Govt seeking foreign investors for state-owned financial institution

TIRANA, May 14 – The Finance Ministry has announced it is seeking a strategic foreign investor for the First Albanian Financial Development Company (FAF-DC), a state-owned non-banking financial institution, founded recently as the successor of the Mountain Areas Finance Fund (MAFF).
The Finance Ministry invites the participation of strategic investors to support the strengthening of FAF-DC, institutionally as well as in terms of developing supplementary financial products and to contribute a minimum of 5 million euros in share capital in order to expand its business activities, with the possible future option of partially or totally buying the 100 percent state-owned shares.
Data show the company had a net profit of 276,000 dollars last year.
FAF-DC had a total of 4,881 borrowers and a loan portfolio of 16 million dollars at the end of 2009. The company has 67 branches in Albanian rural and mountain areas.
Interested investors are invited to express their interest until July 12.
The predecessor of FAF-DC, the Mountain Areas Finance Fund (MAFF), was
established in 1999 as a government owned foundation, with the status as a non-banking
financial institution, within the framework of the IFAD loan financing the Mountain
Areas Development Programme (MADP).
The original mission of MAFF was to contribute to the economic growth of the generally poorer mountain areas of Albania by providing access to appropriate and sustainable financing of micro, small and medium enterprise (MSME) customers’ with investment needs and business objectives.
Since its establishment, MAFF has successfully responded to its mandate and developed into a stable and sustainable financial institution with a loan portfolio of good quality, and with a strong position among private clients and SMEs in rural and mountain areas of Albania.