Raiffeisen Zentralbank Österreich (RZB) has lowered its 12 month target price for the shares of BRD-Groupe Societe Generale (BRD) from 17 lei to 15.4 lei and has maintained the "buy" recommendation for the shares, according to a report by Austrian group RZB. read more...

The management of Hidroelectrica has taken the necessary steps to cancel the contract for the privatization of several micro hydroelectric plants, which it signed in 2008 with Eviva. read more...

The segments that posted declining gross underwritten premiums in the first nine months outnumber the ones that registered growth, so that the overall insurance market shrank by almost 7%. read more...

The management of STX OSV shipyard (the former Aker Tulcea), controlled by South Korea's STX Shipbuilding, says it has managed to turn around the company financially this year, so that 2010 will be a profitable year. read more...

Franklin Templeton manager plans to restructure the 3 billion-euro portfolio of Fondul Proprietatea (Property Fund) by selling its assets on the Stock Exchange or to strategic investors, which could leave the Fund with around 35 companies, half as many as it has now. The Fund currently has representatives in 20 of the companies in its portfolio, according to the fund's manager, Greg Konieczny. read more...

The Cluj-Napoca city hall has contracted a 300 million-RON (around 71 million-euro) loan from CEC Bank over 30 years to cover planned or ongoing investments. read more...

n November car registrations exceeded the 11,000-unit mark for the first time, amid the scrappage scheme nearing its end in mid-November, according to players on the car market, with both sales and car registrations recording a two-digit rise last month. read more...

The producer of Tuborg and Carlsberg beer, Granini soft drinks and Bilbor mineral water, looking back at this year's performance, says beer sales have gone down by 7% on the entire market, while the decline of non-carbonated drinks amounted to 15% compared with 2009. read more...

Businessman Radu Enache, owner of Continental Hotels chain, which operates 14 hotels on the Romanian market, says the value of his hotel assets and of his plots is estimated at around 140-150 million euros, down 20% on 2008. This is the first time that the businessman publicly reveals the value of assets he holds. read more...

President Traian Băsescu yesterday promulgated the law that no longer requires those owners who already have an optional policy covering damages caused by floods, earthquakes and landslides to buy a mandatory home insurance policy. Insurance companies part of the mandatory insurance system might therefore lose more than 30 million euros in premiums, which jeopardises the operation of the system or may lead to tariff hikes. read more...

Ali Ergun Ergen, CEO of Băneasa Developments, which manages Băneasa retail park in northern Bucharest, says the crisis is a thing of the past for the project he runs, after reporting a 10-15% rise in visitor and sales numbers against last year. read more...

The wife of the Stockholm bomber, Taymour Abdel Wahab, is a Romanian settled at Luton, sify.com informs. Mona Thwany claims that she had no idea about his plans. read more...

Romania needs a precautionary agreement with the IMF and the European Union to protect itself against its own politicians, against populism, which can grow at any moment, said President Traian Basescu in an interview with the Financial Times. read more...

The education law for which the Romanian Government sought a confidence vote in Parliament late October is considered adopted after opposition liberal lawmakers said in plenary they are pulling their signatures from the motion of no-confidence submitted over the bill, Chamber Speaker Roberta Anastase said Tuesday. read more...

Romania's current account deficit widened 30.3% to EUR4.94 billion in the first ten months, from a gap of EUR3.79 billion a year earlier, largely due to the lower current transfers surplus, central bank data showed Tuesday. read more...

The asking prices for new houses and villas in Romania were down by more than 42% compared to 2008, with the greatest declines registered in Bucharest and Constanta county, according to website imobiliare.ro. read more...

Romanian President Traian Basescu denounced the legislative initiative to change a word Rroma to gypsy and declared in an interview for the Financial Times that he will not pass the law. read more...

Romanian President Traian Basescu signed into law yesterday a bill exempting people who already have home insurance against natural disasters from getting mandatory insurance, newspaper Ziarul Financiar reported Tuesday. read more...

More than half of the Romanians with incomes of over 500 lei (EUR1=RON4.2892) saved money for unpredictable situations in 2010, and most of them preferred to keep it at home, according to a survey conducted by Daedalus Millward Brown for Raiffeisen Banca pentru Locuinte. read more...

"The Concert" by Romanian-born French film director and screenwriter Radu Mihaileanu is nominated for Best Foreign Language Film in the 68th edition of the Golden Globe awards, the organizers of the event told a news conference Tuesday. read more...