The Australian investor Steve Cosser and his Dutch associate Everhard Vissers have made an offer for Arvakur, the company behind Iceland’s biggest paid-for newspaper, Morgunbladid. They have also shown interest in making an offer for the still-incomplete Icelandic National Concert and Conference Centre, Frettabladid reports.
“They showed great interest,” said Stefan Hermansson, CEO of Austurhafnar-TR, a company heavily involved in the concert and conference centre project.
Hermansson and many other Frettabladid sources confirmed to the paper that a lot of foreign investors have held meetings with representatives of Icelandic banks and other businesses about the possibility of becoming major shareholders. Investors are seeing opportunities to make cheap acquisitions in Iceland due to the collapse of the banks last October.
Nothing has yet been confirmed about the Arvakur deal; but it is known that no formal offer has yet been made regarding the concert hall. The businessmen are understood to be interested in committing to investing in the companies for five to ten years at the least.
The debts of Arvakur are in the region of ISK 4.2 billion (USD 34,305,000) – but Frettabladid sources believe that Glitnir Bank may be ready to write off portions of the debt to encourage more investment in Arvakur.
Thor Sigfusson, chairman of Arvakur told Frettabladid that the process will go ahead in the open, not behind closed doors.
AND HERE THEY COME, I TOLD YOU, NOW ICELAND IS GOING TO BE ON THE HANDS OF FOREIGNERS. AND I MEAN EVERYTHING, TELEVISION, NEWSPAPERS, NATURAL RESOURCESS… YOU NAME IT, EVERYTHING.. ICELANDERS WILL HAVE TO WORK FOR FOREIGN PEOPLE IN THEIR OWN COUNTRY… GOOD LUCK
“Glitnir is ready to write off portions of the debt?”
Let me think. Hmm… Yeah right…
In response to Gus,
Maybe icelanders should have foreigners running their country and businesses for them. They obviously can’t do it on there own. Greed and personal gain is all that people can think of. Take the announcement today that Einar Gudfinnson, the Icelandic Fisheries Minister, has increased whaling quotas to huge numbers, even when there is no demand for whalemeat and that the fin whale is an endagered species. The only reason for this is pure spite. His government party is on the way out and they want to cause as much hassle as possible to the new, anti-whaling government. Everyone hear knows that there is much more money and jobs available in the tourist industry than in whaling. This is the result of yet more selfish, arrogant people that don’t care what the rest of the world may think as long as they have money to line their pockets with. Zimbabwe anyone?!
Foreign investors is what Iceland needs right now. Not handouts like beggars.
Got loans to pay back until assets of banks can be sold.
And as I say before Krona makes assets reasonable in price as it is close to the purchasing power parity not overvalued as before, so people around world will come in and buy them.
Distressed assets recover and then are worth more later. People that buy them when distressed that have fundemental value they make profit. And people get money now.
>His government party is on the way out and they want to cause as much hassle as possible to the new, anti-whaling government.
Who says it’s all about spite? No doubt passed anyway.
>Everyone hear knows that there is much more money and jobs available in the tourist industry than in whaling
You talk for everyone now do you? You not being a little bit presuming?
Tourists come for other things than whales although whale watching fine business, and this hunting does not reduce stocks so no whales left. Might save some cod too, although science is out on impact of all those these types of whales out there on fish stocks. But they do eat fish, – everyone – do know that that went to school.
But Social Democrat party should have stayed course until elections. But good neews as mention before is that Iceland people now find out what Steingrímur and friends ideas actually are. Good fun that will be.
>Zimbabwe anyone?!
Brad you not want to live in Zim, Iceland much better. Suggest not moving to Zim.
The debts of Arvakur are in the region of ISK 4.2 billion, Mbl has been loosing alot of money for a long time, 500 m isk a year, why would anyone want to buy it ?
if the debts are written off Icelandic taxpayers will have to pay, looks like its just another scam
Steve Cosser and Björgolfur Thor both live in London, both in the Telecom busyness,
would not suprise me if there was a connection.
Brad, i aggree, Einar Gudfinnson, the former
Icelandic Fisheries Minister did this in his last day in office only to cause problems for the new government, i can promise you that you will not see the left green party hunting any whales,
they are extreem enviromentalists, against everything that could possibly harm the nature,
they want to harvest the nature without spoiling it so it can be enjoyed by future generations,
not ruined by greed and ignorance of a few busynessmen, you have now seen what did to the economy, imagine what they can do to the nature.
thats why i worry about the EU, if they get control of our natural resources all the fish will quicly wanish, thats not going to help the whales much, people who live their lives behind a desk in Brussels can not understand why the ballance of nature is important,
EU is a big machine, alot harder to deal with than Iceland.
