E.ON German group, owner of the gas distribution company in the northern part of Romania, has hired external consultants to restructure the former state-owned company and reposition it on the market.
E.ON Gaz Romania, the former Distrigaz Nord, is now recruiting people for top positions from the market through specialised companies that provide consulting services. “As a rule, we are resorting to our own recruitment tools. Yet, there are certain situations where this recruitment method proves to be unsuitable for the position we are looking for. In these cases, we resort to external recruitment services, to human resources consultants,” says Virgil Metea, general manager of E.ON Gaz Romania.
Metea has been running Distrigaz Nord since the company was still state-owned. He was reconfirmed on this position by the new majority shareholder, Germany”s Ruhrgas E.ON.
Ruhrgas, part of E.ON group, last year took over 51% in Distrigaz Nord in a deal worth above 304 million euros.
The Germans started to restructure the company in order to integrate into the group and bring it to the group”s standards.
As part of this process, E.ON has resorted to external consultants. Thus, Danis Consulting firm has recently published recruitment ads for middle management positions in E.ON Gaz Romania.
Danis Consulting specialises in consulting services related to management positions, as well as in organisational development, also providing recruitment services or services related to the organisation of evaluation centres for customers.
Danis Consulting”s customer portfolio includes companies such as Holcim cement producer, Terapia pharmaceutical company or Electrolux Romania, a producer of electrical home appliances.
The former state-owned company is redefining its organisation and management to the end of creating a more flexible structure.
Danis Consulting is not the first firm to provide consulting services to the former Distrigaz Nord, the current E.ON Gaz Romania.
Early last year, the Germans hired Roland Berger Strategy Consultants, a firm specialising in management consulting services, to integrate the Romanian gas distribution company into the structure of the German group. This primarily entails the separation of distribution and supply activities, inclusively at the level of accounting. The activity splitting operation is stipulated by the European Directive on gas and it will become compulsory at the moment Romania joins the European Union, in 2007.
Thus, since the beginning of the year, E.ON Gaz Romania has been reshuffled and currently operates through seven units with separate functions, including the marketing and sales department.
E.ON Gaz Romania
* Is redefining its organisation and management to create a more flexible structure
* Currently operates through 7 units carrying out separate functions
* Last year posted net losses of 27m euros
* Has made investments worth 26.2m euros so far
* Has earmarked about 45m euros for 2006”s investment programme, while investments over the next 7 years should reach 140m euros
roxana.petrescu@zf.ro