Austrians change head of Astra-Uniqa

Radu Mustatea ,general manager of Astra-Uniqa, one of the largest companies on the insurance market, is going to be replaced from his position, according to sources close to the company. They say Astra-Uniqa will most likely recruit a new head this week, after hiring one of the largest headhunting companies on the Romanian market a month ago. The new general manager of Astra-Uniqa, sources quoted say, could be a manager from the banking sector. Mustatea, 40, was appointed at the helm of Astra-Uniqa, a company controlled by the Austrian group Uniqa and by businessman Dan Adamescu, at the end of June 2006. Mustatea replaced Italian-born Guglielmo Frinzi, who, just like Astra’s current manager, stayed with the company for no more than a year. Beforehand, Mustatea had worked as sales manager of the insurance company. The head of Astra-Uniqa entered the insurance industry 14 years ago. He worked as inspector and branch manager at Ardaf, later was a part of the Provitas management, a captive company of Banca Religiilor, and was a member of the management team of Asigurarea Populara Romana and later AGI. Contacted by ZF, Astra-Uniqa officials denied this information. “This information is unfounded. No decision has been made on this issue,” said representatives of the insurance company. Astra-Uniqa, No. 8 on the insurance market, closed the first three quarters of the year with 4.2 million-euro losses, after seeing a 0.3 million-euro profit in the same period of 2006.