ROMANIA IN 2008 AT A GLANCE

JANUARY

- Romania’s state asset-selling agency AVAS receives 53 letters of intent by January 28 for a 53.02% stake in drug maker Antibiotice. Most letters came from companies based in Romania - 17 and the UK - eight. 

FEBRUARY

- U.S. Boeing gets a $150 million order from Romanian low-cost airline Blue Air for two Next Generation 737-800 aircraft and purchase rights for two more.

- Romanian chocolate manufacturer Kandia-Excelent delists its shares from the Bucharest Stock Exchange.

- Shares in Austria's Erste Bank, the majority owner of Romania’s Banca Comerciala Romana, start trading on the Bucharest Stock Exchange.

- Spain’s Iberdrola Renewables signs a deal to build 50 wind projects, totalling around 1,600 megawatts, in southeastern Romania for a total price of between 200 and 300 million euro, depending on the sites eventually acquired.

- Romania relaunches the sale of its 80.9778% stake in aircraft manufacturer Avioane Craiova.

- Romania says it will not recognise Kosovo’s independence, a day after the province proclaimed its breakaway from Serbia.

- Energy & Environment, the plant construction division of Austrian industrial group A-TEC Industries, wins a 220 million euro deal to build a flue gas desulphurisation plant for Romanian state-owned thermal power complex Turceni.

- The European Investment Fund (EIF) signs a memorandum with Romania's Finance Ministry to help small and medium-sized enterprises absorb EU funds up to 2013 under the JEREMIE initiative.

- The European Commission says Romania must recover 27 million euro illegal state aid granted in the privatisation of car manufacturer Automobile Craiova and its sale to Ford Motor Co, in order to eliminate the competition infringement caused by its illegal aid.

- Romania suspends sale of its 53.02% stake in drug maker Antibiotice.

- Romania's President Traian Basescu endorses Catalin Marian Predoiu as new justice minister, ending a protracted political deadlock, which left the country without a permanent head of the ministry responsible for implementing justice reform. Justice Minister Tudor Chiuariu resigned in December under pressure ahead of a criminal investigation into alleged abuse of power.

MARCH

- Romania wraps up the sale of Automobile Craiova, the sole owner of Daewoo Automobile Romania, to U.S. Ford Motor Co for 57 million euro.

- Romania's central bank, BNR, raises its key interest rate by half percentage point to 9.5%.

- Romania's competition regulator gives the green light to Dutch brewer Heineken to acquire Romanian peer company Bere Mures.

- Romania's largest oil group Petrom, majority-owned by Austria's OMV signs a contract with a U.S-Greek consortium for the construction of a 500 million euro gas-fired power plant in Romania.

APRIL

- The North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) holds its annual summit in Romania's capital Bucharest, at which it invites Albania and Croatia to join the alliance. An invitation to Macedonia has been delayed until after the country resolves its name dispute with Greece.

- Portugal’s Sonae Sierra and Poland-based Caelum Development have set up a 50/50 joint venture company to develop a 591 million euro shopping centre in the Romanian capital Bucharest.

- Russia's Mechel Steel Group wraps up a 142 million euro deal to acquire Romanian steel manufacturer Ductil Steel.

- French insurer Groupama acquires 100% of Romanian insurer Asiban for 350 million euro from four Romanian banks - Austria's Erste Romanian arm, Banca Comerciala Romana, the Romanian Development Bank, owned by Societe Generale, Banca Transilvania and Romania's last state-owned bank, CEC.

- Romania's President Traian Basescu endorses career diplomat Lazar Comanescu as new foreign minister after the resignation of the previous incumbent, Adrian Cioroianu, over the death of a Romanian citizen in Poland.

- Dutch-based aluminium producer Vimetco sets a 50/50 joint venture with British-Romanian company InterAgro to build a coal-fired power plant in southwestern Romania.

- Global firm DHL acquires Romanian courier services company Cargus for an undisclosed price.

- Romania's anti-graft authority, DNA, launches a criminal investigation against Labour Minister Paul Pacuraru over alleged bribe taking.

MAY

- Romania's central bank, BNR, raises its key interest rate by 0.25% to 9.75%. It also raises its annual inflation forecast for 2008 to 6.0% from an earlier 5.9%, beyond its target band, and lowers the annual inflation forecast for next year to 3.5% from a previous 3.9%.

- The oldest of the two 700-megawatt reactors at Romania's sole nuclear power plant Cernavoda shuts down for scheduled 40-day maintenance.

- Shares in Romanian hotel operator Casa de Bucovina Club de Munte start trading on the Bucharest Stock Exchange.

- French carmaker Renault launches operations at a gearbox factory in Romania.

- Romania receives three non-binding bids for a 80.9778% stake in aircraft manufacturer Avioane Craiova from Italy's Alenia Aeronautica, Czech's AERO Vodochody and Romanian INAV S.A.

