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Björgólfur Thor Björgólfsson

January 07, 2023

This is an Icelandic name. The last name is patronymic, not a family name; this person is referred to by the given name Björgólfur Thor.

Björgólfur Thor Björgólfsson (born 19 March 1967), known internationally as Thor Bjorgolfsson, and colloquially in Iceland as Bjöggi,[1][2][3] is an Icelandic businessman and entrepreneur. He is also chairman and founder of Novator Partners. Björgólfur Thor has built and invested in a number of larger companies and smaller startups, including Actavis,[4] a pharmaceutical company; WOM[5][6] Play - mobile telecoms challenger brands in Chile, Colombia and Poland; and Zwift - an online platform for indoor cycling.[7] Other companies invested in by Björgólfur Thor and Novator include Deliveroo, Monzo,[8] Stripe,[9] Cazoo,[10] Xantis Pharma,[11] Klang,[12] and Lockwood Publishing.[13]

Björgólfur Thor Björgólfsson
Björgólfur in 2011
Born
(1967-03-19) 19 March 1967 (age 55)
Reykjavík, Iceland
NationalityIcelandic
EducationVerzlunarskóli Íslands
Alma materUniversity of California, San Diego
New York University
Occupation(s)Investor and entrepreneur
SpouseKristín Ólafsdóttir
Children3
Parent(s)Björgólfur Guðmundsson
Margrét Þóra Hallgrímsson
Websitehttp://www.btb.is, http://www.novator.co.uk, http://thorbjorgolfsson.com/home

Björgólfur Thor was the first Icelander to join Forbes magazine's list of the world's richest people in 2005.[14] He has been declared as "Iceland's first billionaire"; and was ranked as the 249th-richest person in the world by Forbes magazine[15] in 2007 - up from 350th the previous year - with a net worth of $3.5 billion.

However, due to the financial crisis of 2007–2010, Thor lost close to his entire fortune and he faced personal bankruptcy.[citation needed] He then worked out a complex deal with his creditors to pay off his debts while holding on to his key investments. Björgólfur Thor published an autobiography in 2014 about the ordeal titled 'Billions to Bust and Back'.[16]

Björgólfur Thor appeared on the Forbes rich list in 2015 with a net worth of $1.3 billion,[17] and in 2021 ranked at number 1444 with a net worth of $2.2 billion.[18]

Early life and career

Björgólfur Thor is heir to a long family legacy in Icelandic business and politics. His great-grandfather was the legendary Danish-born Icelandic entrepreneur Thor Jensen, who helped introduce industrial capitalism to the country in the early years of the twentieth century.[19] The eighth of Thor Jensen's eleven children was Björgólfur's grandmother Margrét Þorbjörg Thors Hallgrímsson, whose daughter Þóra Hallgrímsson had Björgólfur as her only child by her third husband Björgólfur Guðmundsson.

Björgólfur Thor grew up in the Reykjavík suburb of Vesturbær.[20] A sketch of Björgólfur Thor's early life is offered by Ármann Þorvaldsson:

His rare self-confidence made him stand out. He was immensely physically strong and bench pressed over 450 pounds. He was an entrepreneur from early on, and by the age of 11 he was delivering newspapers in the early hours of the morning. A year later he was a delivery boy at the University of Iceland and, at 13, was running his own home video delivery service. While still in high school, he was running a nightclub in Reykjavík and organised the first Oktoberfest beer festival in Iceland. After high school, he studied business in New York. Fluent in several languages, and with an unusual ability to both blend in and stand out, he embodied Iceland's internationalism.[21]

Graduating from the prestigious Commercial College of Iceland in 1987, he followed in the footsteps of some of his siblings and moved to the US, in a move he has portrayed as an attempt to escape an Iceland where he felt an outsider.[16]: 33–38  He began higher education at the University of California, San Diego, later transferring to The Stern School of Business at New York University,[16]: 33–34  graduating with a B.S. in marketing in 1991.[22]

While studying, Björgólfur Thor took a variety of vacation jobs, including managing events[16]: 37–38  at Reykjavík's two biggest clubs: Tunglið and Skuggabarinn. As a result, in 1991, he met Kristín Ólafsdóttir, now a film-maker;[23] they married in 2010.[16]: 217  They have three children, Daniel (b. 2005), Lorenz (b. 2009), and Bentina (b. 2011).[24][25][26][27][28] They currently live primarily in London, United Kingdom.[16]

