Magnús Þorsteinsson is a businessman and was chairman of now defunct Avion Group. He was a high-profile investor and entrepreneur with interests in aviation and financial services.

Beverage businessman in Saint Petersburg

Magnús began his investments in St. Petersburg together with Björgólfur Guðmundsson and Björgólfur Thor Björgólfsson.

The Icelandic businessmen, together with Russian partners, founded a bottling company Baltic Bottling Plant in Saint Petersburg in June 1993 which was sold to Pepsi for 4 billion DKK in 1997.[1][2] The three businessmen were among the first clients of the attorney Jeffrey Galmond in Saint Petersburg.[1] They moved to brewing and founded a brewing company Bravo International OOO in August 1996 which became Bravo International JSC in December 1997.[3][4] Bravo Brewery became a success on the premium beer Botchkarov.

Danish journalists noted that the Committee on External Economic Relations in the Mayor's office was responsible for foreigners in Saint Petersburg. The committee's chairman was Vladimir Putin who had approved more than 9000 joint ventures.[2][3][5][6]

In 2005 an article in The Guardian wondered where the Icelandic money comes from and noted that in the 1990s these Icelandic businessmen "were not only ploughing money into the country but doing it in the city regarded as the Russian mafia capital. That investment was being made in the drinks sector, seen by the mafia as the industry of choice."[7] Competitors in the Saint Petersburg brewing market faced problems. Ilya Weismann, deputy director of a competing beverage company Baltic, was assassinated on 10 January 2000.[2] Then Baltic director general Aslanbek Chochiev was assassinated.[2] One competing Saint Petersburg brewery burned to the ground.[3][7]

Bravo Brewery became the fastest growing brewery in Russia. Heineken bought the brewery for $400m in 2002.[3][8]

Consul of Russia

In 2000, Saint Petersburg opened an honorary consulate in Iceland. Thor Bjorgolfsson was appointed Consul and Magnus Thorsteinsson was appointed Honorary Vice-Consul.[3] The opening ceremony was held on 10 March 2000.[3]

New businesses

Magnús acquired 51% of stocks in Air Atlanta Icelandic in 2002 and a majority share in Landsbanki with other controversial business partners, Björgólfur Thor Björgólfsson and Björgólfur Guðmundsson. Magnús lost most of his fortune in the 2008 financial crisis due to the high leverage in his investments in contracts for difference, the so-called CFD scheme, in which banks issue loans secured by shares, which, under Icelandic law, the loan was for up to 25% of the equity of the shares, and earnings come from the exchange rate difference: for example, between high inflation rate-weak currency Iceland and either Japan or Switzerland which, in the early 2000s, had a relatively strong currency compared to the Icelandic króna and low inflation rate.[6]

Iceland banks, such as Glitnir, Kaupthing and Magnús's Landsbanki, had many Russian oligarchs and Russian entities as clients including Oleg Deripaska, Rusal, Roman Abramovich, Renova, Mikhail Fridman, Alfa Group, Alisher Usmanov, Sberbank, Gennady Timchenko, Gunvor, Igor Sechin, Rosneft, Norilsk Nickel.[2] In 2008 before the economic difficulties, Russians had $20 billion in capital in Iceland's banking sector.[2] Because the accounts were frozen after the 2008 financial collapse in Iceland, some of the Russian clients and entities were issued promissary notes (bonds) in the banks and Iceland government after the bankruptcy of Icelandic banks and the collapse of the government of Iceland hoping to be the first to receive, as investors, some of the $6 billion of the bailout money which came later from IMF in addition to recovering the Russian's frozen assets for almost nothing after the bankrupted banks were forced to sell their assets.[2][6] Previously, according to Filipe Turover Chudínov, many Russians stole IMF funds after the 1998 financial collapse of Russia.[9][10][11][12][13][lower-alpha 1]

Notes

  1. ↑ Later, Alexander Perepilichnyy, Boris Berezovsky, Jody Kris, and others claimed that Iceland banks had participated in money laundering by Russia.[14][15][16]

