CCCF tries to lure investor

CCCF Bucharest, one of the biggest construction companies of the nineties, could attract a strategic foreign investor by the end of this year in a bid to put its shrinking business back on track. “We are considering attracting a foreign strategic partner in the CCCF business and selling a 50% stake. The Board of Directors is to convene in September and set the strategy to rejuvenate the company’s business in the next three years,” Nicolae Constantinescu (photo), CCCF chief executive told ZIARUL FINANCIAR. CCCF is appraised at about 60 million euros, the company says. The strategic investors to have shown interest in buying into the CCCF business include builders from Spain and Portugal, as shown by the available information. CCCF Bucharest’s business has been dwindling since 2002, with turnover shrinking four times during this interval to 29 million euros last year. Moreover, the company has been posting losses almost constantly, which reached approximately 11 million euros (40 million RON) in 2005, an increase of 22% on the previous year. CCCF’s management suggested to the Ministry of Transports, Constructions and Tourism to convert the losses into shares, so that the state would become the company’s majority shareholder again. Negotiations fell through, though.