My grammar teacher asked the class: “Who can form the longest word, where the letter a and a consonant alternate?”
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A three-meter long walrus was discovered on the shores by Eyri in the town of Reyðarfjörður in East Iceland yesterday.
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The Icelandic government has earmarked loans Landsbanki has granted to its customers and are to be repaid in the next seven years to repay Icesave deposits. The loans are worth ISK 662 billion (USD 5.2 billion, EUR 3.7 billion), more than half of the bank’s assets.
The headquarters of Landsbanki in Reykjavík. Copyright: Icelandic Photo Agency.
The resolution committee of the old Landsbanki estimates that its assets—after taking losses following the banking collapse into account—will be worth ISK 1,195 billion (USD 9.3 billion, EUR 6.7 billion) after seven years, Morgunbladid reports.
While more than half of these assets are loans granted to Landsbanki’s customers, most of the remaining assets are financial instruments with a maturity date in the next seven years.
Additionally, it is expected that the new Landsbanki (NBI) will pay ISK 284 billion (USD 2.2 billion, EUR 1.6 billion) to the old Landsbanki after accounts for transferred assets have been settled.
The agreement reached among Icelandic, Dutch and British authorities on Icesave last weekend, assumes that the loan granted to the Icelandic state to cover the Icesave deposits will be interest-only for the next seven years.
According to Fréttabladid, the Landsbanki subsidiary in London lent at least ISK 130 billion (USD 1.0 billion, EUR 730 million) to Icelandic companies involved in the so-called “outvasion”—investments in foreign markets.
The highest loans were granted to Novator Pharma, which is owned by Björgólfur Thor Björgólfsson, and companies related to Baugur, as revealed in the Stöd 2 news program yesterday evening.
While the majority of loans granted by Landsbanki in London went to foreign companies, 18 percent of these loans went to Icelandic companies.
However, individual loans to Icelandic companies were much larger than individual loans granted to foreign companies.
Novator, for example, was granted a loan of GBP 205 million (USD 327 million, EUR 235 million), while the highest individual loan to a foreign company amounted to GBP 58 million (USD 92 million, EUR 66 million).
Novator took the loan to finance the takeover of Actavis, which then repays it. Novator’s outstanding debt to Landsbanki amounts to around ISK 40 billion (USD 310 million, EUR 220 million) and that of Baugur and related companies to ISK 58 billion (USD 450 million, EUR 320 million).
According to Fréttabladid’s sources from within Landsbanki, all of Baugur’s and Novator’s best assets were used as collateral for the loans in question.
Click here to read more about Icesave.
The 2013 June-July issue of Iceland Review is out. Themed ‘We Are Young’ the magazine celebrates the arrival of summer by interviewing young energetic Icelanders who excel in art, sports, business and politics—and Sigmundur Davíð Gunnlaugsson, the youngest PM in the republic’s history and the world’s youngest ruling state leader. Click here to take a look at a selection of the current issue and here to subscribe to the magazine.
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The road to Höfn, a 1,690-person harbor town by the fjord Hornafjörður, is lined with reindeer. Whole herds of the wild horned animals rest peacefully on withered pastures, grace next to sheep and horses and bounce along the road. Soon, Vatnajökull, Europe’s largest glacier and the region’s biggest attraction, comes into view. Looming over Höfn, its outlet glaciers flow down from the mountains on which the bright white icecap rests.
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Sin Fang will celebrate the release of his third album with a release concert in Iðnó on June 12. Flowers was released in February by Morr Music and has been well received by music enthusiasts and critics alike. The concert will be supported by Vök, this year’s winners of the Icelandic Music Experiments.
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