Badea, Clifford Chance: The crisis is not over. We need 3-4 positive events to change the perception about Romania
Lawyer Daniel Badea, the managing partner of the Bucharest
office of the world's biggest law firm, Clifford Chance, considers
Romania needs a successful floatation of Fondul Proprietatea, the
sale for a good price of the state's stakes in major companies, as
well as the launch of some mega infrastructure projects to be able
to regain its appeal in foreign investors' eyes.
He speaks of "balanced optimism", considering Romania is now unable
to break itself free from the international economic context.
"Romania cannot isolate itself from the various external
influences, such as the euro crisis, the significant financial
markets changes or the fallout of imbalances between emerging and
developed markets. There won't be years of peace. Romania needs to
be visible again on international markets and it can achieve this
by listing Fondul Proprietatea, by selling stakes in Romtelecom,
Petrom or Romgaz, the eurobonds programme or two-three
infrastructure projects. It takes three-four pieces of good news to
change perception about Romania", stated Badea in an
interview.
The firm he runs fared well in the second year of crisis, posting
double-digit turnover growth in 2010, so that Clifford Chance's
revenues in Romania revolve around 8m euros, according to ZF
estimates.
"The crisis is not over, but I find it hard to believe that it will
as hard for us as in the previous years - on the one hand we have
already experienced the crisis and on the other we will see the
positive effects of the quite painful reforms," Badea added.