ProCredit Bank Albania was founded in 1995 as the “Foundation for Enterprise Finance and Development” (FEFAD) with 100% of its share capital provided by KfW. The institution focused on providing small and very small Albanian businesses with access to finance.
Despite the country’s economic and political turmoil of 1997, FEFAD achieved a strong financial performance and received a banking license in 1999, becoming FEFAD Bank. The founding shareholders of the bank were FEFAD Foundation, ProCredit Holding (then known as IMI), the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and the International Finance Corporation; they were joined by Commerzbank AG in 2002.
In 2003 the institution was renamed “ProCredit Bank”, thus reflecting its affiliation with the ProCredit group.
Shareholder structure as of December 2019:
| Shareholders | Amount of nominal value (ALL) | Head Office | Shares |
|---|---|---|---|
| ProCredit Holding | 4,377,074,983.56 | Frankfurt, Germany | 100% |
| Total | 4,377,074,983.56 | 100% |
Zeitinger Invest GmbH is the leading shareholder and strategic investor in ProCredit Holding. Zeitinger Invest GmbH (and its forerunner IPC) has been the driving entrepreneurial force behind the ProCredit group since the foundation of the banks.
ProCredit Holding is a public-private partnership. In addition to Zeitinger Invest GmbH and ProCredit Staff Invest, the other private shareholders of ProCredit Holding include the Dutch DOEN Foundation, the US pension fund TIAA-CREF, the US Omidyar-Tufts Microfinance Fund, and the Swiss investment fund ResponsAbility. The public shareholders of ProCredit Holding include KfW (the German promotional bank), IFC (the private sector arm of the World Bank), FMO (the Dutch development bank), BIO (the Belgian Investment Company for Developing Countries) and Proparco (the French Investment and Promotions company for Economic Cooperation).
The legal form of ProCredit Holding is a so-called KGaA (Kommanditgesellschaft auf Aktien, or in English a partnership limited by shares). This is a legal form not uncommonly used in Germany which can basically be regarded as a joint stock company in which the role of the management board is assumed by a General Partner, and in which the General Partner has consent rights over certain key shareholder decisions. In the case of ProCredit Holding, the General Partner is a small separate company which is owned by the core shareholders of ProCredit Holding AG & Co. KGaA: Zeitinger Invest GmbH, ProCredit Staff Invest, DOEN, KfW and IFC. The KGaA structure will allow ProCredit Holding to raise capital in the future without unduly diluting the influence of core shareholders in ensuring the group maintains dual goals: development impact and commercial success.
