Anglo Adriatic Investment Fund
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The Anglo Adriatic Investment Fund SA was an investment fund set up to hold privatisation vouchers issued by the government of post-Communist Albania. It was unsuccessful in its attempts to reinvest them and collapsed.
128 Mount Street, London, W1Y 5HA, United Kingdom[1]
Albania
United Kingdom| Formation | 1996? |
|---|---|
| Type | Investment fund |
| Headquarters | Hotel Rogner Europa Park, Blvd. Deshmoret e Kombit, Tirana, Albania.[1][2] 128 Mount Street, London, W1Y 5HA, United Kingdom[1] |
| Location(s) | Albania United Kingdom |
Official language | English, Albanian |
Founder | Declan Ganley[3][4] |
Key people | Liam Lawlor,[5] (consultant[6]) Kosta Trebicka,[7] Dan De Marino,[4] Gary Hunter[6] |
| Website | n/a |
Structure
The Anglo Adriatic Investment Fund SA[2] (AAIF) was established by Irish entrepreneur Declan Ganley.[8] AAIF was the first[8] foreign-managed investment fund in Albania, provisionally licensed on 13 April 1996[8] and definitively licensed on 22 May 1996.[9] AAIF collected privatisation vouchers[4][8] that the government of post-communist Albania was giving to Albanians, and it used the nominal value of those vouchers for investment in areas such as fertilizer,[8] breweries,[10] cement[10] and pharmaceuticals.[10] The Albanians who deposited their vouchers with AAIF received shares in the fund in return.[4]
Early success
At one point the fund had 450,000 shareholders and vouchers with a nominal value of more than $120 million.[4]
Collapse
But AAIF had collected too many vouchers: it had 12%[9] of all the vouchers and privatisation leks combined, more than the 10% maximum[9] prescribed by law.[nb 1] Following a lengthy period of negotiation and accusation between AAIF and the Albanian government,[9] AAIF was left unable to continue with the privatisation.[9] Even worse, the market value of the vouchers had dropped during the collapse of the Albanian economy from 25.6%[9] of their nominal value in January 1996[9] to 1.7%[9] in October 1998.[9] AAIF was bankrupt.[9]
Funding
AAIF was officially funded by Ganley International,[3][8] with a 10%[8] stake taken by the US-based Rothschild Emerging Markets Fund.[8] Der Spiegel stated[11] that AAIF's UK office (128 Mount Street, London, W1Y 5HA[1]) shared an address with the European branch of US investment fund Paladin Capital, and also stated[11] that Paladin Capital's advisory board was chaired by former CIA director James Woolsey. Ganley denies any involvement with the CIA.[12]
See also
Notes
- Law No. 7979, entitled "On Investment Funds", dated 26.07.95, see Archived 14 May 2014 at the Wayback Machine for source