Failed Icelandic bank goes private

REYKJAVIK (AFP) - One of Iceland's three main banks that was nationalised last year amid the country's economic collapse was acquired Thursday by private creditors, including Japanese and British banks, it said.

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Islandsbanki, formerly Glitnir, is the first of the banks to go into private ownership after the creditors of Glitnir agreed to acquire 95 percent of the bank's share capital, the bank said in a statement.

The Icelandic government will hold the remaining five percent.

Among the new owners are Royal Bank of Scotland and Japanese bank Sumitomo Mitsui.

"I can confirm that they are amongst the creditors," Arni Tomasson, chairman of Glitnir's resolution committee, told Icelandic National Radio on Thursday.

Other creditors include foreign banks and financial institutions, Icelandic pension funds and other domestic parties.

"This concludes the settlement concerning those assets transferred from Glitnir to Islandsbanki upon the collapse of the commercial banks last October," Islandsbanki said in a statement.

Iceland's Finance Minister Steingrimur Sigfusson welcomed the announcement.

"It is a clear sign that in the assessment of foreign investors, an end is in sight to the international financial recession we have been struggling with in the recent years," he said in a statement.

Iceland's government had in August recapitalised Islandsbanki by providing it with a loan of 65 billion kronur (353 million euros, 526 million dollars) but the government now expects to recover 35 to 40 billion of that as a result of Thursday's deal.

Islandsbanki has total assets of 629 billion kronur and total liabilities of 564 billion.

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Last Updated (Friday, 16 October 2009 08:37)

 
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