- Romanian construction company Pomponio's launches an initial public offering on the Bucharest Stock Exchange for 25% of its capital, but fails to attract sufficient investor interest.

JUNE

- Romania holds local elections. Opposition Social Democratic Party (PSD) wins most of the mayoral seats.

- Hungarian real estate developer TriGranit starts construction work on a 510 million euro residential project in the northwestern Romanian city of Cluj.

- Rompetrol Gas, the liquefied petroleum gas trading division of Romanian oil company Rompetrol Group, acquires a majority stake in Moldovan gas importer, wholesaler and retailer MoldInterGaz.

- Romania's privatisation agency AVAS wraps up the sale of a 64.4% stake in power distributor Electrica Muntenia Sud to Italy's Enel for 820 million euro.

- Hungarian real estate company Ablon Group says to develop a 280 million euro project near Bucharest’s International airport Henri Coanda in Romania.

- Romania's central bank, BNR, raises its key interest rate to 10.00% from 9.75%.

JULY

- Romania’s energy regulator, ANRE, raises the prices of gas and electricity by an average 12.5% and 5.3% respectively.

- The Bucharest Stock Exchange adds two indices to the existing four. The BET-XT tracks the 25 most liquid blue-chip companies traded on the main market, including Romania's five regional investment funds, the SIFs. The BET-NG includes companies from the energy sector and utilities, listed on the main market.

- Shares in Romanian construction materials manufacturer Teraplast start trading on the Bucharest Stock Exchange.

- Romanian car manufacturer Dacia, a unit of France's Renault, starts selling its new Logan Van model, following an investment of 27 million euro in the upgrade of the model.

- Romania invites binding bids from companies interested to design and build a 52-kilometre motorway in the southeastern part of the country in a 354 million euro project.

- Romanian stock market regulator unblocks trading in the bonus shares issued by local investment fund SIF 3 Transilvania, a year after blocking trade in them due to a legal dispute.

- Romania selects Czech company AERO Vodochody as buyer of its majority stake in aircraft manufacturer Avioane Craiva. It  offers to pay 16.3 million euro for the stake.

- Raiffeisen Bank Romania, Raiffeisen Bausparkasse and Schwaebisch-Hall sign an agreement to buy Romanian housing bank HVB Banca Pentru Locuinte for an undisclosed sum.

- Romanian construction materials manufacturer Macon Deva acquires its competitor on the local market Simcor Group in a transaction totalling 53 million euro.

- The Romanian government decides to raise the minimum gross monthly wage by 8.0% to 540 lei, effective in October, and to 600 lei as of January 1.

- Romania's competition regulator approves the sale of dairy firm LaDorna to French group Lactalis.

AUGUST

- Romania's central bank, BNR, raises its key interest rate to 10.25% from 10.00%. It also raises its annual inflation forecast for 2008 to 6.6% from an earlier 6.0% and its annual inflation forecast for 2009 to 4.2% from a previous 3.5%.

- Romanian government securities start trading on the Bucharest Stock Exchange.

- Four companies file bids in a tender for Romania's sixth wireless operator. The bidders are Tactical Networks AS, multinational group Saudi Oger Ltd, local company NetPoint, and the country's leading fixed-line operator Romtelecom.

- French insurance group Groupama wraps up the acquisition of Romanian insurer Asiban for 350 million euro.

- The European Commission suspends 28.3 million euro in payments through EU pre-accession SAPARD funds due to deficiencies in the implementation of the programme in the country.

- Romania's competition regulator approves the sale of Romanian courier service company Curiero by local diversified group RTC Holding.

- Czech power utility group CEZ buys two wind farms in Romania, which it plans to develop into the largest onshore wind farm in Europe, in a project worth a total investment of 1.1 billion euro.

- The Romanian government decides to raise pensions by 20% two months early, as of November 1.

SEPTEMBER

- Belgian food retailer Delhaize Group completes the acquisition of Romanian chain La Fourmi for 18.6 million euro.

- Romania’s leading fixed-line operator RomTelecom wins a licence to operate as the country’s sixth mobile operator.

- Romania receives two bids for its 64.89% stake in helicopter manufacturer IAR from Czech's AERO Vodochody and Israel’s Marcovici Capital.

- Romania's Banca Comerciala Romana signs an agreement for the sale of its two insurance subsidiaries to Austria’s Vienna Insurance Group for a combined 244 million euro.

- Shares in Romanian closed-end investment fund STK Emergent start trading on the Bucharest Stock Exchange.

- Romania decides to speed up by another month a planned 20% pension hike and it will now be effective as of October 1.

- Romania grants 143 million euro in state aid to U.S. Ford Motor company to upgrade the production facilities at the Automobile Craiova car plant.

- The Romanian government decides to consolidate the country's Information Technology and Communications (IT&C) sector by establishing a new structure, which will take over the sector's current authorities.

