Eksportfinans ASA has filed a petition to freeze assets in Norway owned by an Icelandic bank In addition, the Board of Directors of Eksportfinans ASAwill file a report to the police in Iceland regarding the embezzlement. Eksportfinans’ claim on the Icelandic bank is NOK 500 million, of which NOK 415 million is related to embezzlement.
The petition to freeze assets was sent to Sunnmøre County Court Monday afternoon, and involves Glitnir HF’s shares in the Norwegian subsidiary of the bank, Glitnir ASA, as well as the bank’s claims in Norway.
The reason behind the filed petition to freeze assets is loans to Norwegian ship yards which Eksportfinans took over from Glitnir HF in 2005. The loans were given in accordance with Eksportfinans’ guidelines, based on a guarantee from Glitnir HF. Eksportfinans’ business policy is to have two involved parties to cover the risk of the loans – a debtor and a guarantor. Glitnir HF is the agent bank in the loan agreement, and handles all cash flows to and from Eksportfinans and the customers. This is common practice in Eksportfinans’ lending, and regulated in a separate Agent Bank Agreement.
When the loans in question were prepaid from the ship yards as early as 2006 for one of the loans, and from March 2008 onwards for two other loans, Glitnir HF withheld this information from Eksportfinans. The money was not transferred from Glitnir HF to Eksportfinans in accordance with the Agent Bank Agreement.
In addition Eksportfinans participates in an international loan syndicate directly to Glitnir HF on Island. The loan is declared in default by the syndicate. Eksportfinans’ claim under this loan is NOK 85 million.
Eksportfinans emphasizes that it is not Glitnir’s companies in Norway that are being accused of embezzlement, but the Icelandic parent company. As per today, Eksportfinans has no issues outstanding with Glitnir’s Norwegian subsidiaries
- We are currently doing everything in our power to secure our assets. We view the situation as an apparent embezzlement, and regard this as a highly unusual situation. We can say with confidence that we have never experienced anything similar in the 46 years since the company’s establishment, said President and CEO Gisele Marchand at a press conference held at Eksportfinans yesterday.
To view a PDF of the press release please click here
For further information, please contact:
CEO and President Gisele Marchand, tel: +47 41 51 74 89, e-mail: gma@eksportfinans.no
Head of Communications Elise Lindbæk, tel: + 47 22 01 22 64, mobile: +47 90 51 82 50, e-mail: el@eksportfinans.no