Romania

Necessair Consulting, the company controlled by Ten Airways director Catalin Butu that could supply tickets to Fly Romania flights, has asked for its insolvency in the Bucharest Tribunal, Business Review reported. The trial term has been set for September 3rf 2014. Tickets for Fly Romania can no longer be purchased on the website. Two months ago, Fly Romania flights were being cancelled left and right. The number of tickets bought did not match the number of flights according to Fly Romania representatives.

Romanian businessman Nelu Iordache accuses Casa de Insolventa Transilvania (CITR), the former judicial administrator of construction company Romstrade, that it looted his company, causing losses by ending contracts, maintaining others and signing new ones, but also by selling assets of Blue Air airline, Romania-Insider.com reported. Iordache, the owner of both companies, who is serving jail time for misuse of EU funds, made a series of accusations in a report addressed to creditors, reports local Adevarul.

Romanian President Traian Basescu signed into law the new Insolvency Code. The legal framework establishing the new preemptive and insolvency procedures was attacked in Constitutional Court on Aprill 22 by a group of PNL deputies who argued that the bill goes against free access to justice and the right to property, Business Review reported. On May 21st, the Constitutional Court established that the bill is in fact constitutional.

Romanian state-owned hydro power producer Hidroelectrica will likely exit insolvency in May or June 2015, then carry out a stock market listing in the second half of that year, its manager Remus Borza told Reuters on Wednesday. Borza's comments are the first time the company has given those dates and are later than a "best case" estimate made last month by a minority shareholder in the company. They also differ from a projection by the energy minister in April, that the firm could exit insolvency as early as November this year, according to local media.

The Romanian state–owned aviation company Romavia will become insolvent in the third quarter of this year, as it has due debts of some EUR 10 million., according to Mediafax. The Government paid the company’s previous debts, shrunk its activity but also signed off on unjustified expenses. The company, which provides air transport services for passengers and freight, as well as special flights for high level officials, had its air operation certificate suspended as the company lacked money to lease planes. This led Romavia to lose its exclusivity in organizing special flights.

Four Romanian judges are currently investigated for having asked for and received money in several insolvency cases, Romania-Insider.com reported. Prosecutors started the investigation against Ion Stanciu, Elena Rovenţa, Ciprian Sorin Viziru and Mircea Moldovan, all judges of the Bucharest court. They allegedly delayed some insolvency cases, or named certain judicial administrators to favor third parties, as well as disclosed information about the insolvency cases they handled.

Romania’s new Insolvency Code, which was adopted on Tuesday, in the Parliament, allows for judiciary re-administration plans to be more easily accepted from now on in Romania. It also moves the focus from a company’s total debt value and debt per creditor, to the number of creditors, Romania-Insider.com reported. This way, creditors which hold a smaller debt package in an insolvent company have a bigger say in the re-organization vote.

Romania's Chamber of Deputies, or the lower house of the parliament, on Tuesday passed an insolvency bill to ensure honest business environment, New Europe Online reported. The bill proposes "an insolvency code that puts together all the regulations governing the pre-insolvency and insolvency mechanisms targeting the economic operators and it does so in a correlated and adjusted manner," explained Justice Minister Robert Cazanciuc.

Romanian insolvency administrator Casa de Insolventa Transilvania (CITR) recorded a turnover of EUR 7.6 million in 2013, up 16 percent compared to the previous year, and has distributed over EUR 62 million to the creditors, reads a statement of the company, Romania-Insider.com reported. Last year, CITR added 109 new procedures to its portfolio and 49 procedures were concluded. In early-2014, CITR’s portfolio includes some 370 procedures, according to the company.

Romania, using record-low interest rates to rebuild a housing market devastated by the economic crisis, is forcing homebuyers like Vlad Popescu to abandon cheap euro-denominated mortgages in the name of financial stability, Bloomberg News reported. In October, the government changed the terms of a four-year-old program for euro loans to only cover credit in the Romanian currency, the leu. In the following months, banks, led by Erste Group (EBS) Bank AG’s Banca Comerciala Romana SA and BRD-Groupe Societe Generale SA, accelerated leu mortgage lending.