References

  1. 1 2 "Diskret dansk advokat milliardær: Den omstridte danske advokat i Rusland, J.P. Galmond, har - midt i gigantstrid - solgt russisk internetfirma for næsten en mia. kr" [Discreet Danish lawyer billionaire: The controversial Danish lawyer in Russia, JP Galmond, has - in the midst of giant strife - sold Russian internet company for almost a billion. kr.]. Berlingske (in Danish). 23 June 2005. Archived from the original on 18 March 2020. Retrieved 18 March 2020.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Прибыловский, Владимир (Pribylovsky, Vladimir); Морарь, Наталья (Morar, Natalia); Барабанов, Илья (Barabanov, Ilya) [in Russian]; Альбац, Евгения (Albats, Evgenia) (20 October 2008). "От Питера до Рейкьявика: Чьи деньги спасают в Исландии" [From Peter to Reykjavik: Whose money is being saved in Iceland]. The New Times (in Russian). Retrieved 29 January 2021. {{cite news}}: Check |archive-url= value (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Россия желает спасать Исландию из-за давних офшорных связей чиновников и бизнесменов". The New Times. 2008-10-21.. Another copy: "Зачем Россия спасает Исландию". Rususa. 2008-10-21. Archived from the original on 2011-07-15.. An automatic translation: "Discussion of the relationship between Iceland and Russia from the Russian newspaper". Archived from the original on 2008-10-23. Retrieved 2010-04-06.
  4. ↑ Нерсесов, Юрий (23 January 2003). Жертвы иудейской войны. stringer-news.ru website. Retrieved 3 June 2021.
  5. ↑ Мандерап, Джон (Mynderup, John); Элькер, Бо (Elkjser, Bo) [in Danish]; Пимонов, Владимир (Pimonov, Vladimir) (29 October 2006). "Финансовый воротила: "Михаил Фридман является классическим примером одного из новых богатых людей в России, случайно заработавшего на развале Советского Союза"" [Financial tycoon: "Mikhail Fridman is a classic example of one of the new rich people in Russia who accidentally made money from the collapse of the Soviet Union."]. Ekstra Bladet (in Russian). Archived from the original on 21 November 2006. Retrieved 29 January 2021.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  6. 1 2 3 Морарь, Наталья (Natalia, Morar) (27 October 2008). "Русская Исландия: российские инвесторы пытаются спасти свои активы, застрявшие в обанкротившихся исландских банках. The New Times изучила, кто из россиян и почему так полюбил далекий северный остров" [Russian Iceland: Russian investors are trying to save their assets stuck in bankrupt Icelandic banks. The New Times studied which of the Russians and why they fell in love with the distant northern island so much]. The New Times (in Russian). Archived from the original on 8 November 2009. Retrieved 21 January 2021.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  7. 1 2 Griffiths, Ian (2005-06-16). "Next-generation Viking invasion - They've got the cash to buy big UK groups like M&S. But where does it come from?". London: The Guardian.
  8. ↑ Burgess, Kate (29 March 2015). "Monday interview: Thor Bjorgolfsson, investor". Financial Times. Archived from the original on 29 August 2020. Retrieved 29 January 2021.
  9. ↑ Лурье, Олег (Lurie, Oleg) [in Russian] (24 July 2000). "Если Касьянов приедет в Швейцарию, его вызовут к следователю?" [If Kasyanov arrives in Switzerland, will he be summoned to the investigator?]. Novaya Gazeta (in Russian). Archived from the original on 2 December 2013. Retrieved 8 January 2021.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  10. ↑ "NEWSPAPER SCANDAL OVER IMF DIVERSION EXPANDS". Jamestown Foundation. 25 July 2000. Retrieved 29 January 2021.
  11. ↑ "La Repubblica: Деньги МВФ были разворованы" [La Repubblica: IMF money was stolen]. la Repubblica (in Russian). 6 October 1999. Retrieved 29 January 2021 – via Lenta.ru. {{cite news}}: Check |archive-url= value (help)
  12. ↑ Лурье, Олег (Lurie, Oleg) [in Russian] (23 October 2000). "Интервью Туровера. "Если я приеду, получу пулю в аэропорту." Крупнейшие финансовые структуры России времен Ельцина- это насосы для перекачки украденных миллиардов в карманы "семьи" и ее окружения" [Turover's interview. "If I come, I'll get a bullet at the airport." The largest financial structures in Russia during the Yeltsin era are pumps for pumping stolen billions into the pockets of the "family" and its entourage]. Novaya Gazeta (in Russian). Retrieved 29 January 2021. {{cite news}}: Check |archive-url= value (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  13. ↑ Лурье, Олег (Lurie, Oleg) [in Russian] (1 April 2005). "Эпизоды Касьянова" [Kasyanov's Episodes]. ВВП (Валовой внутренний продукт) (2vp.ru) (in Russian). Archived from the original on 9 April 2005. Retrieved 29 January 2021.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  14. ↑ "More Icelanders named in Panama Papers". Iceland Monitor. 8 April 2016. Archived from the original on 8 April 2016. Retrieved 29 January 2021.
  15. ↑ O'Brien, Timothy L. (23 June 2017). "Hey Mueller, You Should Check Out Iceland". Bloomberg News. Archived from the original on 24 June 2017. Retrieved 29 January 2021.
  16. ↑ O'Brien, Timothy L. (21 June 2017). "Trump Russia and a Shadowy Business Partnership". Bloomberg News. Archived from the original on 23 June 2017. Retrieved 29 January 2021.

Avion Group's Official Web Site

Magnús Þorsteinsson declared bankrupt - RÚV 04.05.2009


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