Academia Catavencu title up for auction again

The future of the Academia Catavencu title, one of the most long-standing and distinctive mass media voices in Romania, is still hanging in the balance, after editorial manager Doru Buscu, who won the recent auction for the paper’s ownership, announced he did not manage to raise the required EUR 1.6 million to pay for it.

At the end of May, a public auction was held to decide the fate of the brand after Catavencu SA went bankrupt. From a starting price of almost EUR 150,000, not including VAT, bids sky-rocketed to over EUR 1.3 million without VAT, in excess of EUR 1.6 million in total.

“The high price is the result of competition during the bidding,” said Petrisor Obae, editor of paginademedia.ro. The two bidders who raised the stakes during the auction were Doru Buscu, co-founder of the satirical publication, and Dan Grigore Adamescu, the businessman who owns Romania Libera and wanted to add the brand to his portfolio of titles.

“The large sum was of no use to anybody because the money was not paid and the bidding will re-start next week,” said Obae.

According to Obae, journalist Sabina Fati joined in the bidding for the simple reason that she met the bidder’s profile as defined in the task book, which stipulated experience in the written national press.

However, “this was done to keep up appearances because the real bidder for Adamescu was a lawyer. We shall see in the next auction how far they are willing to go with the price,” he added.

The new auction will take place on June 14, and Buscu has announced that he will take part again, even though he lost the EUR 45,000 that he had paid as warranty in the first auction.

“Since the winner, Doru Buscu, did not manage to raise the money but will participate again in the next auction, we can deduce that expectations are that the price will be lower,” said Obae.

Contacted by Business Review, Buscu did not comment on this issue prior to press time.

However, the editorial manager previously said that his involvement in the auction was done “in self defense” as he wanted to ensure the brand remained independent.

“The Academia Catavencu brand is still very strong and can still generate revenues given an efficient management,” said Obae.

When asked about what goes into the value of a press title in Romania, Obae said: “The power of a brand comes from many factors, including credibility, trust, position and capacity to succeed on the market and to ‘remain imprinted’ in the mind of the readership. These are things that can also continue with another owner and another firm,” he said.

He added “It is hard to imagine Academia Catavencu without the Academia Catavencu team, but even if the brand passes to Adamescu, it can go forward. Better or worse, more or less successfully,” he concluded.

Otilia Haraga