Investment fund churns out ACC millionaires in Deva

The sale of Macon Deva, one of the largest autoclaved cellular concrete (ACC) makers in Romania, has made over 720 managers and employees of the company rich overnight, with some of them becoming millionaires in euros.
In 1994, Macon Deva was privatised by MEBO (Management and Employees Buy Out), a scheme that had most of the companies in the construction industry transferred to employees for a pittance.
Polish investment company Enterprise Investors (EI), one of the biggest fund managers in Central and Eastern Europe paid approximately 35 million euros to buy 99.7% in Macon. The deal was finalised on September 1, says Cristian Nacu, EI’s representative in Romania.
Liviu Cucu, the former general manager of the company and his wife Felicia collected more than 3.66 million euros from the sale of the stakes they had, which together amounted to almost 10.75% in Macon. Liviu Cucu held 9.75% in Macon directly. The list of the new millionaires from Deva continues, Oliviu Matei, former deputy chief executive, got over 2.1 million euros from Enterprise Investors for his 6.2% stake.
Cornelia Stroescu, the financial manger and third highest-ranking official in the company, got 1.3 million euros for her 3.85% in Macon.
At the same time Danuta Muntean Birtan, member of Macon Deva’s Board of Directors received 1.56 million euros for her 4.48% stake.
“As the top three managers of Macon were also shareholders, they left once they sold their interests. The general manager position will go to Marius Marin, who helped us with this transaction. The sales and production managers will be selected from the rest of the company’s employees,” stated Cristian Nacu yesterday.
Nacu also announced a new financial manager was to be brought on board.
Marius Marin has previous management experience with companies such as Mefin Sinaia, Uton Onesti and the Tofan group. He has been largely in charge of streamlining.
The price the Polish fund paid, 12 euros/share, led to hundreds of Macon Deva shareholders collecting tens of thousands of euros at the beginning of this month. Macon had both investment funds and international strategic investors vying for it.
The entry of such a large sum on the market could reverberate across the real estate market in Deva, as well, some claim.
The shareholders of Norvea Brasov have recently collected more than 25 million euros from the sale of the 24% they held in Colgate-Palmolive Romania, the local subsidiary of the US consumer goods giant.
The sale of Macon Deva is the biggest transaction over the last few years on the construction market, which is currently witnessing high growth rates and attracting massive interest from strategic and financial investors.
“Construction is one of the fastest-growing economic sectors in Romania, with a 10% growth in 2005 that is estimated to reach 20% this year,” the Enterprise Investors official says.