Foreign claimants in the old Kaupthing Bank will acquire a large share in Arion Bank, previously Kaupthing, according to an upcoming agreement with Kaupthing’s resolution committee. An announcement to that regard is expected soon.
Kaupthing, now Arion Bank. Copyright: Icelandic Photo Agency.
The resolution committee had to come to a conclusion before midnight yesterday, RÚV reports.
Two options have been considered: that the Icelandic state remains majority owner of Arion Bank for now but claimants, most of whom are foreign, can later acquire 90 percent of shares in the bank, or that claimants immediately acquire 87 percent of shares and the Icelandic state holds the remaining 13 percent.
According to RÚV’s sources, the most likely solution is that foreign claimants will take over Arion Bank, provided the Icelandic Financial Supervisory Authority and the Competition Authority approve of the acquisition.
In that case, both Íslandsbanki, formerly Glitnir, and Arion Bank will be in foreign ownership and Landsbanki (NBI) will be the only bank of Iceland’s three largest commercial banks left in the ownership of the Icelandic state.
Click here to read more about Íslandsbanki.
