October 10 (SeeNews) - The operator of the airport in Albania's capital Tirana has announced the acquisition of 100% of its shares by Hong Kong-based China Everbright Limited (CEL), an international investment and asset management company.
"The acquisition is a proactive corporate approach to identify good infrastructure investment opportunities, which is in line with China’s ‘One Belt, One Road’ Initiative. It also signs the first move of China Everbright Overseas Infrastructure Fund which is in the process of establishing", Chen Shuang, CEL executive director and CEO, said in a statement posted on the website of Tirana International Airport (TIA) on Friday.
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The price of the deal was not disclosed.
CEL, established in 1997, is the international investment arm of the China Everbright Group, a diversified financial services company. CEL manages 33 private equity funds, holds more than $8.7 billion (7.8 billion euro) in assets under management, according to the statement.
The airport provides services to more than 1.9 million passengers annually. Since 2005, more than 70 million euro have been invested in developing and expanding the airport.
TIA has been the airport's operator since 2005. Its shareholders comprise AviAlliance GmbH (formerly Hochtief AirPort GmbH), German investment corporation DEG, and the Albanian-American Enterprise Fund (AAEF).
($= 0.8954 euro)