In a case that was first reported on Fréttablaðið’s website this morning, the American investor and arms dealer Michelle Ballarin has had her offer of ISK 7 billion in the company’s share offering rejected by Icelandair’s Board of Directors.
The Grapevine has previously published articles relating to Ballarin’s investment in WOW AIR, after the airline declared bankruptcy.
According to Vísír, the offer Ballarin made yesterday amounted to almost forty million US dollars, or seven billion Icelandic krónur. Ballarin would have become the largest single shareholder in the company, hoping to hold a 25% share. According to Fréttablaðið’s sources, however, Ballarin could not provide sufficient collateral to prove that she could afford such a purchase.
An announcement from Icelandair stated that they had received excess demand for shares in the offering. They aimed to sell 23 billion ISK, however a total of over 9,000 offers were received amounting to 37.3 billion ISK. The Board of Directors approved offers amounting to 30.3 billion ISK – exactly 7 billion lower than the total amount of offers received.
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