Chinese investor converts Romanian bankrupt shopping mall into factory

Liting Universal Group, a Shanghai-based lighting manufacturer with USD 80 million turnover and an important supplier for IKEA, entered Romania by opening a lighting factory in the premises of the former Armonia Shopping Center in the eastern city of Brăila - the first shopping mall project went bankrupt on the local market.

The shopping mall was shut down in 2009 just nine months after its opening after the operator controlled by a British investor went bankrupt due to weak sales.

The initial investment in this project, carried by Liting’s subsidiary Glorious Lighting, is EUR 17 million, to be supplemented by another EUR 15 million over the next five years, Profit.ro reported. The factory will employ 200 people in the first phase and will reach 800 employees in 5 years. Once the plant is operational, Brăila will become the group’s European Production Center and its hub for operations in other regions of Europe.

In 2017, the Liting Universal Group received a EUR 1.3 million grant from the Romanian state. The local authorities in Braila initiated the procedures for turning the region where the former shopping mall is located into an industrial park (which implies a range of tax incentives including local taxes waiver), they rehabilitated the nearby streets, and prepared to provide public transportations and utilities at the location.

(Photo source: Facebook/Ministerul pentru Mediul de Afaceri, Comert si Antreprenoriat)