Iceland to sell remaining 42.5% stake in Islandsbanki (updated)

Islandsbanki hf

14/02/2025 16:19

(Adds detail on the sale, background in paragraphs 2-6)
       STOCKHOLM, Feb 14 (Reuters) - Iceland said on Friday it
plans to sell its remaining 42.5% stake in Islandsbanki  ISB.IC 
in the coming months through a public tender.
    The government said in a statement the public would have
priority in the sale.
        Iceland's top commercial banks were brought down by the
global financial crisis in 2008, plunging the country into deep
recession and eventually forcing the government to consolidate
and take ownership of much of the financial industry.
  
        The government in 2021 sold part of its stake in
Islandsbanki in an initial public offering. 
  
        In 2022 the finance ministry 
    shelved plans
     to sell its remaining shares in the bank, pointing at the
time to concerns expressed by financial watchdogs about a lack
of transparency in another recent sale of a stake.
  
        Shares of Islandsbanki have risen 14% in the last year,
LSEG data show.
  

 (Reporting by Anna Ringstrom, editing by Terje Solsvik)
 ((anna.ringstrom@thomsonreuters.com;))