Business career

1990s: the former Eastern Bloc

In 1991, Björgólfur Thor went to Russia along with his father and a friend, Magnús Þorsteinsson. The Icelandic businessmen, together with Russian partners, founded the bottling company Baltic Bottling Plant, which they sold to Pepsi. Next they founded a brewing company, originally called ООО "Торговый дом "РОСА" and eventually registered as Bravo International JSC by December 1997.[29][30] Six companies registered in Limassol, Cyprus were responsible for establishing Bravo and Björgólfur Thor was president of all of them. Bravo Brewery became the fastest-growing brewery in Russia at the time, primarily through the production of the premium beer Botchkarov. Heineken bought the brewery for $325m in 2002.[31]

In 1999, Björgólfur Thor, along with an asset management unit from Deutsche Bank, founded Actavis, and invested in a privatisation in Bulgaria.[citation needed]

In 2000, Russia opened an honorary consulate of Iceland in St. Petersburg. Magnús Þorsteinsson was appointed Honorary Vice-Consul, while Björgólfur Thor Björgólfsson was appointed Consul, he resigned from the position on May 16, 2006.[32] In his book, Billions to Bust and Back, Björgólfur Thor chronicles his time in St Petersburg, detailing how criminal elements tried to intimidate him into giving them access to his business and explaining which security measures he relied on to prevent them from doing so.[16]: 55–65 

2000s: Iceland, and the financial crisis

After leaving Russia, Björgólfur Thor started investing in several Icelandic firms in 2002, while continuing his international investments.[33] By 2006, he was a celebrity for his business success, with an eight-page-long profile in the Sunday supplement of the Icelandic newspaper Morgunblaðið written about him.[34]

Late in 2002, Björgólfur Thor and Björgólfur Guðmundsson's holding company Samson ehf. gained a 45% controlling share of Landsbanki, Iceland's second largest bank, for about ISK12m in a controversial privatization.[35] The board was announced in February 2003, with the chairman being Björgólfur Thor's father.[36] Björgólfur Thor also became the main owner and chairman of the Straumur Investment Bank.[citation needed]

Icelandic Financial Crisis

Two of Björgólfur Thor’s companies, the banks Landsbanki and Straumur, went bankrupt following the 2008–11 Icelandic financial crisis and the government of Iceland assumed responsibility for them. On October 6th Landsbanki was put into receivership and liquidation, and on March 9th Straumur was nationalised by the Financial Supervisory Authority of Iceland (FME).[citation needed] Following the crash, Björgólfur Thor had €650m of personal guarantees. Rather than declare bankruptcy, he instead took two years to negotiate and restructure the debt with his creditors, most notably Deutsche Bank.[37][38]

Björgólfur Thor was heavily criticized for his actions leading to the crisis.[39] Two days after the publication of the Icelandic government report on the financial crisis on 12 April 2010, Björgólfur Thor Björgólfsson issued a public apology in the Icelandic newspaper, Fréttablaðið, for his role in the crisis:

I the undersigned, Björgólfur Thor, request forgiveness from all Icelanders for my role in the asset- and debt-bubble that led to the collapse of the Icelandic banking system. I request your forgiveness for my complacency towards the danger signs which arose. I request forgiveness for having not succeeded in following my instincts when I realised the danger. I request your forgiveness.[40]

He defended his reputation by disputing government and journalistic criticisms of his role in the 2008 financial crisis on his website, through letters to newspapers, and through legal action.[41] He has claimed that he urged the government of Iceland not to take over the banks and that he did his utmost to prevent Icelanders and the state of Iceland from having to assume responsibility. He also has asserted that as a large shareholder in a bank, one does not have as much influence as many believe and that it is the job of the bank's management and board to formulate good policy. He said that he was not a member of the board or a managing director of the bank and that his policy suggestions were ignored by the government of Iceland.[42]

2010s: business after the crisis

Prior to the financial crisis, Björgólfur Thor founded Novator Partners, which he continues to manage, and which has been his main vehicle for investment since the crisis. Novator is a private equity firm with headquarters in London and offices in Luxembourg.[33] Preferring to take a board seat in its portfolio companies, the firm tends to invest in companies in the telecommunications, generic pharmaceuticals, information technology, natural resources, and financial services sectors.[43] In 2021 Novator invested $250 million into DNEG, a visual effects company which worked on such films as Inception, Ex Machina and No Time to Die.[44]

Although Björgólfur Thor's fortunes were reduced by the financial crisis, leading him to cancel the construction of a £100m luxury yacht, he continued to prosper overall.[45] In December 2013, the website "The Automatic Earth" reported:

Mr Bjorgolfsson still leads Novator Partners, a London-based investment firm, sits on several boards and holds shares in companies including Actavis, a Swiss drugmaker, and CCP, an Icelandic computer games company. His representative says any dividends from his shares, or future gains from their sale, will go towards settling debts to creditors following Landsbanki's decline.[46]

