CLUJUST Justitie. Stiri. Anchete. Procese. Avocati. Sistemul judiciar. Interviuri. Jurisprudenta. Portal. Cluj.
What ten years ago seemed to be unthinkable now occurred: Horia Ciorcilã, the millionaire founder of the Astral cable, sold at UPC, was associated in a firm with the rival former cable market RCS & RDS of Zoltan Teszari.
CA president of Tansilvania Bank, Horia Ciorcilã, has been associated in September 2013 with RCS&RDS and with the businessman Gheorghe Adrian Tomsa in the West Network Invest SA company based in Cluj-Napoca. The association was sealed in the Official Gazette of January 14, 2014. Most of capital has Ciorcilã with 45%, followed by Tomsa with 30% and the RCS & RDS company with 25%.
Contacted by CLUJUST.ro, Adrian Tomsa, associated in West Network Invest SA, explained for what was created the company. “It was a project that has not been materialized. It is not related to the cable market. It is a real estate project. But see that the prices may have increased lately in real estate, so now the company is in stand by mode. There was nothing concrete, a specific project, but it was about real estate, “said Tomsa. Asked about how they got together Horia Ciorcilã and RCS & RDS, the businessman Adrian Tomsa replied smiling: “you see … interests do change over time”. Adrian Tomsa is shareholder at Agro TV and he was associated with Arpad Paszkany at Look TV. “I”m no longer at Look TV. I sold it, “said Tomsa.
Invest West Network Society, located in “stand-by”mode, has a registered capital of 120.000 lei, while the main activity declared to the Trade Register is “consulting activities for business and management”.
The Astral Telecom business has been developed from scratch by a group of businessmen from Cluj, one of them being Horia Ciorcila, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Transilvania Bank. In 2000, Astral attracted in this business an U.S. Investment Fund, money which he made acquisitions and invested development.
According to information from 2005, Astral company, which beat the RCS for the leading position of the cable market was controlled by Cresianco Limited investment funds -34,35%, Dixon Investments Overseas Limited-25,69%, Bridgecom Holdings Limited-6,16%, Wordfield Limited-7,16% and Dealgate Trading Limited-1,61% and by individuals Ghite Sorin Voicu-3.95%, Pop Baldi Nicolae Dan-3.95 %, Urasi Bela-3.95%, Nicola Olimpiu Valentin-3.95%, Ciorcila Horia-4,29%, Goia Dorel-1.18%, Goia Ioan-2.1 %, Oprea Mariana-1,61% and Meciu Eugen, under 0.1%.
AIG U.S. financial giant owned about a quarter of the Astral business through Dixon Investments Overseas Limited investment fund, and the rest of the shares were owned directly and indirectly by the businessmen group, the most representative being Horia Ciorcilã and Sorin Ghite. In the summer of 2005, the US company UPC bought Astral with an exchange rate then of 420 million dollars (about 350 million euros).
According to Forbes magazine, BT Chairman Horia Ciorcilã had in 2013 a fortune estimated at 80 million euros.
The same Forbes magazine show that in 2013 that owner of RCS & RDS, Zoltan Teszari, has a wealth of 370 million euros.
