While the doors appear to be firmly shut on the prospect of Chinese investor Huang Nubo being able to buy land in Iceland to develop a luxury hotel and golf course, this does not mean that other options are unavailable to him.
As reported, Minister of the Interior Ögmundur Jónasson has given his final answer to Huang’s request to buy land in Iceland directly: being a citizen from outside the European Economic Area (EEA), this is a transaction he cannot engage in. However, there are other means at Huang’s disposal.
One way would be to do what Magma Energy (now Alterra Power Corp) did. As a Canadian company, they, too, could not legally purchase land in Iceland (in their case, for the purpose of geothermal exploration). Magma got around this by creating a sister company in Sweden and operating through them instead.
Be that as it may, DV reports that Huang has said he has no interest in creating a company within the EEA for the purpose of buying land in Iceland. He is, however, considering the possibility of renting land instead. To this end, Minister of Industry Katrín Júlíusdóttir says she wants to help.
Katrín told reporters that after Huang was given the news about purchasing land in Iceland, Ögmundur got Huang in touch with Invest In Iceland, so that he could be shown how he could invest in Iceland’s tourist industry. She added that the Ministry of Industry also wants to provide him with assistance in this area.
How, when and in what form Huang’s investment in Iceland will take, if it materializes in the first place, still remains to be seen.
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