In October 2012, Watson Pharmaceuticals purchased Actavis for nearly $6 billion. Björgólfur Thor’s creditors got the first installment of $230 million. In the purchase, Björgólfur Thor took 4.3 million shares in Actavis. Those shares were eventually worth about $700 million, allowing him to pay off the rest of his debt to Icelandic creditors in 2014.[citation needed]

In 2015, Björgólfur Thor and his father were mentioned in the Panama Papers as having connections to at least 50 offshore companies in tax havens established through Mossack Fonseca,[47] while in November 2017, he was named in the Paradise Papers together with Gísli Hjálmtýsson, Róbert Guðfinnsson, and a number of Iceland's National Power Company employees. The listed companies connected to Björgólfsson were registered in Bermuda.[48]

Björgólfur Thor was one of the lead investors in Atai Life Sciences AG's 2018 funding rounds. Atai Life is a healthcare investment firm that backs studies of magic mushrooms to treat depression. According to a Bloomberg report, the round Björgólfur Thor participated in raised $25 million.[49]

In 2020 Thor Björgólfsson and David de Rothschild co-founded The Lost Explorer Mezcal, which is created in partnership with Maestro Mezcalero Don Fortino Ramos and his daughter. It is a sustainably crafted and Oaxacan-cultivated mezcal brand. The Lost Explorer Mezcal most recently received Double Gold (Salmiana), Gold (Espadin) and Silver (Tobala) recognition from the San Francisco World Spirits Competition, the most established and influential spirits competition in the world. The brand was also named Taste Master, the prestigious accolade of the best of the best across the tequila and mezcal category, in a competition hosted by The Spirits Business.[50][51]

In popular culture

Björgólfur Thor Björgólfsson is the inspiration for the main character of Bjarni Harðarson's satirical novel about the 2008–11 Icelandic financial crisis, Sigurðar saga fóts: Íslensk riddarasaga, where his counterpart is the main character, Sigurður frits ('fótur') Bjarnhéðinsson.[52]: 203–9  He is also the inspiration for the main character of Bjarni Bjarnason's novel Mannorð ('reputation'), Starkaður Leví, who pays for the identity (and the life) of a well respected writer.[53][52]: 252–66 

Björgólfur Thor and his great-grandfather Thor Jensen are the subject of the 2011 documentary film Thors saga by Ulla Boje Rasmussen.[54]

