Legal & fiscal issues

• A controversed fiscal initiative will be discussed this week by the Government and the Ministry of Finance. The legislative project implies a minimum profit tax of 0.5% (but not less than ~€1,600) of the turnover (for profit tax payers), a minimum tax of ~€1,600 for microenterprises and no deductibility for car-related expenses. For more information on this issue, please send us an e-mail by clicking here.

Business

• State-owned electricity transmission and system operations company Transelectrica will invest €77.4 million in the development of a 400 kV grid around Bucharest, and in an electric interconnection line between southeastern and central Romania.
  
• State-owned harbour operator Oil Terminal Constanta will invest between €20 million and €30 million in the development of an ecological project for a warehouse.
  
• German hypermarket chain Real invested €21.5 million in the development of its twenty-first Romanian unit, located in Constanta.
  
• Romanian construction company Comnord will invest an estimated €10 million in the development of an 80,000 m² logistics park in Buftea, Ilfov County.
  
• Italian polyethylene paper producer Tiger will invest an estimated €5 million in 2009 in acquiring new technology for its factory in Dej, Cluj County, in order to increase production capacities.
  
• Romanian electro-energetic company EnergoBit invested €1.2 million in 2008 in doubling the production capacity of its factory in Jibou, Salaj County.
  
• Turkish bearings manufacturer Rulmenti Barlad will invest €1 million in acquiring new equipment and in certifying its factory as a European railway bearing manufacturer.
  

Real Estate

• Israeli real estate developer Plaza Centers will invest €927 million in the development of a mixed project comprising 600,000 m² of commercial and office space, hotels and dwelling units. The project is set for completion in 2013.
  
• Austrian investment fund Immoeast will invest an estimated €240 million in the development of a 150,000 m² real estate project in Brasov, which will comprise a hotel, a shopping centre, a business centre and dwelling units.
  
• Lebanese businessperson Mohammad Murad will invest €12 million in the development of a 200 room hotel in Otopeni, Ilfov County.