Let's play a little game of imagination. What are your options if you are a French in Romania? You can take a credit from BRD (Societe Generale) to buy a Dacia Logan produced by Renault. Your mobile operator will be Orange and you will go shopping at Carrefour. This may be a simplistic view, but it shows how much have French companies spread on the Romanian market and gives a hint of the positions they have on various market segments. The four are just some of the largest French companies which invested in Romania in the last 20 years. French investments in local companies amount to EUR 2.25 billion, according to data from the Romanian Trade Registry at the end of February, which makes France the fourth largest investor in Romania. There are over 6,500 French-owned firms in Romania. We've listed some of them below.

editor@romania-insider.com

Auto industry

Dacia – Renault

Renault is among the protagonists of the international automotive landscape, being present on all continents with over 350 industrial and commercial sites located in 36 countries. Renault entered the Romanian market in 1999 when it took over the Automobile Dacia factory in Pitesti which was privatized by the Romanian state. Renault turned Dacia into an international brand and raised production in Pitesti from 86,000 vehicles in 1999 to over 340,000 in 2010. Automobile Dacia has over 15,000 employees. The French group developed new models such as Dacia Logan, Dacia Sandero and Dacia Duster, which became an international success. Automobile Dacia is now by far the largest exporter in Romania and the second company by revenues, with sales of EUR 2.7 billion in 2010. Renault's total investments in Romania passed EUR 1.5 billion in 2009, according to company data. The group also developed a technical center in Titu and a design center in Bucharest, both operating under Renault Technologie Roumanie. Renault and Dacia Hold over 40 percent of the Romanian auto market, according to data from the Romanian Automobile Producers and Importers Association (APIA).

Michelin Romania

Michelin group, one of the largest tyre producers in the world, entered the Romanian market in August, 2001, with the purchase of the Victoria Floresti plant from Tofan Group, followed shortly by the purchase of Silvania plant in Zalau. In 2005, Michelin Romania became a regional center for the Balkans, coordinating, in addition to the local market activity, production and commercial operations in Albania, Bulgaria, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia. Today, Michelin has three factories in Romania and about 3,000 employees. Total investments amount to EUR 265 million.

Telecommunications

Orange Romania

Orange, part of France Telecom group, is the largest mobile communications operator in Romania, with 10.3 million customers at the end of March, 2011. The French group entered the Romanian market in 2002 when it bought Mobil Rom (Dialog) from the Greek Investment company Global Finance. Orange announced that it plans to invest over EUR 500 million in Romania by 2015 to develop its operations. The company's revenues fell from an EUR 1.27 billion high in 2008 to EUR 973 million in 2010 due to market conditions.

Retail

Carrefour Romania

Over the past 40 years, the Carrefour group has grown to become one of the world’s leading distribution groups. Carrefour was the first international retailer to open a hypermarket in Romania, ten years ago, and fully benefited from the boom of the economy since 2001 until 2008. In Romania, the French retailer runs 23 hypermarkets and 36 supermarkets under the brand Carrefour Market. Carrefour posted EUR 1.13 billion in sales in Romania last year, down 0.4 percent on the year before. The retailer managed to up its sales by 0.2 percent in the forth quarter of the year, to EUR 327 million.

Auchan Romania

French Auchan entered the local market in 2006 when the first hypermarketwas opened in Titan, Bucharest, with an area of ​​16,000 sqm. Currently, six other hypermarkets Auchan operate in Romania in Pitesti, Targu Mures, Cluj-Napoca, Suceava, Timisoara and Militari, Bucharest. Auchan is planning to open a store in Pallady Shopping Center in Bucharest in 2012.

Bricostore

French group Bricostore is part of the company Bresson, a company that was created more than 150 years ago. The company which operates on the Do It Yourself (DIY) market, came to Romania in 2001, about the same time as Carrefour. This year, Bricostore Romania opened its 15th unit, in Drobeta Turnu Severin, following investments of EUR 8 million.

Mr. Bricolage

Mr. Bricolage is one of the largest DIY stores operator in the world. The French retailer entered the Romanian Market in 2006 and now operates three units. It plans to invest about EUR 220 million to reach 30 units.

Leroy Merlin

Bricolage retailer Leroy Merlin, owned by French group Adeo, will open its first unit in Romania in August this year in the Colosseum shopping center in Bucharest.

More players on the market: Yves Rocher, Decathlon, Louis Vuitton, Pernod Ricard

Financial sector

BRD - Groupe Societe Generale

BRD Groupe Societe Generale is the second largest Romanian bank, by total value of assets, and holds the second largest capitalization on the Bucharest Stock Exchange. Societe Generale bought the controlling stake in BRD from the Romanian state in 1998. At the end of last year, BRD had over EUR 11 billion in assets and a market share of almost 14 percent. The bank operates a network of 937 agencies. BRD Groupe Societe Generale achieved a net profit of EUR 28.8 million in the first quarter of 2011 in Romania, down 38.7 percent compared to the same period last year, according to the bank.

BNP Paribas

BNP Paribas is a European leader in global banking and financial services and one of the strongest banks in the world. Although it is not present directly with a subsidiary on the Romanian market, BNP Paribas operates in different sectors through some of its subsidiaries, such as consumer financing firm Cetelem.  BNP Real Estate is also active on the Romanian market.