References

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  9. ^ "Invest or Sell Stripe IPO". Forge Global. Retrieved 6 March 2022.
  10. ^ "Cazoo attracts all-star lineup of leading investors". www.cazoo.co.uk. Retrieved 6 March 2022.
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  12. ^ "Klang raises $22.3 million for MMO space colony simulation Seed". VentureBeat. 15 August 2019. Retrieved 19 December 2019.
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  17. ^ Chen, Liyan. "Meet The Richest Billionaire In Every Country". Forbes. Retrieved 3 June 2022.
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  19. ^ [1] 1 December 2008 at the Wayback Machine
  20. ^ Jón G. Hauksson, 'Björgólfur Thor og Jón Tetzchner: Íslendingar eiga tvo leiðtoga í 237 manna hópi „Ungra leiðtoga" sem taka þátt í verkefninu Forum of Young Global Leaders', Frjáls verslun, 67.1 (2005), 16–22 (p. 18); ISSN 1017-3544.
  21. ^ Armann Thorvaldsson, Frozen Assets: How I Lived Iceland's Boom and Bust (Chichester: Wiley, 2009), pp. 64–65.
  22. ^ Guðmundur Hálfdanarson, Historical Dictionary of Iceland, 2nd edn, Historical Dictionaries of Europe, 66 (Lanham, Maryland: The Scarecrow Press, 2008), p. 21 (s.v. BJÖRGÓLFSSON, BJÖGÓLFUR THOR (1967-- )); Peter Lee, `Landsbanki's new masters take control', Euromoney, vol. 33 issue 403 (November 2002), pp. 34--47.
  23. ^ "Kristín Ólafsdóttir". IMDb.
  24. ^ "Where have all the billionaires gone?". IceNews: News from the Nordics. 16 June 2009.
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  27. ^ Kroll, Louisa (28 March 2005). "Thor's Saga". Forbes.
  28. ^ Bjorgolfsson, Thor and Andrew Cave, Billions to Bust—And Back: How I Made, Lost and Rebuilt a Fortune, and What I Learned on the Way (London: Profile, 2014), p. 217.
  29. ^ . 15 March 2006. Archived from the original on 15 March 2006. Retrieved 19 December 2019.
  30. ^ Нерсесов, Юрий (23 January 2003). Жертвы иудейской войны. stringer-news.ru website. Retrieved 3 June 2021.
  31. ^ . Invest in Greece. 20 January 2006. Archived from the original on 15 March 2006. (citing a maximum of $400m for the transaction).
  32. ^ "Resignation of Thor as Consul 2006" (PDF). Retrieved 24 March 2022.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  33. ^ a b "Bloomberg Novator Partners LLP". www.bloomberg.com. Retrieved 5 January 2020.
  34. ^ Háskólabókasafn, Landsbókasafn Íslands-. "Tímarit.is". timarit.is (in Icelandic). Retrieved 5 January 2020.
  35. ^ Arlidge, John (4 January 2015). "Saga of the Viking who lost £3bn overnight". The Sunday Times. ISSN 0956-1382. Retrieved 5 January 2020.
  36. ^ Guðmundur Magnússon, Thorsararnir: auður – völd – örlög (Reykjavík: Almenna bókafélagið, 2005), p. 354
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  39. ^ . 30 December 2008. Archived from the original on 30 December 2008. Retrieved 5 January 2020.
  40. ^ Háskólabókasafn, Landsbókasafn Íslands-. "Tímarit.is". timarit.is (in Icelandic). Retrieved 5 January 2020.
  41. ^ "BTB.is – Björgólfur Thor Björgólfsson". www.btb.is. Retrieved 5 January 2020.
  42. ^ . 30 December 2008. Archived from the original on 30 December 2008. Retrieved 5 January 2020.
  43. ^ . www.bloomberg.com. Archived from the original on 28 November 2018. Retrieved 5 January 2020.
  44. ^ Shaw, Lucas (18 August 2021). "James Bond Visual-Effects House Raises $250 Million". Financial Post. Retrieved 6 March 2022.
  45. ^ Burgess, Kate (29 March 2015). "Subscribe to read | Financial Times". Financial Times. Archived from the original on 11 December 2022. Retrieved 5 January 2020. {{cite news}}: Cite uses generic title (help)
  46. ^ Foss, Nicole (16 December 2013). "Nicole Foss: Ragnarok – Iceland and the 'Doom of the Gods'". The Automatic Earth. Retrieved 5 January 2020.
  47. ^ "Panama Papers Reveal Tortola Connections of Iceland's Richest Men". Iceland Review. 2 June 2016. Retrieved 5 January 2020.
  48. ^ "Icelandic names in the Paradise Papers". Iceland Monitor. Retrieved 5 January 2020.
  49. ^ "IPO Beckons for Magic Mushroom Research Into Depression". Bloomberg.com. 3 October 2018. Retrieved 5 January 2020.
  50. ^ Staff. "Lost Explorer Mezcal Partners with Infuse Spirits for Distribution". Craft Spirits Magazine. Retrieved 24 March 2022.
  51. ^ "Fighting Environmental Degradation, One Bottle of Fancy Mezcal at a Time". Bloomberg.com. 19 May 2021. Retrieved 24 March 2022.
  52. ^ a b Hall, Alaric (2020). Útrásarvíkingar! The Literature of the Icelandic Financial Crisis (2008–2014). Earth, Milky Way: punctum. doi:10.21983/P3.0272.1.00. ISBN 9781950192694.
  53. ^ Hall, Alaric (2018). "Fornaldarsögur and Financial Crisis: Bjarni Bjarnason's Mannorð". In Driscoll, Matthew; Hufnagel, Silvia; Lavender, Philip; Stegmann, Beeke (eds.). The Legendary Legacy: Transmission and Reception of the 'Fornaldarsögur Norðurlanda'. The Viking Collection, 24. Odense: University Press of Southern Denmark. pp. 351–75. doi:10.17613/M6V97ZR22. ISBN 9788740831030.
  54. ^ "Thors saga". Filmcentralen / streaming af danske kortfilm og dokumentarfilm (in Danish). Retrieved 5 January 2020.

External links

  • Data on Björgólfur
  • The Tennessean on Icelander tycoons
  • Straumur website
  • "Billionaire Bjorgolfsson climbs higher on Forbes list". Iceland Review. 3 October 2006.