Gus, we are interested in investing in Iceland because we have taken the long term view that because of demographics, mentality, excellent education and infrastucture, Iceland is well positioned to weather the present storm and get back to business. The one single impetus to this recovery process is substantial Direct Foreign Investment as opposed to borrowing, which will only deepen the crisis and depress the currency. As for your apprehension about Icelanders working for foreign owned companies, my question is simply Would you rather not work at all?
The reason that whaling will hurt tourism has nothing to do with not being able to go whale watching. It will harm tourism because many tourists will simply not come to Iceland because they will not want to support a country that is whaling.
Personally, I see no problem with whaling if it is done under close supervision from non-biased scientific agencies who can monitor the stocks. I am all for conservation of resources, not preservation. Use the resources wisely. A 5 year quota is a bit reckless, even if this falls within current standards for quotas.
However, you must weigh pros and cons when considering this. I do believe there is much more money that can be brought into this country from tourism than from the whaling industry. I base this on education, my studies were focussed on the tourism and travel business. The money waiting to come to Iceland through tourism is quite staggering. Iceland should be pushing green energy, green products, and green tourism. Right now Iceland’s nature is very clean and well preserved both on land and at sea. If it is kept that way people will come here just to see the beauty of the Icelandic landscape.
As long as people here have jobs and the country’s economy can grow, I am sure most Icelanders would have no problem passing on the whaling business. If these jobs can be created by foreign investors, well, maybe that has to happen right now. The government just needs to set up protocol to ensure that Iceland does not get “bought up” by foreign investors. These may already be in place, this I do not know.
let them come the foreigners!!!Some good and honest business man in this country and in several years Iceland is in the TOP of the richests countries again
Is that really Everhard Vissers? That’s too funny!
Lots of people here know that you have some secret scheme in mind — they don’t know exactly what is, but they don’t trust you. You are a front man for somebody, that much is clear. You should read the comments in the Icelandic-language blogs. Why don’t you get an Icelander to translate them for you?
I have dealt with mining companies and investors in Western Australia and South Africa before. I know what the game is. The business is full of “bottom feeders”.
Let’s see if the Icelanders are stupid – or desperate – enough to fall for your tricks. Good luck!
>he government just needs to set up protocol to ensure that Iceland does not get “bought up” by foreign investors. These may already be in place, this I do not know.
At present some restrictions are there on fisheries and some on house ownership. And protectionism of farmers.
But this thread is about Arvakur and Icelandic National Concert and Conference Centre.
>Thor Sigfusson, chairman of Arvakur told Frettabladid that the process will go ahead in the open, not behind closed doors.
Do you not think the above post does not show that this is the kind of people that we should welcome?
Welcome Mr Vissers.
(For us Alex of IceNews can you please confirm that this looksby email address to be real post by Mr Vissers. No offense intended.)
Vilhjalm Antonsen
Let’s see if the Icelanders are stupid – or desperate – enough to fall for your tricks. Good luck!
Agree, with everything but the last two words
Fisy
Welcome Mr Vissers
LOL
(For us Alex of IceNews can you please confirm that this looksby email address to be real post by Mr Vissers. No offense intended.)
BWAHAHAHAH priceless..
I was talking to Donald Trump on a differrent forum earlier today and he told me to be aware of those S-African mining Hyenas,
It will not surprise anyone here if the billions who Wisser and his Australian friend want to invest come from the Icelandic banking sector,
if that is the case they may both end up in a government building called litla hraun nitting sweaters for the elderly Brits ;)
Everhard Vissers the big time invester (WE are he says)
Now this is just another news to pump up the spirit of people like fishy-fisy(which are many many by the way, just walk arrownd any coffee shop and chat) and make them feel that something good is happening, and make them think: “you see foringers know Iceland is a RICH POWERFULL nation and want to invest here”
@ Axel:
We cannot, of course, disclose Mr. Vissers’s email address; but I can tell you that it is from a publicly accessible Swiss webmail server.
It is, therefore, not possible to verify if he is who he says he is; but there is also no reason to suppose he is lying.
Regards
Alex, IceNews
GUS said: “ICELANDERS WILL HAVE TO WORK FOR FOREIGN PEOPLE IN THEIR OWN COUNTRY”
We are all leaving on the same planet and belonging to the same specie, isn’t?
One can’t at the same time claim for a very high education and open mind and claim that foreigners are evils.
ICELAND TODAY IS LIKE ARGENTINA YEARS AGO, ECONOMIC RUIN, BANKRUPTCY, LOANS FOR IMF, AND NOW THE WORST, FOREIGN PEOPLE BUYING EVERYTHING WHAT IS LEFT IN THE COUNTRY AT A LAUGHING PRICE!!!
ICELAND AT THE TOP OF RICHEST NATIONS AGAIN?? HOW? NOW ONE IS GOING TO BELIEVE ICELANDER BANKERS ANYMORE FOR MANY DECADES TO COME. AND WITH ALL THE BENEFITS GOING TO FOREIGN HANDS ABROAD, ICELANDERS WILL BE LUCKY TO HAVE A LOW-PAID JOB.
