The couple Bogi Por Siguroddsson and Linda Bjork Olafsdottir seem to be the largest private investors in the bank with a 0.2% share through the companies Boksal ehf and AKSO ehf, which manages the operations of Fagkaup.
This is stated in a news article in Vidskiptabladid, which has acquired a new list of shareholders. The market value of the share amounts to close to ISK 400 million.
According to the said list, Al Mehwar Commercial Investments LLC owns 18 million shares or 0.9% of Islandsbanki’s share capital. “The market value of the share is just over ISK 1.8 billion based on Islandsbanki’s current share price. The company was not on the list of Islandsbanki’s largest shareholders following the offering, which was published on Wednesday, and it can therefore be assumed that the fund bought most or all of the shares after the offering. ”
Bought and sold a week later at a huge profit
Vidskiptabladid reported yesterday that some large foreign investment funds have already sold most or all of the shares they bought in Islandsbanki a week ago with a substantial return. Pordur Snaer Juliusson, Kjarnan’s editor, has written an article about one of the largest financial transactions in Icelandic history, and it says about the adventurous transfer of funds from the public’s assets to those who are better off. It is a conclusive fact that shares in the bank were sold by the government at a discount at a reasonable price. According to pordur Snaes, a 35 percent share in Islandsbanki, which is almost identical to Arion Bank’s but slightly larger, was sold at a price that is 34 percent below Arion Bank’s market value. No cognitive explanations have been given for this:
“The person who bought for a million ISK could sell that share with a profit of 250 thousand ISK a week later. Based on the number of transactions in the first two days after Islandsbanki’s listing on the market, many of these groups sold immediately. They bought a property from the state, held it for a week, and then took out a 20-25 percent return, “writes pordur Snaer and says that for this arrangement, the Treasury and the State Bank have paid some foreign investment banks, Icelandic banks and financial shops over two billion ISK. commissions.
Investments of the emirate
According to Vidskiptabladid, Al Mehwar appears to be part of one of Abu Dhabi’s Abu Dhabi Investment Council (ADIC) investment funds, while Al Mehwar’s chairman Mohammed Ali Al Shaheri is one of ADIC’s top executives and the companies’ offices are listed in the same building.
ADIC was founded in 2007 by ADIA, the world’s third-largest national fund, to invest “beyond the emirate’s capital” in an internationally distributed portfolio, according to the investment firm’s website. “One of the company’s largest assets is First Abu Dhabi Bank, the largest bank in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), which also owns three other banks in the country. One of ADIC’s most famous investments came in the year when the fund bought 90% of the Chrysler building in New York for 800 million dollars. The fund then sold the building in 2019 for only 150 million dollars, “says Vidskiptabladid.
Other foreign investors that did not appear on the list of Islandsbanki’s twenty largest shareholders following the offering are SEI Institutional with a 0.34% share. Arbiter Partners also has a 0.13% share. According to Vidskiptabladid’s journalists, it is not known whether the investors in question were allotted shares in the share offering or whether they traded as a result.
Bogi por, Linda Bjork, and Reynir Gretarsson extensive
“The couple Bogi por Siguroddsson and Linda Bjork Olafsdottir seem to have become the largest private investors in the bank with a 0.2% share through the companies Boksal ehf and AKSO ehf, which manages the operations of Fagkaup. The market value of the share amounts to close to ISK 400 million, “says Vidskiptabladid in a news release.
Another name that Vidskiptabladid’s journalists came across is Reynir Gretarsson, the founder of Creditinfo. He “owns about 0.05% of Islandsbanki, equivalent to almost one hundred million ISK, through the company InfoCapital ehf Earlier this year, Reynir bought a 0.5% share in Arion Bank for about ISK 1 billion last April. ”
As MegaloPreneur has reported, various people have harshly criticized the sale of the bank, such as Bjorn Levi Gunnarsson, MP for Pirata, and Gunnar Smari Egilsson, leader of the Socialist Party of Iceland.
