Relad head relinquishes his position

Cezar Zaharia, the general manager of drug distributor Relad, which ranks second on the domestic market, has given up his position as head of a company that generates annual turnover worth above 200 million euros.
Zaharia took over the position last August, several months after the chairman at that time, Robert Popescu (the current interim CEO of A&D Pharma group), resigned.
Before he joined Relad, Zaharia held the position of general manager of the Ukrainian unit of Bunge vegetal oil producer for two years, after having been a sales & marketing manager of Bunge Romania.
Cezar Zaharia’s departure comes after the position of CFO at the pharmaceutical distributor also became vacant this summer. Over this period, the shareholders recruited Adrian Volintiru, the former chief financial officer of Rompetrol Downstream.
When contacted by ZF, Cezar Zaharia confirmed his departure from Relad as of September 1, and said he had not decided what he would do next.
Relad operates through two legal entities, with drug import and distribution operations, Relad International and Relad Pharma.
Relad International posted turnover worth 204.76m euros and 2.7m-euro losses in 2007, while Relad Pharma derived turnover worth 218.95m euros and losses that stood at 0.2m euros, according to Finance Ministry data.
The majority shareholder of Relad Pharma is Relad International (which holds 99.7%), while Relad International’s shareholders are West Management International (40%), Expert Finance International (40%), Zigu Manu Tiberius Marius (20%), in line with Official Gazette data. Behind these entities are businessmen Laurentiu Stratulat (40%), Adrian Roncea (40%) and Tiberiu Zigu, according to market information.
The three businessmen also control City Pharma drug store network, one of the main players in the field, with more than 140 drugstores. Hermes Pharma, the company that operates the drug store network, last year generated 36.4m-euro turnover, amid losses worth 7.1 million euros. The announcement about Cezar Zaharia’s departure from Relad comes shortly after A&D Pharma, the biggest player on the market, also announced top management changes.