THIS IS NOT GOING TO MAKE THE COUNTRY RICH, THIS IS GOING TO STABLISH A SYSTEM OF EXPLOTATION AND MOST OF THE ECONOMIC BENEFITS WILL GO OFF-SHORE AGAIN AND AGAIN.
THIS IS ARGENTINA ONCE MORE, AND I HOPE IT WONT BECOME A REAL ZIMBAWE…
I FEEL SO SORRY FOR THIS POOR AND RUINED COUNTRY. THE AVERAGE SALARY OF A TEACHER HERE IS 800-900, LESS THAN THE HALF A TEACHER EARNS IN SPAIN, PORTUGAL, ITALY OR GREECE!!! WHAT DOES THIS MEAN???
IT MEANS THAT ICELAND HAS A LOWER ECONOMIC LEVEL THAN MEDITERRANEAN COUNTRIES, ICELAND IS NOW AT SIMILAR LEVELS THAN POLAND, RUMANIA OR BULGARIA… COUNTRIES WHERE YOU EARN THE HALF OF WHAT YOU EARN IN WESTERN EU COUNTRIES.
IF THE EURO GETS TO 180 AGAIN, REALLY… I THINK THIS WILL BE ONE OF THE POOREST COUNTRIES IN THE WORLD…
@Fisy
+++++++++
Welcome Mr Vissers.
+++++++++
I find it quite strange that somebody who goes to great length in order to find faults with the EU (perhaps correctly so, the EU is far from perfect) gladly hands over the icelandic economy to a bussinessman who can at best be described as ‘shady’.
It is really well possible that mr. Vissers is posing as a figurehead for other (icelandic) investors who want to turn their black money into legal icelandic assets, who knows.
The fact that Arvakur has been running at a loss is probably not the point: this one is about control of the press, something which is obviously worth the money. Once you control the press and those in power you can run the show and get away with everything. That was what the outbound vikings were all about.
@Jean-Pierre
As far as I know him Gus does not mean to be offensive about foreigners, he wants to be provocative towards icelanders, implying that they do not like to have a foreigner as a boss in their own country.
>Lots of people here know that you have some secret scheme in mind — they don’t know exactly what is, but they don’t trust you.
Vilhjalm, don’t you think that you sound a bit silly given this announcement:
>Thor Sigfusson, chairman of Arvakur told Frettabladid that the process will go ahead in the open, not behind closed doors.
Commercial confidentality is necessary in business dealings, but given the accusations flying around about “corruption” (which actually is meant is nepotism) then no wonder there is sensitive to this issue among investors.
>The fact that Arvakur has been running at a loss is probably not the point: this one is about control of the press, something which is obviously worth the money. Once you control the press
Ironic no, that a certain Davið Oddsson if remember was the one calling for ownership restrictions on press and it was Ólafur Ragnar who block it but now with all talk of media under “oligarch” control this is forgoten.
How world turns. And how memory is short.
Just so know Gus, I have never voted for Sjálfstæðisflokkurinn but would not be ashamed if did. New parties here and coming however.
>I find it quite strange that somebody who goes to great length in order to find faults with the EU (perhaps correctly so, the EU is far from perfect) gladly hands over the icelandic economy to a bussinessman who can at best be described as ’shady’.
Who says is “shady”? And what meant by just vague? Handing over company and half built hall and conference center harldy iceland economy as whole is it?
There is plenty about documented EU corruption, but you have to fill in specific about men mentioned in story if not just innuendo and defamation.
Vilhjalm, why not post more about what this “lots of people” know given new open envintonment of dealings.
Alex, its possible that this post above is really from Vissers, but in my mind its very unlikely,
why would a busyness shark like him care what Gus thinks, or anyone else for that matter,
This man is here to do a job, for himself, others or both, not to make friends,
people in his line of work usually buy friends.
One of the bussiness activities of my compatriot Mr Vissers is a swiss watch-making company so theoretically it is possibly him if the mail was sent from a swiss email server.
@Fisy:
a famous saying which very much applies to Iceland goes as follows:
You can fool all people some of the time
You can fool some people all of the time
But you cannot fool all people all of the time
You clearly belong to the second category don’t you?
There seems to be some psychological need in your head to have somebody ABOVE you, crapping on you, cheating you: Haarde has gone, Oddson will follow soon and now it is Mr. Vissers filling the gap.
Plenty of documented corruption in the EU, you’re right, it is DOCUMENTED, you know what you will get.
Please try to find out more of the other bussiness activities of Mr. Vissers…some activities in african mining companies, selling swiss watches…now buying up stuff in a virtually bankrupt country….shady. I would like to have an answer to the question (rightfully raised by Axel) is there somebody behind him?
