HiHi, I have to admit I know Jucu rather well. Last year I found a classical house in Jucu which was desperately in need of renovation. Unfortunately it had been sold 2 weeks previously for 140000 Euro. It hasnt been renovated but I guess it must be worth significantly more now. I nearly bought some land on the other side of the road to the Jucu apartments at 12 Euro psm...but didnt. Then there are three Swedish style houses that were sold for 56000 last year and so I am told were bought by Nokia a few months ago for 200000 euro. So I know Jucu and Cluj rather well. So far as your point about other developments in Cluj are concerned you have to remember that unlike the British Romanians like to live as close to work as possible. There will be an industrial corridor from the airport out to Jucu and nobody would want to spend a huge amount of time driving from Floresti across the city and out to Jucu. If there are apartments in Jucu Nokia and General Motors workers will want them. Charles

Hi all. I have heard the positivity for this deal and I am yet to venture into Romania. Does the amount of money in on this deal not put you off in any way? Is it not all about ROI? Am I missing something? Can you get a loan to a company in Romania owned by another company in another country or is it far easier to own personally? Thanks!

Hi, To answer the two points you raise all I can say is that I boiught into Jucu earlier this year at a very favourable price and have already seen my investment grow 140% should I sell tomorrow.Banks out here are very willing to lend money both to individuals and companies. Search for Unicredit SRL on the internet and you will find their website very informative.Charles

Hi Brendan, Well in theory its supposed to be all about ROI but with some property investments, cash buyers get preference and developers aren´t willing to leverage for client cos they don´t need to and this is probably one example of that. One can´t have the best of every world, because the entry price is very low. With an opportunity like this you have to put your money where your mouth is. Its probably a whole lot easier if you can remortgage at home or come up with cash instead of getting involved in the hassle of mortgages, Regards, Liam

Hi Sanj, Its true that there is a good choice of new build in Cluj judging from what I saw both in the newspaper and on the ground when I visited the city in August. As far as i´m concerned, anything you buy either in the city or outside it, will grow a lot in value in next 3 to 4 years. Its much of a muchness where you wanna buy. Investment is about looking to the future and not the past.And there are a lot of good times to come in Cluj. Based on the size of the flats, the Jucu deal is good I think. There are also many new builds in Floresti and other areas but the payment terms are similar and it seems to be a cash buyers market. Also, some similar offers have less square metres than Jucu deal , i.e only 1 bed apartments and are more approaching the 1000€/metre square mark. The one thing that puts me a bit off buying in Cluj as an individual would be the risk of getting ripped off by a developer, cos as far as I know there are no big developments/developers there yet. I´m sure PS have their legal homework done and this could be a good reason to buy through them here. Liam

Hi all, Thanks for a great and informative post on Romania and more importantly Jucu. I will be calling those clients who have been successful from 8am tomorrow to allocate units. If you do not get a call please be patient as I have over 70 calls to make. Thanks, Martin Grainger Head of Portfolio Development

Are there any other areas/towns/cities in Romania are members think we should be focussing on??

Hi Noreen I note that the report says that Nokia will have around 15000 employees at full operational capacity (2011). I was wondering if you could tell me the source of that data please? Here are some excerpts of news around May 07 when the deal was done which doesnt quite tie in with your numbers of employees/date of full capacity. '...optimistic forecasts predict that in 2009, when the production facilities in Jucu will operate at full capacity, Nokia will have around 3,500 employees involved in production operations. Production is due to begin in Cluj in 2008, where Nokia mobile phones will be assembled and customised' 'The factory will reach its peak capacity by 2009 and the total investment will amount to approximately 60 million euros' "We cannot provide any accurate estimates for the total number of employees in Cluj, but there will not be as many as the 15,000 repeatedly speculated. I believe this information was fuelled by the knowledge that in all the other locations where Nokia owns production facilities there are also the facilities of our suppliers," stated John Guerry, managing director of Nokia for the Cluj-Jucu project.

As your report was dated September presumably you have some updated material? Regards

Another boost for the area: Swedish car components producer Trelleborg are taking the lead from Nokia and investing 200m euros in the area. Regards

Well spotted Sanj! Other ways of checking on current demand for employees in Ro is to go to www.ejobs.ro and type in a particular city. For Cluj Napoca you will find that most are in IT. For more general jobs go to http: / /www .piata -az .ro /piataaz /Main .jsp and click on locuri de munca . Sites are in Romanian but it will give you a general impression. Nokia are in the lead but others will follow the same pattern. Job Fairs are being organised in other cities in Romania to attract talent to come and work in Cluj. Just as Ceascescu moved workers to Manastur (the most densely populated neighbourhood in Cluj)we are now seeing the international companies do exactly the same but without the commitment to provide public/private housing for them. There are issues in this country largely unspoken about. The women do the work but generally get payed less than the men. The men take the quick profits when money is close to the table.For women recognition of talent is a problem. Corruption may be reduced but has it simply taken another form? A riend of mine quoted to me a 17th century Romanian poet who commented upon such issues. From a current economic point of view wage rises in Romania cannot be justified by increased productivity...but can respond to unjustifiable high prices and new access to borrowing. I just hope that international investment in Romania pays its dividends and is shared between investors and producers and that no unfair advantage is shown to either. To make this country the place to be in the long term these international companies have to address these issues.

Sanj, Charles Many thanks for the data. It didn't make it into the December FDI monitor but we will have more details on this announcement in the January FDI update. Regards Noreen