ABA requests transfer of ownership to Sanpaolo

TIRANA, May. 28- American Bank of Albania (ABA) presented to the Central Bank of Albania (BoA) a formal request for 80 percent of its shares to be transferred from the American Albanian Enterprise Fund to the Intesa Sanpaolo S.p.A, Italy. In an extraordinary session, the assembly of AB approved the sale of these shares in December 2006, giving ownership of 80 percent of the bank to the Italian financial group.
The initial agreement was done with Sanpaolo Imi bank, which was merged with Banka Intesa, creating Intesa Sanpaolo S.p.A.Itali. This merger, one of the largest in Europe, began in August 2006 and was finalized in December of the same year. The company, Intesa Sanpaolo S.p.A., if approved by BoA, will receive 80 percent of the capital in ABA leaving 20 percent to the AAEF.