Credit Agricole

French group Credit Agricole is also present on the Romanian market, not directly, but through its Greek subsidiary Emporiki Bank. Emporiki is one of the smaller banks in Romania.

Groupama

French insurance company Groupama came to Romania in 2007, when it bought BT Asigurari from Banca Transilvania for about EUR 100 million. One year later, Groupama splashed the cash on Asiban for which it paid EUR 350 million, this being a record for the Romanian insurance market. Soon after, the two companies merged to become Groupama Romania, which is the fourth largest insurer on the local market.

Axa

Axa, one of the largest insurers in the world entered the Romanian life insurance market this year. It already invested EUR 10 million and plans to become one of the top players on the market.

Mazars

Based in France but more becoming an international company, Mazars specializes in audit and advisory services for accounting and financial, management, and tax and legal matters. It operates on the Romanian market since 1995.

More players on the market: Coface

Constructions

Lafarge Romania

Cement producer Lafarge is present on the Romanian market since 1997. The French group owns two cement factories, in Brasov and Medgidia, and competes locally with Swiss group Holcim and German group HeidelbergCement. Lafarge’s business in Romania fell by 13.4 percent last year compared to the previous, from EUR 270 million to EUR 233.7 million.

Saint Gobain

French Group Saint Gobain holds 7 companies in Romania which operate in the construction materials industry. The largest business of the group is the glass factory at Calarasi, in which it invested about EUR 170 million. Saint Gobain also has an insulation materials factory in Ploiesti which costed about EUR 35 million to build. The group's sales in Romania were over EUR 165 million in 2009.

More players on the market: Bouygues, Colas

Utilities

GdF Suez Romania

GdF Suez Energy Romania has over 1.3 million customers and a market share of approximately 50 percent on the regulated market. GdF took over Distrigaz Sud from the Romanian state in 2005 for a total of EUR 311 million. The company had sales of EUR 855 million in 2009 and a net profit of almost EUR 90 million.

Veolia

French group Veolia operates the water supply and sewage networks in Bucharest an Ploiesti, through Apa Nova. Veolia Water Solutions & Technologies Romania, which is also a subsidiary of the French Veolia, provides technologies and solutions for wastewater treatment, sludge treatment and storage of groundwater.

Food industry

Danone

French dairy producer Danone entered the Romanian market in 1996. Danone makes about 95 percent of products sold in Romania in its factory in Bucharest and has about 740 employees. The company reported sales of over EUR 110 million in 2010.

Lactalis

Lactalis is also an important player on the dairy market. The French group bought local producer La Dorna from Jean Valvis in 2008 for more than EUR 70 million. Lactalis also negotiated to buy Albalact, early last year, but the deal didn't go through.

Expur

Expur Urziceni is one of the largest Romanian oil seed processing companies. The company was bought in 2010 by French group Sofiproteol for EUR 80 million. Expur processes sunflower seeds and rapeseeds producing crude oil, refined oil, and protein meals.

Pharmaceuticals

Sanofi Aventis Romania

French group Sanofi-Aventis, the fourth drugs producer in the world, is the majority shareholder of Zentiva Romania, following the acquisition of Czech group Zentiva in the first quarter of 2009. In Romania, the companies remained separate, Sanofi-Aventis Romania SRL and Zentiva SA, as part of Sanofi-Aventis group. The drugs manufacturer reported a turnover of around EUR 206 million in 2010.

Other players: Cegedim, Servier

Industry & other segments

EADS Eurocopter and Premium Aerotec

Giant EADS has two companies in Romania. Eurocopter, with 129 employees and a turnover of EUR 29 million in 2010, repairs and overhauls Eurocopter old range products, maintains  the Romanian governmental fleet, does marketing and distribution of EC products, as well as spare parts deliveries.  Premium Aerotec has recently opened a factory in Ghimbav, Brasov, where it produces parts for Airbus planes. The group invested EUR 40 million in the new factory and plans to reach a staff of 500 there.

Air France

Air France is one of the Europe's largest airline companies. Air France is based in Paris, France, and is a subsidiary of Air France-KLM Group. It operates worldwide scheduled passenger and cargo services to 183 destinations in 98 countries, 1500 daily flights with 396 aircrafts. Air France Romania is based in Bucharest and operates 5 daily flights to Paris.

AGS Bucharest

Established in 1994, AGS Bucharest has over 15 years experience and is a fully-owned subsidiary of the AGS Group. The moving company AGS Bucharest specialises in both domestic and international removals, to and from Romania.

More French companies in Romania:  L'Oreal - cosmetics, Accor- hospitality, Alstom - industry, Gefco- logistics, Ipso Agricultura (monnoyeur)- equipments,  Romcarton, Ambro (Rossmann)- packaging, Cheque Dejeuner- vouchers, Sodexo - vouchers, Edenred - vouchers, Total Lubricants- auto industry, Ubisoft- software, gaming

Irina Popescu and Corina Saceanu contributed with reporting for this article. To get in touch, e-mail editor@romania-insider.com.