RSS feedkaupthing
’The Kaupthing share support operation
You’ve read the story in the FT…
Lawyers acting for the UK arm of the collapsed Icelandic bank Kaupthing, which is at the centre of a fraud probe, have withdrawn a request to retail entrepreneur Kevin Stanford to repay nearly $2m (£1.2m) as part of efforts to recover funds owed to the bank….
The (Tchenguiz) party must go on…
At Vincent Tchenguiz’s Cannes party on Thursday night, sans Vincent Tchenguiz:
Related link:
Tchenguiz party goes on in Cannes without host - Dan Thomas, FT
What’s going on at the Tchenguiz bros’ offices? [updated]
Curzon Street in London’s Mayfair, Wednesday morning:
Update: And the Serious Fraud Office’s statement.
Iceland’s bank-berg, what lurked beneath (part II)
Continued from part I, in which FT Alphaville first discusses a portion of the investigative report into Iceland’s banking collapse written by Mark J Flannery.
In 2006, something very worrying for the Icelandic banking system took place.
Iceland’s bank-berg, what lurked beneath (part I)
In a word — quite possibly insolvency.
The full English version of the investigative report into Iceland’s banking collapse is not yet available on the special committee’s website, due to “unexpected difficulties.”
Iceland’s theatre of financial horror
Is this the most boring theatrical production in the world?
Or a valid way to take the financial crisis to the masses?
Reykavik City Theatre has announced it will be ‘performing’ a 2,000-page report on Iceland’s banking collapse,
Fancy running an Icelandic bank?
Iceland’s Arion Bank is looking for a CEO. Interested? Apply here.
But first, the details:
In the next few days, Arion Bank will be inviting applications for the position of CEO, the first of Iceland’s large commercial banks to do so.
KPMG, PwC raided in Iceland probe
Police have raided the offices of KPMG and PricewaterhouseCoopers in Reykjavik, seizing documents and computer data as part of a probe into alleged criminal activity at three collapsed Icelandic banks,
For Kaupthing’s creditors, ‘recovery’ means ’20 cents on the dollar’
Creditors of Kaupthing, the failed Icelandic bank with a fondness for over-the-top advertising, are unlikely to be having a good week.
As Bloomberg reported on Tuesday, those with claims on the bank will get back about 20 percent of what they are owed,
UK intensifies Icelandic banking probe
The UK’s Serious Fraud Office is gathering extensive intelligence on the Icelandic banks in the aftermath of last autumn’s crash that left thousands of UK institutions nursing millions of pounds of losses,
Kaupthing’s Wikigeysir
In the same way that glaciers occasionally disgorge relics from earlier times, frozen and perfectly preserved, so the defunct Icelandic bank Kaupthing has thrown up an apparent curiosity – a document detailing who owed the bank serious amounts of money just before it finally imploded.
Lex: Iceland’s rehabilitation
Iceland’s plan to save its banks looks good on the surface, but there are at least three problems with it.
First, the agreement to compensate British and Dutch retail savers the $5.5bn they deposited in internet bank Icesave requires parliament’s approval.
FSA was ‘warned’ on Kaupthing
The UK’s Financial Services Authority was warned in 2005 not to give the go-ahead for the Icelandic bank Kaupthing’s acquisition of Singer & Friedlander, the British merchant bank, by its then chief executive,
Iceland drops legal threat over bank
Britain has fended off the threat of a politically charged London lawsuit over its use of anti-terror powers to freeze billions of an Icelandic bank’s assets. Reykjavik conceded Tuesday that a High Court challenge to the freezing order made against Landsbanki in October stood scant success.
