A group of Japanese investors came to Iceland last November with a
billion USD and a recovery plan, but have yet to receive an answer from
the government.
According to Ragnar Önundarson, speaking to Morgunblaðið, the investors arrived last fall with the intention of delivering their ideas to the government – among them, to buy up the failed banks, rebuild them anew, and build a geothermal power plant with the proceeds. Önundarson said he took the businessmen to meet then Minister of Finance Árni Matthiassen, and gave him a letter outlining their intentions. No reply from the government has come.
Current Minister of Finance Steingrímur J. Sigfússon told reporters that this is the first he’s heard of the visitors and their investment plan, adding that the news might have “fallen between ships” during ministerial changes last November.