TIRANA, August 7 – Wealth-X, the world’s leading ultra high net worth (UHNW) intelligence provider, has announced it has uncovered Albania’s first billionaire. He is Samir Mane, president and CEO of Balfin Group, who introduced the first shopping mall and logistics park to the southeastern European nation. His fortune is estimated to be US$1.2 billion.
“This revelation demonstrates Wealth-X’s unrivalled global research capabilities,” Wealth-X CEO Mykolas D. Rambus said. “Little is known about the ultra wealthy in emerging economies such as Albania. With relative peace comes prosperity and we expect to uncover more UHNWs in Albania and its neighbouring countries.”
Mane’s Balfin Group is Albania’s largest privately owned company, focusing on real estate, property management services, investment and electronics and fashion retail. Neptun, his Vienna-based consumer electronics business, has more than 20 outlets in Albania, Bosnia-Hercegovina, Kosovo, Macedonia and Serbia.
The self-made billionaire left Albania for Austria in 1991 when Communism fell and was housed in the Traiskirchern refugee camp, 20 km from Vienna, before he was transferred to Altenmarkt. He briefly worked as a translator before starting Albatrade in 1993, an electronic appliances trading company selling televisions and video recorders through a chain of stores in the Albanian capital Tirana. Mane, as president and CEO of Balfin Group, opened Qendra Tregtare Univers, the first and most successful shopping centre in Albania. In 2011, the Group invested 48 million euros (US$66.72 million in 2011 rates) to build Tirana East Gate, which has become the country’s biggest shopping centre at 90,000 square metres. His Group has recently also acquired the Bulqiza mine, the country’s biggest chromium mine.
55 Albanians possess USD 7 bln, report shows
Albania has 55 individuals with a wealth of at least 30 million USD each, according to findings of a World Ultra Wealth Report, ranking the country 37th among a list of 45 European countries. Their total wealth is estimated at 7 billion USD.
What’s particular about Albania is that while the number of millionaires dropped by 0.4 percent, their total wealth rose by 4.1 percent. Slovakia, Cyprus, Bulgaria, Estonia, Macedonia, Montenegro, all rank worse than Albania in terms of the number of millionaires and their wealth.
The World Ultra Wealth Report, published by Wealth-X focuses solely on persons with a net worth of US $30 million and above (after accounting for shares in public and private companies, residential and investment properties, art collections, planes, cash and other assets), providing unique data, insights and trends related to this highly sought-after community.
