Austrian IT&C player Kapsch officially enters Romanian market

Austrian company Kapsch has made its official entrance onto the Romanian market. The company offers solutions for data centers, consultancy in infrastructure and IT applications, integrated communication and security solutions, cloud computing, customer relationship management (CRM), content and document management solutions.

The firm plans to invest between EUR 7 million and EUR 10 million locally over the next three years. The company, which dates back 120 years, had revenues of EUR 830 million in the fiscal year to 2011.

Some of these investments will go into the acquisition of local technology and software services companies, according to Dan Roman, general manager of Kapsch Romania. He said that there was already a due diligence process going on for acquiring one such company in Romania.

“I chose Kapsch because it is an extremely entrepreneurial company and because I thought this would be a new beginning,” said Roman. “I hope that over the next three years, the positive market response will translate into a turnover in excess of EUR 15 million.”

In Romania, Kapsch already has nearly 40 employees but, if the acquisition materializes, the number will increase.

Kapsch will approach the local market with a mix of solutions and services, both standard and customized. In Romania, the firm has however been active since 2009 through its Kapsch BusinessCom division, with big clients such as Petrom and Austrian banks. However, the company decided to make an official entrance at this point in order to be able to better assist Austrian clients locally, as well as gain new ones in Romania.

“Kapsch has continuously watched the evolution of the Romanian IT&C market and when we had the opportunity to put our business plans into practice with the help of an experienced management team, we took it. I am sure that shortly, given the quality of the team and the transfer of knowhow from the group, Kapsch Romania will become a strong local player as well as a growth factor for the Kapsch BusinessCom division in Central and Eastern Europe, said Franz Semmernegg, general manager of the Kapsch BusinessCom division.

Kapsch was founded in 1892 and has remained to this day a family business. It now has a footprint in over 30 countries and has three large divisions: Kapsch TrafficCom, Kapsch CarrierCom and Kapsch BusinessCom.

Otilia Haraga