Romania

The debt recovery agency Air Claim, which specializes in helping customers of airlines recover their money, asked in court for the insolvency of low-cost carrier Blue Air – now 75% controlled by the Romanian government, Romanian-Insider.com reported. The pre-insolvency period for the company ended on February 22. The court did not yet approve the request filed by Air Claim, according to Economica.net.

Romanian aluminium car parts manufacturer Altur Slatina said that its board decided to waive insolvency proceedings initiated earlier this month, SeeNews.com reported. The company submitted the waiver to an Olt County court, which acknowledged the filing on Thursday, Altur said in a statement filed with the Bucharest Stock Exchange on Friday. On January 4, Altur announced its submission of the application for the launch of insolvency proceedings with the same court.

On a market that seems to thrive as the courier firms capitalise on the rise of online commerce particularly coming from second-tier cities, independent courier firm Nemo Express entered insolvency at its request on October 21, shortly after one of the shareholders - operating leasing company Capital Fleet Services - pulled out, Profit.ro reported, according to Romania-Insider.com. Capital Fleet is also the largest on a list of some 25 creditors.

Romania unexpectedly pressed ahead with a robust pace of monetary tightening, raising borrowing costs to the highest level in over a decade to combat persistent inflation, Bloomberg News reported. The central bank in Bucharest lifted its benchmark interest rate by 75 basis points to 6.25% on Wednesday, following a similar decision at its last meeting in August. Only five out of 15 economists in a Bloomberg survey predicted the move, while most analysts saw a step of 50 basis points; one predicted a 25 basis-point hike.

Bucharest Airports Company (CNAB), the company operating Romania's largest airport Henri Coanda, said it is considering the option of suspending the provision of services to national flag carrier Tarom and taking legal steps, including, if necessary, an insolvency request, Romania-Insider.com reported. Tarom claims there is no risk of disrupting the company's operations at Henri Coanda Airport, according to News.ro.

Romanian discount carrier Blue Air Aviation SA canceled all flights through Monday after its bank accounts were frozen by the state amid concerns over unpaid debt, Bloomberg News reported. The sudden intervention left Blue Air unable to pay daily operating costs, the carrier said, with the grounding leaving thousands of passengers stranded at airports across Europe and beyond. The government said the halt to services was unjustified and urged the company to discuss a rescheduling of the debt.

A row of hulking concrete domes loom along the Danube-Black Sea Canal in Cernavoda, about two hours east of Bucharest. Two of the structures house nuclear reactors feeding Romania’s electrical grid. Two others were begun decades ago and are still waiting for completion — though, perhaps, not for long. “We have major plans,” said Valentin Nae, the site director. The nuclear complex was conceived during the regime of Nicolae Ceausescu, the Communist dictator who ran Romania for a quarter century before he was overthrown and executed in 1989. Mr.

The Bucharest Chemical Equipment Assembly Trust (TMUCB), a company with a history of over 60 years and one of the largest companies in the construction field, announced that it managed to recover after an eight-year insolvency period, Romania-Insider.com reported. Since 1958, TMUCB has carried out complex turnkey technological projects for the chemical and petrochemical, metallurgical, cement, pulp and paper mills, thermal and nuclear power plants, sugar factories, car factories, tanks, transmission and distribution pipelines for petrochemicals, gas, water, steam, in Romania and abroad.

Romania’s central bank raised interest rates more than expected, stepping up the pace of tightening as it struggles to tame the fastest inflation in almost two decades and catch up with regional peers, Bloomberg News reported. The central bank raised the benchmark rate by 75 basis points to 3.75% at its meeting on Tuesday, matching the estimates of only one of the 11 economists surveyed by Bloomberg. The median estimate was for a 50 basis-point increase to 3.5%.

Romelectro, the company that designed a large part of Romania's energy system during the communist regime and carried out projects abroad, mostly in the Middle East, is asking for insolvency, Romania-Insider.com. This happens precisely when the country needs the most engineering companies able to develop major projects in the energy generation sector, Ziarul Financiar daily comments.