When the banks were privatized just after 2000, Landsbankinn was sold to the Samson group for 11 billion ISK. The official explanation was that the team of Bjorgolfur Gudmundsson, his son Bjorgolfur Thor and their business partner Magnus Thorsteinsson had the money and suficcient know-how. The real explanation was that after the Progressive Party had [...]

Writer Illugi Jokulsson recently posted an open letter to the first Icelandic dollar billionaire Bjorgolfur Thor on his website, asking him whether he would do anything in his power to cover what would remain of Iceland’s commitments because of IceSave once Landsbankinn’s assets will be sold. Bjorgolfur Thor and his father made his money in [...]

The owners of the Icelandic banks were not afraid to take a London cab to the Money Train. Landsbankinn in the UK made loans of 730 billion ISK. The highest loan to an individual business was 205 million pounds to Novator, Bjorgolfur Thor’s company which used the money to buy pharmaceutical company Actavis. Actavis itself [...]

Bjorgolfur Thor laughed all the way to the bank and is now laughing all the way from the bank. He made his money from beer in post-Soviet Russia and was given Landsbankinn as a gift from the Independence Party of David Oddson and Geir Haarde for the small price of arranging high-paying jobs for people [...]

But while Baugur set its sights on the Faroe Islands with the acquisition of 50% of the six-strong SMS supermarket chain, Bravo International was headed for more turbulent waters. The move into brewing was bold. The Russian economy was in crisis and foreign investment drying up. Yet the Icelanders were not only ploughing money into [...]

The father/son team of Bjorgolfur Gudmundsson and Bjorgolfur Thor are personally responsible for a 5 billion ISK loan from Kaupthing. The loan was granted by Bunadarbankinn (later Kaupthing) to buy Landsbankinn from the state during the privatization in 2003. Vb.is reported on the loan which was originally 11 billion ISK and it is said to [...]