Ioan Niculae
Ioan Niculae | |
|---|---|
| Born | July 19, 1954 Romania |
| Occupation | Entrepreneur |
| Known for | Owner of InterAgro and Astra Giurgiu football club |
Ioan Niculae (born 19 July 1954) is a prominent Romanian entrepreneur, primarily recognized for his ownership of InterAgro and the football club Astra Giurgiu. As of August 2018, his wealth was approximated at $700 million.
Overview
Niculae is the proprietor of InterAgro, Romania’s foremost agricultural and fertilizer enterprise, which reported revenues exceeding €630 million in 2012.
Controlling nearly 50,000 hectares of farmland, he stands as the largest cereal producer in Romania. Additionally, he possesses 170 hectares of vineyards that yielded their inaugural crop in 2008.
Since 2004, InterAgro has invested over €100 million into agricultural development.
In Forbes’ 2013 billionaire rankings, Niculae was placed 1,372nd with an estimated net worth of $1.2 billion, making him the third Romanian included after Dinu Patriciu and Ion Țiriac.
He has owned the Astra Giurgiu football club since 1996.
In 2021, Niculae received a five-year prison sentence related to convictions for tax evasion, money laundering, and influence peddling tied to various corruption investigations.
Biography
Following the Romanian Revolution in 1990, Niculae commenced his business career by launching Interaction, a chemical trading firm established with a Turkish associate.
In 1995, he created InterAgro as a joint venture between Romanian and Chinese partners.
By 1997, Niculae acquired majority control of the Astra Ploiesti oil refinery through a $16 million investment.
He invested $21 million in 1998 to purchase shares in the Romanian insurance company Asirom, which he later sold in 2007 for a profit of $65 million.
Although Niculae encountered disputes connected to his oil and gas enterprises, he has consistently refuted all allegations.
In 2012, Romania’s National Tax Administration accused him of evading taxes exceeding €120 million via Galaxy Tobacco; however, he successfully challenged these accusations in court.
State prosecutors claimed in 2013 that InterAgro benefited from preferential gas pricing granted by politicians between 2006 and 2010.
That same year, Niculae established the Romanian Investors Council.
On April 2, 2015, he was sentenced to two and a half years imprisonment for unlawfully financing the Social Democratic Party’s campaign during the 2009 elections.
Personal life
After 31 years of marriage, Niculae initiated divorce proceedings from Domnita Niculae in 2013; these are still unresolved.
He is a father to three children.