Over a hundred former Landsbanki shareholders have so far signed up to take part in a group lawsuit against Bjorgolfur Thor Bjorgolfsson, who used to be the bank’s largest owner. Read the full story

Robert Wessman, long-term colleague and defender of Bjorgolfur Thor Bjorgolfsson, has begun legal proceedings against Bjorgolfsson’s company, Novator. He is claiming ISK 4.5 billion (USD 40.8 million). Read the full story

Robert Wessmann, the former director of Actavis, has hit back at Bjorgolfur Thor Bjorgolfsson, who said on his website that Wessmann was fired from his post and did not resign as had previously been stated. Read the full story

Icelandic businessman Bjorgolfur Thor Bjorgolfsson laid huge emphasis on keeping ownership of his Reykjavik house on Frikirkjuvegur when refinancing ISK 1,200 billion of debt recently. The house was build by his great grandfather a century ago. Read the full story

“I, the undersigned Bjorgolfur Thor Bjorgolfsson, offer my apologies to all Icelanders for my part in the property and debt bubble that led to the collapse of the Icelandic banking system. I apologise to you all for complacency in the face of the red flags that were going up all around. I apologise for having not followed my instincts when I became aware of the risks. I apologies to you all.” Read the full story

Reykjavik District Court today agreed to Bjorgolfur Gudmundsson’s request to be declared bankrupt. Read the full story

The infamous father-son Icelandic businessmen Bjorgolfur Gudmundsson and Bjorgolfur Thor Bjorgolfsson have offered to pay New Kaupthing Bank 40 to 50 percent of their ISK six billion debt to the bank, Frettabladid reports. The pair wishes to pay ISK 500 million of the debt this year. The debt reportedly comes as a result of their company, Samson Holdings, buying a 45.8 percent stake from the State in the newly privatized Landsbanki in 2003. Read the full story

Icelandic society is broadly split into three camps at the moment. There are those who blame the current financial crisis on the government’s irresponsible, almost total, liberalisation of the banking sector. Then there are those who blame the bankers for unnecessarily abusing the freedom given to them. The other group are the less discriminatory ones who blame everyone.

Last week’s interviews from billionaire father and son tycoons Read the full story

Bjorgolfur Thor Bjorgolfsson, a major shareholder of Landsbanki, said this week that deposits with the collapsed savings brand Icesave could have been guaranteed by the UK if the Icelandic Central Bank had agreed to back a British transfer plan with a multi-million pound guarantee.

In the interview, which was broadcast on the Icelandic news programme Kompas on Monday night, Bjorgolfsson revealed that the day before Landsbanki was nationalised in Iceland, the UK Financial Supervisory Authority had offered to accept Icesave deposits under a British guarantee within 5 days, provided Landsbanki submitted GBP 200 million in collateral from the Icelandic Central Bank.

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Robert Wessman has today stepped down as the CEO of Actavis, one of the world’s leading international generic drug companies.

He will be replaced by the Deputy CEO, Sigurdur Oli Olafsson. Actavis has said in a press release that Robert Wessman will focus more on his investment company, Salt Investments, but will continue to serve on the Actavis Board of Directors.

Sigurdur Oli Olafsson joined Actavis in 2003, after working for Pfizer UK from 1998 and moving to Pfizer US in 2001 to take a post in Global Research and Development. Prior to that, he served as Marketing Manager of Omega Farma (now part of Actavis), later becoming its Drug Development Manager. Olafsson became the Managing Director of Actavis Inc. in the US in 2003. He became Chief Executive of Corporate Development in 2004 and Chief Executive of Sales & Marketing International in 2005. He has been Deputy CEO since 2006.

Chairman of Actavis, Bjorgolfur Thor Bjorgolfsson, said: “Mr. Wessman has played an important role in shaping and realising Actavis’ vision and executing its successful strategy for growth. Under his management the company has become one of the five leading generic pharmaceutical companies in the world.“

Outgoing CEO Robert Wessman said, “The past years at Actavis have been a true adventure. I’m proud to look back at the tremendous growth of the company. Actavis is now in a solid position as a major global generic pharmaceutical player. I would like to thank the whole Actavis team for the partnership. This incredible group of people has in my mind pulled off an amazing achievement. I now look forward to moving on to new challenges where I will focus on my investment company, Salt Investments, that has been growing very fast during the past year.”

The new CEO of Actavis, Sigurdur Oli Olafsson, said, “Actavis is currently in a strong position among the top five generic pharmaceutical companies in the world. It is important to continue the remarkable Actavis growth story, so the position at the helm is an enormous responsibility to assume. I’m ready for the challenge and look forward to continuing work with our 11-thousand employees on the continued success of the Group.“

Olafsson went on to say; “Demand for generic pharmaceuticals is on the rise globally, independent of economic cycles. The development of new generic pharmaceuticals is among Actavis’ major strengths and I consider it one of our top priorities to use it to further strengthen our position in our key markets in Europe, North-America and Asia.”

For more information on Actavis and generic drugs visit www.actavis.com