American Bank of Albania renamed to Italy’s Sanpaolo IMI

TIRANA, Sep 3 – The central Bank of Albania announced that the American Bank of Albania changed its name to Italy’s Sanpaolo IMI Group, which has purchased the bank for US$156.9 million.
The Turin, Italy-based Sanpaolo bank acquired an 80 percent stake in American Bank from the Albanian-American Enterprise Fund along with an option to buy the outstanding 20 percent.
The Albanian-American Enterprise Fund, a U.S. corporation, first funded through a US$30 million grant from the U.S. government, was the only shareholder of the bank.
Sanpaolo IMI Group has a leading position in Italy, and after merging with Banca Intesa, total assets would be euro 550 billion (US$691 billion), with over 6,200 domestic branches and agencies and more than 1,000 foreign branches.
Its combined net income in the first six months of 2006 was euro 2,6 billion (US$3.2 billion), the bank statement said, adding that the group was the third-largest bank for market capitalization in the Euro zone and the fourth in lending.
ABA serves more than 67,000 clients, manages US$656 million (euro522 million) in assets, and employs 385 people in offices throughout Albania and Greece.