Klakki (known as Exista until 2011) is an

Iceland Iceland is a Nordic countries, Nordic island country between the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge between North America and Europe. It is culturally and politically linked with Europe and is the regi ...

financial services Financial services are service (economics), economic services tied to finance provided by financial institutions. Financial services encompass a broad range of tertiary sector of the economy, service sector activities, especially as concerns finan ...

group formerly listed on the

Iceland Stock Exchange The Nasdaq Iceland, formerly known as the Iceland Stock Exchange (ICEX) ( ), is a stock exchange for Icelandic bonds and equities. Companies in sectors such as retail, fishing, transportation, banking and real estate are listed on the exchange. ...

. 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 liability ...

and other financial services, although it is also active in

investment Investment is traditionally defined as the "commitment of resources into something expected to gain value over time". If an investment involves money, then it can be defined as a "commitment of money to receive more money later". From a broade ...

s. The group's primary market is the

Nordic countries The Nordic countries (also known as the Nordics or ''Norden''; ) are a geographical and cultural region in Northern Europe, as well as the Arctic Ocean, Arctic and Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic oceans. It includes the sovereign states of Denm ...

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 A consortium () is an association of two or more individuals, companies, organizations, or governments (or any combination of these entities) with the objective of participating in a common activity or pooling their resources for achieving a ...

of Icelandic

savings bank A savings bank is a financial institution that is not run on a profit-maximizing basis, and whose original or primary purpose is collecting deposits on savings accounts that are invested on a low-risk basis and receive interest. Savings banks ha ...

s as a vehicle to hold shares in

Kaupthing Bank Kaupthing Bank (, ) 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-based operations were ...

. 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 Security (finance), securities of other companies. A holding company usually does not produce goods or services itself. Its purpose is to own Share ...

Bakkavör Bakkavor Group plc (originally Bakkavör) is an international food manufacturing company specialising in fresh prepared foods. The group's head office is in London, England. Bakkavor operates 46 factory sites in the UK, US and China. It is lis ...

founders Ágúst 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 investm ...

, 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 publicly listed. Some stock exchanges allow shares of a foreign company to be listed and may allow dual listing, subject to conditions. ...

from the exchange in December 2008 following a

share buyback Share repurchase, also known as share buyback or stock buyback, is the reacquisition by a company of its own shares. It represents an alternate and more flexible way (relative to dividends) of returning money to shareholders. Repurchases allow s ...

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

WikiLeaks WikiLeaks () is a non-profit media organisation and publisher of leaked documents. It is funded by donations and media partnerships. It has published classified documents and other media provided by anonymous sources. It was founded in 2006 by ...

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, also known as biota, refers to matter that has biological processes, such as Cell signaling, signaling and self-sustaining processes. It is defined descriptively by the capacity for homeostasis, Structure#Biological, organisation, met ...

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 protect ...

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 A subsidiary, subsidiary company, or daughter company is a company (law), company completely or partially owned or controlled by another company, called the parent company or holding company, which has legal and financial control over the subsidia ...

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 financial crisis, economic and political event in Iceland between 2008 and 2010. It involved the default (finance), default of all three of the country's major privately owned commercial banks in late 2 ...

, 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 a ...

many of these, including 20% of

Sampo Group Sampo is a northern European P&C insurance group with operations in the Nordics, Baltics, and the UK. Sampo is made up of the parent company Sampo plc, If P&C Insurance, Danish insurer Topdanmark and British P&C insurer Hastings Insurance. Th ...

, 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 and its variations may refer to: Common uses * Capital city, a municipality of primary status ** Capital region, a metropolitan region containing the capital ** List of national capitals * Capital letter, an upper-case letter Econom ...

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

before its de facto

nationalisation Nationalization (nationalisation in British English) is the process of transforming privately owned assets into public assets by bringing them under the public ownership of a national government or state. Nationalization contrasts with priv ...

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 system. ...

. 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, includ ...

in conjunction with its

chief executive A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a chief executive or managing director, is the top-ranking corporate officer charged with the management of an organization, usually a company or a nonprofit organization. CEOs find roles in variou ...

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

Síminn Síminn hf. (, ; also known as Iceland Telecom Ltd.), previously named Landssíminn (, ), is an Icelandic telecommunications company. It offers communication services for both private and corporate clients, including mobile ( 4G/ 5G), landline, i ...

References

External links

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