- Romania's President Traian Basescu signs a decree to suspend Labour Minister Paul Pacuraru due to an ongoing criminal investigation against the latter over alleged bribe-taking. Later in the month Basescu endorsed Mariana Campeanu, the head of Romania's pension insurance fund, as labour minister.

OCTOBER

- Romanian Prime Minister Calin Popescu Tariceanu dismisses Education Minister Cristian Adomnitei and proposes his deputy Anton Anton as his replacement, shortly after Adomnitei backed a controversial pay rise for teachers. Tariceanu, Finance and Economy Minister Varujan Vosganian and central bank governor Mugur Isarescu have slammed the lawmakers' move, warning it was putting the country's macroeconomic stability at risk.

- Romania decided to levy no tax on capital gains for 2009 to help the country's capital market stay afloat amid the spreading global financial crisis.

- The Romanian government sets up an energy holding company valued at between 20 and 24 billion euro, incorporating several state-owned energy producers.

- Romania's largest oil group Petrom, majority-owned by Austria's OMV, contracts a three-year loan worth 375 million euro from a consortium of foreign banks.

- Romania re-launches the sale of its 80.9778% stake in aircraft manufacturer Avioane Craiova, setting November 24 as the deadline for filing final bids.

- Romania's government puts off until April 2009 a 50% hike in teachers' wages recently endorsed by President Traian Basescu.

- Romania's central bank, BNR, keeps its key interest rate unchanged at 10.25%.

NOVEMBER

- Romania's central bank, BNR, raises its annual inflation forecast for 2008 from 6.6% to 6.7%.

- Austrian insurance group UNIQA wraps up the acquisition of 100% of Romanian insurer Unita from the Vienna Insurance Group for an undisclosed sum.

- Romanian car manufacturer Dacia, a unit of France's Renault, halts vehicle production for two weeks, reacting to drastic falls in car sales worldwide.

- Romania plans to start building a second pair of reactors at its sole nuclear power plant in Cernavoda in 2010-2011.

- Romania’s largest chemical fertilizer producer Azomures decides to operate at half capacity and dismiss 250 of its employees as of this month due to low market demand.

- Nuclearelectrica, the state-owned operator of Romania's sole nuclear plant Cernavoda, signs an agreement with six foreign investors to set up a company that will build a second pair of reactors at Cernavoda.

- Romania's Rompetrol Petrochemicals, part of Romania's second-largest oil group Rompetrol, decides to cut its polymer production by half in December 2008-January 2009 in response to the global financial crisis.

- Dumitru Cristea, director general of Romania’s state-owned coal-fired power plant Turceni, resigns due to an ongoing criminal investigation against him regarding alleged abuse of power.

- Romanian telecoms regulator ANC launches a tender for two WiMAX licences, inviting interested investors to file their bids by February 5, 2009.

- French tyre maker Michelin idles two of its three Romanian factories up to the end of the year due to low demand prompted by the global financial crisis.

- Romania's largest chemical fertiliser producer Azomures suspends operations from early December until the middle of January next year due to low demand for its output.

- Romania holds general elections in which analysts expect that no party will win a majority.

DECEMBER (up to Dec 22)

- The European Union allows Bulgaria and Romania to extend by one year the deadline for payments of farm aid under its SAPARD programme.

- The Romanian Democratic-Liberal Party, PD-L, wins most seats in each of the two chambers of the country's parliament following the November 30 general election.

- Romanian government suspends the registration tax on new cars for one year starting December 1, in a bid to protect jobs in the country’s car industry.

- Romania receives an improved binding bid for its 64.89% stake in helicopter manufacturer IAR from Czech company Aero Vodochody.

- Romania trebles the registration tax for second-hand car imports in a bid to support its own automotive industry, hit by the global financial crisis.

- Romanian car manufacturer Dacia, a unit of France's Renault, halts vehicle production for one month in a bid to cut costs and will cut its 2009 investment budget.

- Romania extends the deadline for submission of bids for its 80.9778% stake in aircraft manufacturer Avioane Craiova by 50 days to end-January at the request of one potential bidder.

- Romania’s President Traian Basescu nominates Democratic-Liberal Party (PD-L) leader Emil Boc new prime minister shortly after previous nominee Theodor Stolojan gave up his mandate.

- Six Romanian companies buy documents for the tender for two WiMAX licences.

- Austrian steelmaker voestalpine puts on hold plans to build a 5.0 billion euro steel plant in the Black Sea region on recession fears.

- Romanian aluminium smelter Alro, a subsidiary of Dutch-based aluminium producer Vimetco, plans to cut production by up to 50% and to lay off 1,200 employees next year due to unfavourable market conditions.

- DB Schenker, the transportation and logistics arm of German national railway operator Deutsche Bahn, wraps up the acquisition of Romanian forwarder Romtrans.

- Romania's parliament endorsed a coalition cabinet proposed by Prime Minister-designate Emil Boc.