Aneta Bogdan, managing partner of Brandient, the leading branding agency on the local market, says the company is in negotiations with an international strategic partner to sell a stake. However, she rules out giving up control of the agency.
"We are bound by a confidentiality and exclusivity clause. They want a majority stake, but we do not want to give them that, and now we are at a stage where we are talking about how much we want to sell. However, we have two investors that have been with us for three years that wish to leave, and, when they leave, we will also sell some of our shares" says Bogdan.
The two investors are Eric Florin Kish, Rompetrol's Vice-President of Marketing and Retail, and Tatiana Malacopol, who hold 5.97% and 9.8% of the shares respectively, according to Aneta Bogdan.
They joined the agency in 2005, three years after it was established. The other shareholders are Aneta Bogdan (29.41%), Paul Cristian (26.38%), Bogdan Mihail Romulus (23.44%) and Cristian Petre (4.99%), according to Trade Registry data.
In 2006, Brandient signed a partnership contract with Enterprise, the branding consulting company of WPP, the second largest communications group worldwide, however, Bogdan refused to comment on the partner's name due to the confidentiality clause. She did specify, though, that this was a "global partner that operates in Romania."
Negotiations started early in the year, but, at the time, Brandient also had offers from two investment funds, while later, the strategic partner asked for exclusivity.
"There are a lot of funds that can give you money, but we don't need money. We need a strong backbone. For example, I hope that when I go to Prague to negotiate for the biggest international legal firm, and get asked whether we can operate in 13 countries, I won't have to answer that we can only operate in Buchares
