TIRANA, Nov. 19- The administration is preparing for the eventual privatization of the national insurance company INSIG. Sources from the Finance Ministry confirm that the process is moving towards completion. The company contracted for consultancy is the internationally recognized BNP Paribas which will evaluate the sale conditions. The evaluation process is expected to last two months and, after that, the sale procedure will begin.
Privatization
The Finance Ministry predicts the company will be sold within the first half of 2008 though no sale price has yet been anounced. The assets of this company are estimated at 1.7 billion leks, composed of 1700 shares registered in court in 2004. The Finance Ministry is the owner of 61 percent of theses shares and the two other shareholders who have an equal 19.5 percent stake are the International Finance Corporation, part of the World Bank and the EBRD.
INSIG
The insurance Institute INSIG was created by Parliament in 1991, which separated it from the Institute of the Savings. INSIG has more than 130,000 clients throughout Albania and also provides insurance coverage in Kosovo and Macedonia as well. It has a market share of 35 percent in life insurance and has a prime volume of 94 million leks for the first three quarters of 2007. In non-life insurances, INSIG has a market share of 17 percent, with 2007 revenue of 518 million leks. From its establishment through 2000, INSIG was a state-owned institution. In 2000 the government decided to convert it into a company in order to sell it.
