Romanian Investor will sue the state over insurer bankruptcy, frozen assets

Bankrupt Romanian insurer Astra Asigurari’s majority shareholder, The Nova Group Investments (TNG), which is controlled by Romanian investor Dan Adamescu, plans to open an international lawsuit against the Romanian state, for the company’s forced bankruptcy. “The Romanian state, through the Financial Supervisory Authority – ASF and other entities, has forced Astra’s bankruptcy. The only chance to prove this truth is a legal action at an International Arbitrage Court, for which TNG sent a notification to Romania’s Government at mid-December 2015,” reads a TNG press release signed by Alexandru Adamescu, Dan Adamescu’s son, quoted by Hotnews.ro. TNG estimates that the damages the firm has taken from Astra’s bankruptcy and the seizure of several assets amount to “hundreds of millions of euro”. Astra Asigurari, which used to be the biggest insurance company in Romania, went bankrupt at the request of the financial regulator ASF, in August 2015, due to financial problems. Moreover, the anticorruption prosecutors have been investigating Dan Adamescu for some EUR 180 million damages at Astra Asigurari. They have also frozen Adamescu’s assets, which include majority stakes in Unirea Shopping Center and the Intercontinental hotel, two of Bucharest’s landmark buildings. A Romanian court approved, in April, an arrest warrant on Alexander Adamescu, who is not in the country. According to Alexander Adamescu, the Romanian state is trying to dispossess them of their assets and take over the Romania Libera newspaper, which is also owned by the Adamescu family. editor@romania-insider.com