Chinese companies eyes Romania

Telecommunications and infrastructure will attract a significant part of the investments that the Chinese companies will make in Romania in the next period.

Zhingxing Telecommunication Equipment – ZTE Corporation, one of China’s largest telecom equipment makers, has said it plans to relocate part of its design & research activities to an IT park in Romania as of next year.

The Chinese company entered the Romanian market when it signed the contract to supply the Romanian postal company Posta Romana with the necessary equipment for the infrastructure of the new telecom operator POSTelecom. The value of the contract amounts to $94 million. Moreover, National Company Posta Romana signed a memorandum with China Unicom and ZTE Corporation to sell 29% in POSTelecom to the Chinese companies. In line with the agreement, the Chinese companies will take over the responsibilities concerning POSTelecom’s operating costs for the first two years and will secure partial funding for the company’s operations. POSTelecom is owned by the National Company Posta Romana, which controls 80% in capital, Romanian Industrial Group – 10%, Romanian Commercial Bank (BCR) – 5% and the financial investment companies (SIF) Banat-Crisana and Oltenia, each holding 2.5%. The company’s capital amounts to $3 million, which the Chinese will increase to $15 million.

ZTE’s participation in POSTelecom was one of the issues tackled during the meeting between Premier Adrian Nastase, who was visiting China, and Yin Yimin, president of the Chinese company.

Furthermore, China Road & Bridge Corp., China’s largest road and bridges constructor, which posts annual turnover of $2.8 billion, will sign a contract in June to build a $300 million bridge over the Danube in Braila – Macin area. 
miruna.lebedencu@zf.ro ; adrian.mirsanu@zf.ro