Low profile investor gets state aid for EUR 80 mln tissue paper plant in western Romania

MG Tec Industry, a local company officially controlled by Vasile Hasmasan, will invest EUR 80 million into a tissue paper plant in Dej, a small city located in north-western Romania, 60 km north of Cluj-Napoca.

The investor, with little experience and resources, received a state grant of EUR 32 million while state-owned lender CEC Bank and Erste’s BCR will lend him the rest of the money for this sizeable investment, Adevarul reported. The construction works will start in the first part of this year and the plant is scheduled to be commissioned in 2023. According to the business plan, it will employ 360 when starting production.

The founder of MG Tec Industry, Vasile Hasmasan, only owns another small company, according to official data. This has sparked speculations that the man behind this new business is Ioan Tecar, who previously developed two tissue paper plants under the brand Pehart Tec to later sell them to the investment fund Abris Capital Partners.

The name of the new company, MG Tec Industry is similar to that of Tecar’s group. However, the company denied that Tecar is involved in any way in this company. A clause in the contract signed with Abris Capital in 2017 apparently doesn’t allow Tecar to start a new business to compete with the one he sold to the Polish investment fund.

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