Icelandic investors have withdrawn their plans to participate in the construction of a privately run hospital in Mosfellsbær, near Reykjavík, according to RÚV. The reason they cite is failure to reveal the identity of the foreign investors behind the construction project.
The plan to raise a privately run hospital, at a cost equal to that of a new national hospital, in Mosfellsbær has been the subject of an intense debate, with some claiming it would adversely affect the Icelandic healthcare system, luring Icelandic healthcare workers away from their current jobs. The main spokesman for the investment, Henri Middeldorp, a Dutchman, heads the company MCPB, the majority of which is owned by the Dutch company Burbanks Holding.
A one percent stake in the company has until now been held by Gunnar Ármannsson, former CEO of the Icelandic Medical Association, and another percent by VHE machine shop in Hafnarfjörður. Gunnar and the head of the machine shop have now resigned from the board of MCPB and relinquished their shares to the Dutch parent company.
There was disagreement about when to reveal what investors are behind the Dutch parent company. The Icelandic investors wanted to do so right away. By contrast, Henri Middeldorp, who claims to own a 50 percent stake in MCPB, refused to reveal the identy of the investors until an application would be sent to Icelandic authorities for tax concessions.
According to the above information, the investment firm MCPB is now fully owned by the Dutch company Burbanks Holding. What remains to be known is who, aside from Henri Middledorp, owns Burbanks Holding.