Founder could bail out UK’s JJB
Dave Whelan, owner of Wigan Athletic Football Club, is in talks to buy part of JJB Sports for about £100m – a deal in which he would bail out the retailer he founded in 1977. JJB is negotiating to sell its chain of 50 health clubs to Mr Whelan,
Iceland appoints women to clean up ‘male mess’
Iceland has appointed two women to help rebuild its financial system after the banking empire built by its young, male-dominated elite collapsed. Elín Sigfúsdóttir and Birna Einarsdóttir are set to become chief executives of New Landsbanki and New Glitnir respectively,
UK and Iceland clash on crisis
Tensions between Britain and Iceland soared Thursday night after the nationalisation of the Nordic country’s largest banks put close to £800m of local authority money at risk and prompted Gordon Brown to threaten to seize the assets of Icelandic companies.
Kaupthing UK unit placed in administration
Part of Icelandic bank Kaupthing’s UK operations were placed in administration on Wednesday as the last big Icelandic bank teetered on the verge of collapse, forcing clients such as financier Robert Tchenguiz to sell positions.
UK’s Tchenguiz loses £1bn on stake sale
Robert Tchenguiz, the UK-based property entrepreneur, lost £1bn in just 24 hours after being forced to offload his stakes in J Sainsbury and Mitchells & Butlers as the fallout of the Icelandic banking crisis hit corporate UK.
Tremble, taxpayers
… before this chart from Citi. It shows European bank assets as percentages of their host country’s GDP.
It also goes some way towards explaining why Iceland didn’t come to Kaupthing’s rescue.
How much for this fjord?
What to do when your country’s banking sector and exchange rate look like this?
Iceland is looking to downsize its banking industry altogether.
Yesterday we learned the arctic state may or may not be getting a €4bn loan from the Russians and may also be considering pegging the crown to the euro at 131/euro (however,
UK’s Tchenguiz hit by Iceland woes
UK-based property tycoon Robert Tchenguiz has sold his 25% stake in UK pub group Mitchells & Butlers, illustrating how the financial crisis in Iceland is hitting UK companies. Some 101m shares in the group changed hands on Tuesday night after the formal close of business in London at 130p apiece,
The Tchenguiz positions are being liquidated
Who said this emergency was just about banks?
Pubs appeared to be have been forced into the toxic mix on Tuesday night as a huge line of Mitchells & Butlers was suddenly on the move. Some 90m shares in the All Bar One operator changed hands after the formal close of business in London at 130p apiece.
Húrra! The Russians are coming
The Icelandic krona was down a staggering 17 per cent against the Euro earlier today.
Russia, though, rode to the rescue, giving the struggling Nordic economy a €4bn loan, nearly doubling the central bank’s dwindling currency reserves:
Unwinding Iceland
As a triple B lender, Iceland will have to move quickly if it is to avoid an humiliating trip to the IMF as a bankrupt sovereign.
After the near-implosion of its banking system and a two-notch credit rating downgrade by Standard & Poor’s,
CDS update: Equities wake up to credit’s reality
This CDS report was written by Markit’s Gavan Nolan
It’s a rare trading session when the FTSE 100 moves by more in percentage terms than the Markit iTraxx Europe index. But that’s what happened today.
Iceland moves to prevent bank meltdown
Geir Haarde, Iceland’s prime minister, said Sunday that he hoped to announce at least a partial rescue package for his country’s banking sector before markets opened Monday. Haarde spoke after emergency talks with central bankers,
The news from Iceland: þetta er búið (Updated)
Treat with some scepticism the reassuring sounds from Iceland’s banks, politicians and leading companies. Listen to my man in Reykjavik.They are fighting powers that they are powerless to fight. It’s like tackling a storm raging in the sea with a teaspoon.
How do you say “This sucker is going down” in Icelandic? (Updated)
Whispers, unanswered telephone calls, stone-walling, firm “no comments”… Something was up in Iceland on Friday.
The immediate focus was Kaupthing – one of Iceland’s two largest banks. The price of its CDS has now spiked through 2500bp,
Baugur sells stake in UK’s Booker
Baugur, the Icelandic investment group, has sold its stake in Booker, raising about £70m and setting the wholesaler on the path to a main market listing. The 31.4% stake in Booker, listed on Aim last year via a reverse takeover by rival Blueheath,