies, only to be eventually bought by a Greek-based company, Inform P. Lykos SA, operating in type forms, cards and document management solutions.
The transaction price stood at 20 million Deutsche marks, accounting for the acquisition price of 51% of shares and investments pledged in the sale-purchase contract.
The rest of Euro Paper shares is owned by two investment funds, namely NBG Balkan Fund owned by the National Bank of Greece and managed by NBG Venture Capital, and a Cyprus-based fund.
The split between Euro Paper and RTC began a long time before the recent transaction, as the company and group managers saw that the bulk of the orders (80%) headed to the parent-company, RTC.
"Negotiations with Lykos lasted almost two years, because we had to gradually cut the cord between RTC and Euro Paper," said RTC manager Octavian Radu. "This was necessary because 80% of Euro Paper orders came from RTC. This volume has been cut to 20%."
Beside the new name, Inform Lykos SA, and a change in the shareholding structure, Euro Paper may also diversify its product and service portfolio. As the Greeks from Lykos also make cards, Euro Paper may start producing cards as well.
"We are now working on a market research, to see if the market has potential," said Euro Paper general manager Vicentiu Zorzolan. "If the market is promising, we will be making cards in Romania as well, but, until then, we will only sell their cards."
According to Zorzolan, the main investments to be made by Lykos in Euro Paper will be directed at the digital print, direct mail, direct marketing, database management and fidelity applications.
"They have a development plan that comprises investments in other countries such as Turkey, Italy, Switzerland, Bulgaria and Ukraine, but not on such a large scale," Zorzolan said. "Romania matched their expansion plan in Central and Eastern Europe, which is an emerging market, especially in view of European Community accession."
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