ICELAND seems to be the place full of money if last week”s airline share purchasing is anything to go by. Icelandair, part of the country”s largest private company, has bought 8% of easyJet but says it is not at the present time launching a takeover bid for the Luton-based carrier. In any event founder Stelios Haji-Ioannou and his family own 41% of the airline. Shares rose 16% on Friday to 152p against a 12 month peak of 380p and a low of 118p. Rival Icelandic company Avion, the renamed Air Atlanta aviation group (from 1 January 2005), had acquired a further 30% stake in charter company Excel Airways from the Libra Group effectively taking over the airline.
http://www.icelandair.co.uk
http://www.airatlanta.com