By way of the merger approved in June, Accor intends to simplify the decision-making process, to facilitate the issuing and managing of coupons, reduce administrative costs, and create a better marketing policy.
"At present, there are three major players on the Romanian market - Accor Services, SodexhoPass, and Cheque Dejeuner - that have the necessary distribution capacity," said Bogdan Hossu, President of Cartel Alfa, one of the shareholders of Accor Ser-vices Romania. He believes international companies operating at the local level will keep trying to buy up smaller companies that operate only locally. The merger of the two players is not the first of its kind on the market. At the end of 2005, SodexhoPass announced the acquisition of BluTicket, a medium-sized company on the Romanian market. Accor Services estimated net sales worth approximately €23 million for 2006, a level similar to that registered in 2005.
Other players are IFS, Pro Serv, Cuget Liber, and GFS Services. The meal coupon market is estimated by main players to be worth €700-800mln., with an annual growth rate of 10 percent for the coming years.