Please have a look at the postings of Vilhjalm Antonsen and Axel, they ask the right questions.
@Fisy, you wrote
+++++++++++++++++++
>The fact that Arvakur has been running at a loss is probably not the point: this one is about control of the press, something which is obviously worth the money. Once you control the press
Ironic no, that a certain Davið Oddsson if remember was the one calling for ownership restrictions on press and it was Ólafur Ragnar who block it but now with all talk of media under “oligarch” control this is forgoten.
How world turns. And how memory is short.
++++++++++++++++++++
Now you are trying to give the impression that the great Oddson fought for the independence of the press. AFAIK he was in a feud with Baugur and got pissed that they used the press institutions which they owned in order to attack him.
Oddson did not come up with this law because he is such a friend of the independent press, he just wanted to stop his opponent Baugur.
The fact that your silly president vetoed this law (which in itself made a lot of sense) shows that he is just a corrupt guy, controlled by baugur (his daughter works there, they financed his campaign) even getting away with this….and you are pointing your finger at corrupt italians and the EU, some impertinence.
There is a jewish word for this: GOTSPE!!
source from wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dav%C3%AD%C3%B0_Oddsson
@Niels
You said
You can fool all people some of the time
You can fool some people all of the time
But you cannot fool all people all of the time
I believe the great Robert Nesta Marley(Bob Marley)
Used the above saying in the song “Get Up Stand UP.”
http://www.bob-marley-lyrics.com/Get-Up-Stand-Up.html
Sorry i know this is off topic a bit but I am a big Marley fan, I believe along with Lennon and Dylan he as given the world some of the greatest songs. I just wondered if you was a Marley fan yourself?
Hi Fishy,
Bob M was a great artist but I must say I am not so much into reggea. I mostly like indie rock.
Recently I ‘discovered’ Sigur Ros. I think they’re great.
>Please try to find out more of the other bussiness activities of Mr. Vissers…some activities in african mining companies, selling swiss watches…now buying up stuff in a virtually bankrupt country….shady
I asking you for that as you is one calling him shady. You assert shadyness. I asking you for information:
Niels:
>..to a bussinessman who can at best be described as ’shady’.
>Now you are trying to give the impression that the great Oddson fought for the independence of the press.
>Oddson did not come up with this law because he is such a friend of the independent press, he just wanted to stop his opponent Baugur.
You free to characterize what I say and reason why you think he did it the bill, but perhaps more independent thinking than just in blogs if media not controlled as alleged with less concentrated ownership.
I remind merely what is convenient forgotten by posters on this issue of media spotlight who blame Davið for all.
Personalley me I say that jouirnalists in general poor quality and not look deep enough these day — investigative journalists no good in newspapers.
Bloggers far better.
@Fisy
I take your posts usually very seriously but sorry, your reply above does not make much sense.
You asked me about my opinion on mr Visser and I replied to that. I invite you to use google and you will find exactly the same.
Now let us go to your idol Oddsson:
As with the ‘interpretation ‘ of Oddsons motives for bringing up the bill on limitations of ownership by the press: my source is the english wiki page on Oddsson. I was merely repeating what was written there.
I do believe there were some occassions where Oddsson was not too happy with independent press coverage of his own activity wasn’t it?
++++++++++++++++
I remind merely what is convenient forgotten by posters on this issue of media spotlight who blame Davið for all.
+++++++++++++++
It is curious that your great Oddsson is also blamed for everything by your favourite economist Portes:
http://us.ft.com/ftgateway/superpage.ft?news_id=fto101220081359495738
+++++++++++++++++++++
Personalley me I say that jouirnalists in general poor quality and not look deep enough these day — investigative journalists no good in newspapers.
+++++++++++++++++++++
So when opinions in the press are different to yours it is ‘poor quality’ ??
Stop living in denial.
Perhaps you are used to a ‘controlled press’ which only writes down what they are told to by their owners, like it exsted in Iceland but in the real world outside it is different.
Have you ever been abroad?
To all my creatures:
With this letter I just want to tell you that you make me laugh, I do what I want and when I want and nobady tell me what to do. This country is mine, mine and forever will be mine, you can protest as much as you want and belive that you can change something, but this conrty still be mine, do you really think that somebody in this contry is above me and can actually tell me what to do? ha,ha,ha. I’m not going, will never go any were, I’m your king you are my servants, the sooner you accept it the happier you’ll be, I own this contry I build it my self with my bare ugly hair, if it wasn’t for me you’ll be ridding horses, and living in mudd houses, you owe me everything have you forgoten i gave you your pride and joy: PERLAN, I should be your god, just like few years ago, remember you belonge to me. I go if I want and when I want. And if I go I take My contry with me. you have to remember that this contry is MINE.
Atte. D.O.
Please read the article on Icelands economic crisis.
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=13055