January 07, 2023
björgólfur, thor, björgólfsson, this, icelandic, name, last, name, patronymic, family, name, this, person, referred, given, name, björgólfur, thor, born, march, 1967, known, internationally, thor, bjorgolfsson, colloquially, iceland, bjöggi, icelandic, busines. This is an Icelandic name The last name is patronymic not a family name this person is referred to by the given name Bjorgolfur Thor Bjorgolfur Thor Bjorgolfsson born 19 March 1967 known internationally as Thor Bjorgolfsson and colloquially in Iceland as Bjoggi 1 2 3 is an Icelandic businessman and entrepreneur He is also chairman and founder of Novator Partners Bjorgolfur Thor has built and invested in a number of larger companies and smaller startups including Actavis 4 a pharmaceutical company WOM 5 6 Play mobile telecoms challenger brands in Chile Colombia and Poland and Zwift an online platform for indoor cycling 7 Other companies invested in by Bjorgolfur Thor and Novator include Deliveroo Monzo 8 Stripe 9 Cazoo 10 Xantis Pharma 11 Klang 12 and Lockwood Publishing 13 Bjorgolfur Thor BjorgolfssonBjorgolfur in 2011Born 1967 03 19 19 March 1967 age 55 Reykjavik IcelandNationalityIcelandicEducationVerzlunarskoli IslandsAlma materUniversity of California San DiegoNew York UniversityOccupation s Investor and entrepreneurSpouseKristin olafsdottirChildren3Parent s Bjorgolfur GudmundssonMargret THora HallgrimssonWebsitehttp www btb is http www novator co uk http thorbjorgolfsson com homeBjorgolfur Thor was the first Icelander to join Forbes magazine s list of the world s richest people in 2005 14 He has been declared as Iceland s first billionaire and was ranked as the 249th richest person in the world by Forbes magazine 15 in 2007 up from 350th the previous year with a net worth of 3 5 billion However due to the financial crisis of 2007 2010 Thor lost close to his entire fortune and he faced personal bankruptcy citation needed He then worked out a complex deal with his creditors to pay off his debts while holding on to his key investments Bjorgolfur Thor published an autobiography in 2014 about the ordeal titled Billions to Bust and Back 16 Bjorgolfur Thor appeared on the Forbes rich list in 2015 with a net worth of 1 3 billion 17 and in 2021 ranked at number 1444 with a net worth of 2 2 billion 18 Contents 1 Early life and career 2 Business career 2 1 1990s the former Eastern Bloc 2 2 2000s Iceland and the financial crisis 2 2 1 Icelandic Financial Crisis 2 3 2010s business after the crisis 3 In popular culture 4 References 5 External linksEarly life and career EditBjorgolfur Thor is heir to a long family legacy in Icelandic business and politics His great grandfather was the legendary Danish born Icelandic entrepreneur Thor Jensen who helped introduce industrial capitalism to the country in the early years of the twentieth century 19 The eighth of Thor Jensen s eleven children was Bjorgolfur s grandmother Margret THorbjorg Thors Hallgrimsson whose daughter THora Hallgrimsson had Bjorgolfur as her only child by her third husband Bjorgolfur Gudmundsson Bjorgolfur Thor grew up in the Reykjavik suburb of Vesturbaer 20 A sketch of Bjorgolfur Thor s early life is offered by Armann THorvaldsson His rare self confidence made him stand out He was immensely physically strong and bench pressed over 450 pounds He was an entrepreneur from early on and by the age of 11 he was delivering newspapers in the early hours of the morning A year later he was a delivery boy at the University of Iceland and at 13 was running his own home video delivery service While still in high school he was running a nightclub in Reykjavik and organised the first Oktoberfest beer festival in Iceland After high school he studied business in New York Fluent in several languages and with an unusual ability to both blend in and stand out he embodied Iceland s internationalism 21 Graduating from the prestigious Commercial College of Iceland in 1987 he followed in the footsteps of some of his siblings and moved to the US in a move he has portrayed as an attempt to escape an Iceland where he felt an outsider 16 33 38 He began higher education at the University of California San Diego later transferring to The Stern School of Business at New York University 16 33 34 graduating with a B S in marketing in 1991 22 While studying Bjorgolfur Thor took a variety of vacation jobs including managing events 16 37 38 at Reykjavik s two biggest clubs Tunglid and Skuggabarinn As a result in 1991 he met Kristin olafsdottir now a film maker 23 they married in 2010 16 217 They have three children Daniel b 2005 Lorenz b 2009 and Bentina b 2011 24 25 26 27 28 They currently live primarily in London United Kingdom 16 Business career Edit1990s the former Eastern Bloc Edit In 1991 Bjorgolfur Thor went to Russia along with his father and a friend Magnus THorsteinsson The Icelandic