REPUBLISHED

The documents revealing who is taking control of Zvërnec and Sazan

Erblin Vukaj · Originally published: 8 June 2026

As the “Flamingo Revolution” protests continue, significant moves behind the scenes are revealing more about the actors behind the controversial projects in Zvërnec and Sazan.

New documents published in the National Business Center (QKB) registers show an ongoing process of consolidation, with intermediary companies gradually withdrawing from the ownership structure as the group belonging to brothers Mohamed and Ramez Al-Khayyat appears increasingly directly in control of the assets and projects.

The intermediaries disappear

On 3 June, the QKB system recorded an agreement signed on 7 May in the registry extracts for Zvërnec South Adriatic Development (ZSAD), the company that has applied to develop the resort project in Zvërnec.

According to the documents, the shares in Universal Properties Projects B.V., the registered owner of ZSAD, were transferred to Sazan Development Holding (SDH), a company based in Doha, Qatar, and part of the Al-Khayyat brothers’ group.

The transaction cost 306 thousand euros, a modest sum compared with the 4 billion euros in investment that the government has said is expected in Zvërnec.

Just two days earlier, ZSAD’s capital had increased from 50 thousand to 250 thousand euros through a declaration of funds deposited in a bank.

Viewed in isolation, this might look like a routine business transaction. Set against the other moves of recent months, however, it suggests a broader process of consolidation among the companies and projects.

In November 2025, Albania Land Development (ALD), the company that holds around 120 hectares of land and agreements with people claiming properties in Zvërnec, was acquired by Sazan Operations Holding (SOH) for just 10 thousand euros.

SOH has the same registered office in Doha as SDH and is managed by people connected to the same Al-Khayyat brothers’ business group: Assets Group and Power International Holding.

In practice, this means the same group is gradually taking control both of the company holding the assets and property agreements and of the company that will develop the project.

For more than a year, there was no concrete information about ownership of the Zvërnec project. In recent months, it was presented publicly through a network of companies with unfamiliar names.

The documents listed Dutch Trust Management B.V., Universal Properties Projects and Blue Investment Holding, companies structured and managed with the support of the Dutch consultancy Strik.

Zoya Georgieva Gyurova and Nikita Vinogradov, managing partners at the firm, were listed as administrators, rather than investors, in the chain of companies behind the Zvërnec project.

The Al-Khayyat brothers were later identified as the principal beneficial owners, while the remaining shareholders have not been made public because of statutory reporting thresholds: they hold less than 25% of the shares.

The latest moves suggest this structure is being simplified, as the intermediary figures from Strik withdraw from the scene and the real owners emerge more directly.

The government’s determination not to disclose the full investment structure, however, prolongs this uncertainty.

Possible links to Albanian businesspeople

This story of Zvërnec and Sazan contains other elements that draw attention.

Strik representatives appear in the QKB registers as representatives or beneficial owners of at least 13 other companies operating in Albania in sectors including hospitality, pharmaceuticals, healthcare and energy.

Offshore structures are often used to separate actual control of assets from formal ownership, but their use does not in itself constitute a legal violation.

Nor is there any evidence that other companies that have used Strik’s services, such as Spitali Amerikan, Equos Resort, Farmacom or Adriavolt Ecopower, have any connection to the projects in Sazan and Zvërnec.

Nevertheless, the firm’s increased activity in Albania and its role in the project companies’ structures leave questions about the interests it represents and whether the investment also involves actors who do not appear directly in public documents.

Several documented details have drawn attention, particularly because of their proximity to the Kastrati group.

Beyond the public presence of representatives of this group at meetings with Ivanka Trump during January, at least three companies linked to Strik’s structures have used addresses associated with assets of the Kastrati group.

Dutch Global Maintenance and Dutch Warehouse Services were established in Albania during 2024 and 2025 by Gyurova and Vinogradov with the Dutch “trust”.

According to the registration documents, they operate in fields including duty-free trade, construction consultancy and project management, and have been managed by people with a history of working at Tirana Airport (TIA).

The companies initially had addresses at MAK Albania Hotel and later moved to TIA, two businesses controlled by the Kastrati group.

Similarly, Sazan Operations, which is thought to be directing development operations in Albania, was registered in Tirana on 21 April 2026 by the Al-Khayyat group and has also declared an address at MAK Albania Hotel.

Of course, the mere existence of a shared address does not prove ownership, control or direct involvement in the investment.

In financial analysis, however, shared addresses are often considered indicators of proximity or business relationships between entities.

Various media reports in recent months have raised questions about possible links involving prominent businesspeople and companies in Albania, including Kastrati and the Balfin group.

So far, neither of these groups has confirmed any formal involvement in the Zvërnec and Sazan projects.

Nor is there public evidence identifying them as beneficial owners of these developments.

Nevertheless, the proximity of addresses, corporate moves and business relationships continue to raise questions about a broader network of interests behind the projects, with those interests apparently enjoying government support to remain in the background.

Was Sazan really an unsolicited proposal?

The very names of Sazan Development Holding and Sazan Operations Holding suggest that the Al-Khayyat group also intends to play a role in developing the island project.

Officially, Prime Minister Edi Rama’s government has stated that only one project has been submitted, the one for Sazan, and that it stems from an unsolicited proposal by Affinity Partners, the investment fund led by Jared Kushner.

In December 2024, the project was also granted strategic investor status, and the government said it was negotiating the development arrangements.

It remains unclear whether and how the Sazan project might pass into the ownership of the group from Qatar, a possibility that remains unconfirmed, and how it would benefit from the advantages offered by strategic investor status.

Recent reports indicate that the government is preparing to transfer the island’s assets to the Ministry of Finance, with the Albanian Investment Corporation as their ultimate destination.

Kushner himself has said publicly that his interest in Albania arose after a private meeting with Prime Minister Edi Rama on businessman Matt Rothschild’s yacht during 2021.

According to him, he knew very little about Albania until then, but was impressed by the vision Rama presented.

Rama, on the other hand, has said publicly that the initiative to invest in Sazan and Zvërnec came from Kushner himself.

Of course, none of these statements proves a legal violation. They do, however, raise questions about how the government has designed and applies its strategic investment mechanisms.

Under normal circumstances, projects on this scale should go through open competitive processes, calls for expressions of interest, clear assessment criteria and institutionally transparent decision-making.

But the Sazan project, with a stated value of around 1.5 billion euros, appears to have originated in private contacts between political actors and investors, before being supported by a corporate structure and the instruments offered by the law on strategic investments.

This leaves the impression that the procedures followed the investor, rather than the other way around: the investor following the procedures.

Thus, as the protests continue, the few documents made public show that a new structure of control over the Zvërnec and Sazan projects is being consolidated behind the scenes.

Who actually benefits from it, and how transparent these relationships are, remain questions without a full answer.

* This article was reviewed and corrected on 8 October 2026.