Klakki (known as Exista until 2011) is an

Iceland Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its ...

financial services Financial services are the economic services provided by the finance industry, which encompasses a broad range of businesses that manage money, including credit unions, banks, credit-card companies, insurance companies, accountancy companie ...

group formerly listed on the

Iceland Stock Exchange The Nasdaq Iceland, formerly known as the Iceland Stock Exchange (XICE) ( is, Kauphöll Íslands), is a stock exchange located in Iceland. It was established in 1985 as a joint venture of several banks and brokerage firms on the initiative of the ...

. Its activities are based primarily on insurance

underwriting Underwriting (UW) services are provided by some large financial institutions, such as banks, insurance companies and investment houses, whereby they guarantee payment in case of damage or financial loss and accept the financial risk for liabili ...

and other financial services, although it is also active in investments. The group's primary market is the Nordic countries.

History

According to a report, Luxembourg-registered ''Compagnie Financiere Scandinave'' was renamed the ''Scandinavian Holding'' a month after incorporation. Later it was renamed ''Meidur S.A.''.. Another copy: . An automatic translation: Meidur changed its name to Exista. Exista was founded in 2001 by a consortium of Icelandic

savings bank A savings bank is a financial institution whose primary purpose is accepting savings deposits and paying interest on those deposits. They originated in Europe during the 18th century with the aim of providing access to savings products to ...

s as a vehicle to hold shares in

Kaupthing Bank Kaupthing Bank ( is, Kaupþing banki; ) was a major international Icelandic bank, headquartered in Reykjavík, Iceland. It was taken over by the Icelandic government during the 2008–2011 Icelandic financial crisis and the domestic Icelandic ...

. A controlling shareholding in Exista was sold to a

holding company A holding company is a company whose primary business is holding a controlling interest in the securities of other companies. A holding company usually does not produce goods or services itself. Its purpose is to own shares of other companies ...

Bakkavör Bakkavör is an international food manufacturing company specialising in fresh prepared foods. The group's head office is in London, England. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange, and was part of the FTSE 250 index from early 2018 to 2020. ...

founders

Ágúst Ágúst () or Agust is a given name. Notable people with the name include: *Ágúst Björgvinsson (born 1979), Icelandic basketball coach *Ágúst Þór Jóhannsson (born 1977), Icelandic team handball player and coach *Ágúst Ævar Gunnarsson, ...

and Lýdur Gudmundsson in 2002. In September 2006 the firm was floated on the

in a €2.6 billion

initial public offering An initial public offering (IPO) or stock launch is a public offering in which shares of a company are sold to institutional investors and usually also to retail (individual) investors. An IPO is typically underwritten by one or more investme ...

, the biggest in the country's history. The Gudmundsson brothers continue however to hold a near-45% stake in the business. The company was

delisted In corporate finance, a listing refers to the company's shares being on the list (or board) of stock that are officially traded on a stock exchange. Some stock exchanges allow shares of a foreign company to be listed and may allow dual listing, s ...

from the exchange in December 2008 following a

share buyback Share repurchase, also known as share buyback or stock buyback, is the re-acquisition by a company of its own shares. It represents an alternate and more flexible way (relative to dividends) of returning money to shareholders. When used in coor ...

. By 9 October 2008, Kaupthing Bank HF was forced into government receivership. On 29 July 2009

WikiLeaks WikiLeaks () is an international non-profit organisation that published news leaks and classified media provided by anonymous sources. Julian Assange, an Australian Internet activist, is generally described as its founder and director and ...

exposed a confidential 210-page document listing Kaupthing's exposure to loans ranging from €45 million–1.25 billion. The leaked presentation revealed the bank had loaned billions of euros to its major shareholders, including a total of €1.43 billion to Exista and subsidiaries which own 23% of the bank.

Operations

Insurance and financial services

Exista owns the Icelandic non-

life Life is a quality that distinguishes matter that has biological processes, such as Cell signaling, signaling and self-sustaining processes, from that which does not, and is defined by the capacity for Cell growth, growth, reaction to Stimu ...

insurance Insurance is a means of protection from financial loss in which, in exchange for a fee, a party agrees to compensate another party in the event of a certain loss, damage, or injury. It is a form of risk management, primarily used to hedge ...

company Vátryggingarfélag Íslands (VÍS), which holds around one-third of the domestic market. Exista acquired control of VÍS from Kaupthing Bank in 2006. The firm also owns VÍS's sister company, the life cover provider Lífís. Exista's third consolidated subsidiary is Lýsing, which is a provider of asset financing.

Investments

Prior to the

2008–2011 Icelandic financial crisis The Icelandic financial crisis was a major economic and political event in Iceland that involved the default of all three of the country's major privately owned commercial banks in late 2008, following their difficulties in refinancing their ...

, Exista held a number of significant stakes in publicly traded companies. It opted to

divest In finance and economics, divestment or divestiture is the reduction of some kind of asset for financial, ethical, or political objectives or sale of an existing business by a firm. A divestment is the opposite of an investment. Divestiture is ...

many of these, including 20% of

Sampo Group Sampo Group is a significant Nordic insurance group made up of the parent company Sampo plc, P&C Insurance Holding Ltd, Mandatum Holding Ltd, Danish insurer Topdanmark and British P&C insurer Hastings, all of which are its subsidiaries. The pare ...

, 8.7% of

Storebrand Storebrand is a financial services company in Norway. By volume, the company's main activities are related to life insurance and pension savings. However, the company also has major divisions working on investments, banking and, until 1999 and ...

and 39.6% of

, in October 2008 in order to boost its

capital Capital may refer to: Common uses * Capital city, a municipality of primary status ** List of national capital cities * Capital letter, an upper-case letter Economics and social sciences * Capital (economics), the durable produced goods used fo ...

position. It was also the largest single shareholder (with almost 25%) of

before its de facto nationalisation by the

Icelandic government The politics of Iceland take place in the framework of a parliamentary representative democratic republic, whereby the president is the head of state, while the prime minister of Iceland serves as the head of government in a multi-party syste ...

. Currently Exista holds a 29% share of

JJB Sports JJB Sports plc was a British sports retailer. On 24 September 2012, shares in JJB Sports were suspended, and the firm called in administrators. On 1 October 2012, it was announced that Sports Direct had purchased part of the business, inclu ...

in conjunction with its

chief executive A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especial ...

Chris Ronnie Christopher Ronnie (born 1961/62) is a British businessman and convicted fraudster, chief executive officer of JJB Sports from June 2007 to March 2009, when he was fired for failing to disclose the sale of his stake in the company within the requir ...

, and is the sole owner of Skipti, the parent company of Icelandic telecommunications provider

Síminn Síminn hf. (Iceland Telecom), previously named ''Landssíminn'' and ''Póstur og Sími,'' is an Icelandic telecommunications company. It offers communication services for both private and corporate clients, including mobile (2G/3G/4G/5G), landline ...

References

External links

* {{Portal, Banks Banks of Iceland Banks established in 2001 Financial services companies established in 2001