The Icelandic government paid investment bank Morgan Stanley ISK 696 million (over USD 10 million) for consulting on the sale of Icelandic Telco reports Morgunbladid.
Jón Sveinsson, chairman of the government’s Executive Committee on Privatization, said in an interview with Morgunbladid, “Of course these are large numbers but I know from my own personal experience with companies and organizations that I have been involved with that when you are selling large and expensive assets it often costs a lot of money.” Jón Sveinsson is a lawyer with long standing ties to the Progressive Party.
He also said, that in cases such as these, the the figures were not decided beforehand, the payment was usually tied to a percentage of the sale price, as had been in this case.
Privatization costs for this year are expected to be ISK 777 million compared to ISK 750 million that the the government has requested in the auxiliary budget reports Icelandic State Radio.