businessmen together with Russian partners founded the bottling company Baltic Bottling Plant which they sold to Pepsi Next they founded a brewing company originally called OOO Torgovyj dom ROSA and eventually registered as Bravo International JSC by December 1997 29 30 Six companies registered in Limassol Cyprus were responsible for establishing Bravo and Bjorgolfur Thor was president of all of them Bravo Brewery became the fastest growing brewery in Russia at the time primarily through the production of the premium beer Botchkarov Heineken bought the brewery for 325m in 2002 31 In 1999 Bjorgolfur Thor along with an asset management unit from Deutsche Bank founded Actavis and invested in a privatisation in Bulgaria citation needed In 2000 Russia opened an honorary consulate of Iceland in St Petersburg Magnus THorsteinsson was appointed Honorary Vice Consul while Bjorgolfur Thor Bjorgolfsson was appointed Consul he resigned from the position on May 16 2006 32 In his book Billions to Bust and Back Bjorgolfur Thor chronicles his time in St Petersburg detailing how criminal elements tried to intimidate him into giving them access to his business and explaining which security measures he relied on to prevent them from doing so 16 55 65 2000s Iceland and the financial crisis Edit After leaving Russia Bjorgolfur Thor started investing in several Icelandic firms in 2002 while continuing his international investments 33 By 2006 he was a celebrity for his business success with an eight page long profile in the Sunday supplement of the Icelandic newspaper Morgunbladid written about him 34 Late in 2002 Bjorgolfur Thor and Bjorgolfur Gudmundsson s holding company Samson ehf gained a 45 controlling share of Landsbanki Iceland s second largest bank for about ISK12m in a controversial privatization 35 The board was announced in February 2003 with the chairman being Bjorgolfur Thor s father 36 Bjorgolfur Thor also became the main owner and chairman of the Straumur Investment Bank citation needed Icelandic Financial Crisis Edit Two of Bjorgolfur Thor s companies the banks Landsbanki and Straumur went bankrupt following the 2008 11 Icelandic financial crisis and the government of Iceland assumed responsibility for them On October 6th Landsbanki was put into receivership and liquidation and on March 9th Straumur was nationalised by the Financial Supervisory Authority of Iceland FME citation needed Following the crash Bjorgolfur Thor had 650m of personal guarantees Rather than declare bankruptcy he instead took two years to negotiate and restructure the debt with his creditors most notably Deutsche Bank 37 38 Bjorgolfur Thor was heavily criticized for his actions leading to the crisis 39 Two days after the publication of the Icelandic government report on the financial crisis on 12 April 2010 Bjorgolfur Thor Bjorgolfsson issued a public apology in the Icelandic newspaper Frettabladid for his role in the crisis I the undersigned Bjorgolfur Thor request forgiveness from all Icelanders for my role in the asset and debt bubble that led to the collapse of the Icelandic banking system I request your forgiveness for my complacency towards the danger signs which arose I request forgiveness for having not succeeded in following my instincts when I realised the danger I request your forgiveness 40 He defended his reputation by disputing government and journalistic criticisms of his role in the 2008 financial crisis on his website through letters to newspapers and through legal action 41 He has claimed that he urged the government of Iceland not to take over the banks and that he did his utmost to prevent Icelanders and the state of Iceland from having to assume responsibility He also has asserted that as a large shareholder in a bank one does not have as much influence as many believe and that it is the job of the bank s management and board to formulate good policy He said that he was not a member of the board or a managing director of the bank and that his policy suggestions were ignored by the government of Iceland 42 2010s business after the crisis Edit Prior to the financial crisis Bjorgolfur Thor founded Novator Partners which he continues to manage and which has been his main vehicle for investment since the crisis Novator is a private equity firm with headquarters in London and offices in Luxembourg 33 Preferring to take a board seat in its portfolio companies the firm tends to invest in companies in the telecommunications generic pharmaceuticals information technology natural resources and financial services sectors 43 In 2021 Novator invested 250 million into DNEG a visual effects company which worked on such films as Inception Ex Machina and No Time to Die 44 Although Bjorgolfur Thor s fortunes were reduced by the financial crisis leading him to cancel the construction of a 100m luxury yacht he continued