The Anglo Adriatic Investment Fund SA was an investment fund set up to hold privatisation vouchers issued by the government of post-Communist Albania. It was unsuccessful in its attempts to reinvest them and collapsed.
| Anglo Adriatic Investment Fund SA | |
| Formation: | 1996? |
| Type: | Investment fund |
| Headquarters: | Hotel Rogner Europa Park, Blvd. Deshmoret e Kombit, Tirana, Albania. 128 Mount Street, London, W1Y 5HA, United Kingdom |
| Location: | |
| Language: | English, Albanian |
| Leader Title: | Founder |
| Leader Name: | Declan Ganley |
| Key People: | Liam Lawlor,[1] (consultant) Kosta Trebicka,[2] Dan De Marino, Gary Hunter[3] |
| Website: | n/a |
The Anglo Adriatic Investment Fund SA[4] (AAIF) was established by Irish entrepreneur Declan Ganley. AAIF was the first foreign-managed investment fund in Albania, provisionally licensed on 13 April 1996[5] and definitively licensed on 22 May 1996.[6] AAIF collected privatisation vouchers[7] [5] that the government of post-communist Albania was giving to Albanians, and it used the nominal value of those vouchers for investment in areas such as fertilizer,[5] breweries,[8] cement[8] and pharmaceuticals.[8] The Albanians who deposited their vouchers with AAIF received shares in the fund in return.[7]
At one point the fund had 450,000 shareholders and vouchers with a nominal value of more than $120 million.[7]
But AAIF had collected too many vouchers: it had 12%[6] of all the vouchers and privatisation leks combined, more than the 10% maximum[6] prescribed by law.[9] Following a lengthy period of negotiation and accusation between AAIF and the Albanian government,[6] AAIF was left unable to continue with the privatisation.[6] Even worse, the market value of the vouchers had dropped during the collapse of the Albanian economy from 25.6%[6] of their nominal value in January 1996[6] to 1.7%[6] in October 1998.[6] AAIF was bankrupt.[6]
AAIF was officially funded by Ganley International,[10] [5] with a 10%[5] stake taken by the US-based Rothschild Emerging Markets Fund.[5] Der Spiegel stated[11] that AAIF's UK office (128 Mount Street, London, W1Y 5HA[12]) shared an address with the European branch of US investment fund Paladin Capital, and also stated[11] that Paladin Capital's advisory board was chaired by former CIA director James Woolsey. Ganley denies any involvement with the CIA.[13]