Oresa Ventures is testing the still water market

Venture capital fund Oresa Ventures is about to perform another investment in Romania, in the field of distribution of still water for offices. Such a business involves the sale of water coolers and the creation of a distribution network that can secure the subsequent supply of still water recipients.

The business is to benefit from the resources of Oresa Ventures, through a financial company in which it holds the main stake, a Romanian investor who is a manager at juice making plant Susanne and a foreign investor.

Cornel Marian, senior investment officer with Oresa Ventures, is trying to develop a new business model, which has not been applied so far in Romania.

“The total value of this investment will range between three and seven million dollars, in a company that will be taken over from the market. We have been watching this market for over one and a half year and we have decided that our penetration strategy will not be an ordinary one,” Cornel Marian told Ziarul Financiar.

He says that, following a period of careful research, the business is 99.9% concluded.

“We have already signed the agreement between shareholders, where we have included the transfers of shares and property, and the other contracts for water supply and processing,” the Oresa official maintains.

He declined to disclose other details of the transaction, stating he was bound by a confidentiality clause in the contract.

Some players on the water cooler market believe that Oresa Ventures aims at acquiring one of the four companies that are already operating in this sector.

“I believe that Oresa is planning to take over Aqua Natural company, which is most likely the best company on the market of water cooler equipment,” Florin Danila, manager of Prudent Servicii de Aprovizionare (Prudent Supply Services), told Ziarul Financiar.

He says this market is “rather small” and sales have not taken off. “The arrival of big investors on this market can only be beneficial, as far as forming a certain culture in the field is concerned.

Right now, consumers fail to appreciate these products and they do not pay for this kind of services, either, but advertising can do wonders and enlarge the market,” Danila claims. He estimates that 1,500-2,000 water coolers have been installed in Romanian companies so far.

Oresa Ventures has concluded six business transactions in Romania, among which Medicover clinic. Other investments were made in Brewery Holdings, a beer company which was successfully sold last year, advertising company Churchill Media and Flanco, a network of stores selling home appliances.

Oresa Ventures is a company specialised in venture capital investments which this year took over the management and businesses of investment fund Oresa, except for Medicover, which become an independent company.