to prosper overall 45 In December 2013 the website The Automatic Earth reported Mr Bjorgolfsson still leads Novator Partners a London based investment firm sits on several boards and holds shares in companies including Actavis a Swiss drugmaker and CCP an Icelandic computer games company His representative says any dividends from his shares or future gains from their sale will go towards settling debts to creditors following Landsbanki s decline 46 In October 2012 Watson Pharmaceuticals purchased Actavis for nearly 6 billion Bjorgolfur Thor s creditors got the first installment of 230 million In the purchase Bjorgolfur Thor took 4 3 million shares in Actavis Those shares were eventually worth about 700 million allowing him to pay off the rest of his debt to Icelandic creditors in 2014 citation needed In 2015 Bjorgolfur Thor and his father were mentioned in the Panama Papers as having connections to at least 50 offshore companies in tax havens established through Mossack Fonseca 47 while in November 2017 he was named in the Paradise Papers together with Gisli Hjalmtysson Robert Gudfinnsson and a number of Iceland s National Power Company employees The listed companies connected to Bjorgolfsson were registered in Bermuda 48 Bjorgolfur Thor was one of the lead investors in Atai Life Sciences AG s 2018 funding rounds Atai Life is a healthcare investment firm that backs studies of magic mushrooms to treat depression According to a Bloomberg report the round Bjorgolfur Thor participated in raised 25 million 49 In 2020 Thor Bjorgolfsson and David de Rothschild co founded The Lost Explorer Mezcal which is created in partnership with Maestro Mezcalero Don Fortino Ramos and his daughter It is a sustainably crafted and Oaxacan cultivated mezcal brand The Lost Explorer Mezcal most recently received Double Gold Salmiana Gold Espadin and Silver Tobala recognition from the San Francisco World Spirits Competition the most established and influential spirits competition in the world The brand was also named Taste Master the prestigious accolade of the best of the best across the tequila and mezcal category in a competition hosted by The Spirits Business 50 51 In popular culture EditBjorgolfur Thor Bjorgolfsson is the inspiration for the main character of Bjarni Hardarson s satirical novel about the 2008 11 Icelandic financial crisis Sigurdar saga fots Islensk riddarasaga where his counterpart is the main character Sigurdur frits fotur Bjarnhedinsson 52 203 9 He is also the inspiration for the main character of Bjarni Bjarnason s novel Mannord reputation Starkadur Levi who pays for the identity and the life of a well respected writer 53 52 252 66 Bjorgolfur Thor and his great grandfather Thor Jensen are the subject of the 2011 documentary film Thors saga by Ulla Boje Rasmussen 54 References Edit Bjoggi uti a lifinu i Koben Archived from the original on 16 December 2010 Bjoggi is back Snyr aftur a lista Forbes yfir rikustu menn heims Bjoggi borgar ekki Archived from the original on 4 December 2008 Exclusive Watson close to 7 billion Actavis drug deal sources Reuters 21 March 2012 Retrieved 6 March 2022 Bloomberg Bloomberg com 15 March 2021 Retrieved 6 March 2022 Caparroso Jose 12 February 2021 Exclusivo La estrategia del multimillonario que esta retando a Claro Movistar y Tigo Forbes Colombia in Mexican Spanish Retrieved 6 March 2022 Zwift a multiplayer game that s making indoor athletics more social just raised 27 million TechCrunch 16 November 2016 Retrieved 19 December 2019 Monzo the UK challenger bank picks up additional 60M in funding TechCrunch 2 December 2020 Retrieved 6 March 2022 Invest or Sell Stripe IPO Forge Global Retrieved 6 March 2022 Cazoo attracts all star lineup of leading investors www cazoo co uk Retrieved 6 March 2022 Bjorgolfur Thor stofnar nytt lyfjafyrirtaeki i Sviss Kjarninn in Icelandic 14 January 2016 Retrieved 19 December 2019 Klang raises 22 3 million for MMO space colony simulation Seed VentureBeat 15 August 2019 Retrieved 19 December 2019 Lockwood Publishing closes funding round led by Novator CCP Games CEO GamesIndustry biz 15 August 2019 Retrieved 19 December 2019 Johannesson Gudni Thorlacius 9 January 2013 The History of Iceland ABC CLIO ISBN 978 0 313 37621 4 249 Bjorgolfur Thor Bjorgolfsson Forbes com images forbes com Retrieved 3 June 2022 a b c d e f g Bjorgolfsson Thor 2014 Billions to bust and back how I made lost and rebuilt a fortune and what I learned on the way Cave Andrew London ISBN 978 1 78125 369 4 OCLC 898058553 Chen Liyan Meet The Richest Billionaire In Every Country Forbes Retrieved 3 June 2022 Thor Bjorgolfsson Forbes Retrieved 24 March 2022 1 Archived 1 December 2008 at the Wayback Machine Jon G Hauksson Bjorgolfur Thor og Jon Tetzchner Islendingar eiga tvo leidtoga i 237 manna hopi Ungra leidtoga sem taka thatt i verkefninu Forum of Young Global Leaders Frjals verslun 67 1 2005 16 22 p 18 ISSN 1017 3544 Armann Thorvaldsson Frozen Assets How I Lived Iceland s Boom and Bust Chichester Wiley 2009 pp 64 65 Gudmundur Halfdanarson Historical Dictionary of Iceland 2nd edn Historical Dictionaries of Europe 66 Lanham Maryland The Scarecrow Press 2008 p 21 s v BJORGoLFSSON BJOGoLFUR THOR 1967 Peter Lee Landsbanki s new masters take control Euromoney vol 33 issue 403 November 2002 pp 34 47 Kristin olafsdottir IMDb Where have all the billionaires gone IceNews News from the Nordics 16 June 2009 Smith Yves 16 December 2013 Ragnarok Iceland and the Doom of the Gods The Automatic Earth Boyes Roger 2009 Meltdown Iceland Lessons on the World Financial Crisis from a Small Bankrupt Island New York Bloomsbury p 66 Kroll Louisa 28 March 2005 Thor s Saga Forbes Bjorgolfsson Thor and Andrew Cave Billions to Bust And Back How I Made Lost and Rebuilt a Fortune and What I Learned on the Way London Profile 2014 p 217 INVgr Who is Thor Bjorgolfsson Iceland s first billionaire 15 March 2006 Archived from the original on 15 March 2006 Retrieved 19 December 2019 Nersesov Yurij 23 January 2003 Zhertvy iudejskoj vojny stringer news ru website Retrieved 3 June 2021 Who is Thor Bjorgolfsson Iceland s lone billionaire Invest in Greece 20 January 2006 Archived from the original on 15 March 2006 citing a maximum of 400m for the transaction Resignation of Thor as Consul 2006 PDF Retrieved 24 March 2022 a href Template Cite web html title Template Cite web cite web a CS1 maint url status link a b Bloomberg Novator Partners LLP www bloomberg com Retrieved 5 January 2020 Haskolabokasafn Landsbokasafn Islands Timarit is timarit is in Icelandic Retrieved 5 January 2020 Arlidge John 4 January 2015 Saga of the Viking who lost 3bn overnight The Sunday Times ISSN 0956 1382 Retrieved 5 January 2020 Gudmundur Magnusson Thorsararnir audur vold orlog Reykjavik Almenna bokafelagid 2005 p 354 Pfizer could ease Deutsche Bank s pain Financial Times 21 March 2010 Archived from the original on 11 December 2022 Retrieved 6 March 2022 Exclusive Deutsche nears Actavis debt deal sources Reuters 7 July 2010 Retrieved 6 March 2022 Interview with Bjorgolfur Thor Bjorgolfsson IceNews Daily News 30 December 2008 Archived from the original on 30 December 2008 Retrieved 5 January 2020 Haskolabokasafn Landsbokasafn Islands Timarit is timarit is in Icelandic Retrieved 5 January 2020 BTB is Bjorgolfur Thor Bjorgolfsson www btb is Retrieved 5 January 2020 Interview with Bjorgolfur Thor Bjorgolfsson IceNews Daily News 30 December 2008 Archived from the original on 30 December 2008 Retrieved 5 January 2020 Company Overview of Novator Partners LLP www bloomberg com Archived from the original on 28 November 2018 Retrieved 5 January 2020 Shaw Lucas 18 August 2021 James Bond Visual Effects House Raises 250 Million Financial Post Retrieved 6 March 2022 Burgess Kate 29 March 2015 Subscribe to read Financial Times Financial Times Archived from the original on 11 December 2022 Retrieved 5 January 2020 a href Template Cite news html title Template Cite news cite news a Cite uses generic title help Foss Nicole 16 December 2013 Nicole Foss Ragnarok Iceland and the Doom of the Gods The Automatic Earth Retrieved 5 January 2020 Panama Papers Reveal Tortola Connections of Iceland s Richest Men Iceland Review 2 June 2016 Retrieved 5 January 2020 Icelandic names in the Paradise Papers Iceland Monitor Retrieved 5 January 2020 IPO Beckons for Magic Mushroom Research Into Depression Bloomberg com 3 October 2018 Retrieved 5 January 2020 Staff Lost Explorer Mezcal Partners with Infuse Spirits for Distribution Craft Spirits Magazine Retrieved 24 March 2022 Fighting Environmental Degradation One Bottle of Fancy Mezcal at a Time Bloomberg com 19 May 2021 Retrieved 24 March 2022 a b Hall Alaric 2020 Utrasarvikingar The Literature of the Icelandic Financial Crisis 2008 2014 Earth Milky Way punctum doi 10 21983 P3 0272 1 00 ISBN 9781950192694 Hall Alaric 2018 Fornaldarsogur and Financial Crisis Bjarni Bjarnason s Mannord In Driscoll Matthew Hufnagel Silvia Lavender Philip Stegmann Beeke eds The Legendary Legacy Transmission and Reception of the Fornaldarsogur Nordurlanda The Viking Collection 24 Odense University Press of Southern Denmark pp 351 75 doi 10 17613 M6V97ZR22 ISBN 9788740831030 Thors saga Filmcentralen streaming af danske kortfilm og dokumentarfilm in Danish Retrieved 5 January 2020 External links EditForbes article Data on Bjorgolfur The Tennessean on Icelander tycoons Yahoo news on Actavis group Actavis website Straumur website Billionaire Bjorgolfsson climbs higher on Forbes list Iceland Review 3 October 2006 Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Bjorgolfur Thor Bjorgolfsson amp oldid 1126923429, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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