Investment
Opportunities
in the Arctic 2024

Minister for Foreign Affairs of Iceland

Thórdís Kolbrún Reykfjörd Gylfadóttir 

Thórdís Kolbrún Reykfjörd Gylfadóttir took office as Minister for Foreign Affairs on 9 April 2024. Before that she was Minister of Finance and Economic Affairs (October 2023 to April 2024), Minister for Foreign Affairs (2021-2023) and Minister of Tourism, Industry and Innovation (2017-2021). She was also Minister of Justice in 2019. She is the Vice Chairman of the Independence Party and has been a member of Althingi, the Icelandic parliament, since 2016. She holds a Master‘s Degree in Law from Reykjavík University.

As a Minister for Foreign Affairs, Thórdís Kolbrún has placed a particular emphasis on the Arctic, the response to the Russian Invasion of Ukraine, individual human rights and the rights of women. A policy on Arctic affairs was adopted by the Icelandic parliament Althingi with a parliamentary resolution in May 2021 (No 24/151). A strategy for implementing the policy will be published soon on the Ministry‘s website.

Ardian (world leading private investment house, including large infrastructure investments)

Marion Calcine

Chief Investment Officer at Ardian Infrastructure
& Member of the Ardian France Executive Board

Marion Calcine is Chief Investment Officer at Ardian Infrastructure and member of the Ardian France Executive Board. As CIO she supervises investment processes for Ardian Infrastructure Funds in Europe and in the Americas. She has participated in a number of transactions on behalf of Ardian (Indigo car parks in France, Ascendi motorways in Portugal, London Luton Airports, and more than 500MW of renewable assets in Italy). She currently serves, or has previously served, on the boards of 3New, 4New, 2i Rete Gas, Trados M45 and Míla. Her background is in statistics and actuarial science.

Ardian is a world-leading independent private investment house, managing or advising $166bn of assets on behalf of more than 1,650 clients globally. Its expertise, spanning Private Equity, Real Assets and Credit, enables Ardian to offer a wide range of investment opportunities and respond flexibly to clients’ differing needs. Ardian’s 1,050+ employees, spread across 19 offices in Europe, the Americas, Asia and Middle East, are strongly committed to the principles of Responsible Investment.

Ardian Infrastructure manages $30bn+ and invests in private companies across 3 sectors (energy, digital, transportation), in Europe and the Americas. Ardian, thanks to its investments in Míla and Verne Global, is the largest foreign investor in private companies in Iceland.

Controlant (Technology)

Gudmundur Árnason

CFO

Gudmundur Árnason joined Controlant in 2015 as Chief Financial Officer when it was still in its startup phase. In his role, he has been responsible for financial management and funding of the company through its growth from a startup to a global leader in its field. Prior to joining Controlant, he served as a director at Reviva Capital, leading large scale asset recovery projects in multiple countries.

Controlant is a global leader in the digital transformation of pharma supply chains. Its vision is to deliver zero-waste supply chains for its partners and the planet through digitalisation, automation, and transformation. Offering a validated real-time visibility platform, command center, services, and advanced IoT devices, the company‘s solutions are trusted by many of the world's leading pharmaceutical and logistics companies. Controlant employs close to 300 employees with operations in Denmark, Poland, the Netherlands and the US in addition to its headquarters in Iceland.

COWI (Engineering and Architecture)

Jasper Kyndi

Executive Business Development Director

Jasper Kyndi leads COWI's global efforts in the Buildings, Industry and Architecture markets. He has over 25 years of international experience from COWI and elsewhere and from 2020 to 2024 he was a member of the board of COWI. Since January 2024, he has also served as senior leader of Arkitema, an architect firm with app. 550 employees. Previously, Mr. Kyndi was also leading COWI's efforts in Greenland across all sectors.

COWI is a Northern European engineering consultant and architect with primary focus on the markets in the Nordics, UK and North America. COWIs focus areas are Buildings & Industry, Transportation and Energy. In 2023, the Icelandic firm Mannvit became part of COWI. COWI group has app. 8000 employees.

First Water (onshore Salmon fish farming operations)

Eggert Thór Kristófersson

CEO

Eggert Thór Kristófersson is the CEO of First Water. From 1995 he has held a variety of managerial positions at Íslandsbanki (later Glitnir bank). He was the CFO and the CEO of N1 (later Festi), a listed company on the Icelandic stock exchange until end of July 2022. In September 2022 he was appointed the CEO of First Water.

First Water is an Icelandic land-based salmon farming company, currently constructing a large-scale fish farm for Atlantic salmon in Thorlákshöfn on 52 hectares of land just west of the town. In addition, they acquired an up-and-running hatchery in Öxnalækur in 2020 and have plans for 50,000 tonnes annual production in 6 phases with full capacity by the end of 2029.

Vaxa (controlled environment agriculture)

Andri Björn Gunnarsson

Founder and CEO

Andri Björn founded VAXA in 2017. VAXA grows high quality leafy greens in a fully controlled environment in two indoor farms located in Reykjavík, Iceland and Örebro, Sweden. Controlled environment agriculture (CEA) enables improved use of valuable resources such as land, water and energy whilst providing customers with high-quality produce all year round – consistently fresh and pesticide free.

Prior to starting VAXA, Andri worked for over ten years within the financial sector in both the UK and Switzerland. After graduating from the European Business School London (Regent’s University) he started at Man Group Plc, an investment management firm listed on the London Stock Exchange, before moving to Zürich where he was Head of Business Development for a fintech company in the private equity sector.

Arion Bank (Financials)

Benedikt Gíslason

CEO

Benedikt Gíslason became CEO of Arion Bank in 2019. He has over two decades of experience in the Icelandic financial market. Since 1998 he has held a variety of managerial positions at FBA (later Íslandsbanki), Straumur Investment Bank and MP Bank. Mr Gíslason was vice-chairman of a government task force on the liberalisation of the capital controls between 2013-2016. He served on the board of directors of Kaupthing from 2016-2018 and the board of directors of Arion Bank in September 2018 until his appointment as CEO.

Arion Bank provides universal services to households, corporates and investors in three business segments: Retail Banking, Corporate & Investment Banking, and Markets. Their services are further augmented by the subsidiaries Stefnir Funds and Vördur Insurance. As development increases in the Arctic, Arion Bank has been forging a strategy for the region. In the last three years, Arion’s Arctic loan book has grown more than 50%.

Arion Bank (Financials)

Ida Brá Benediktsdóttir

Deputy CEO and Managing Director of Retail Banking

Ida Brá has worked for Arion Bank and its predecessor since 1999 when she joined the research department. She has held various positions within the Bank including Head of a department within treasury and Head of Corporate Communications. Ida Brá was Managing Director of Investment Banking from 2016 to 2017. Ida Brá served on the board of numerous companies, including Ólafsfjördur savings bank, AFL – savings bank, Landfestar and HB Grandi hf. Ida is a member of the Board of Directors of the Nordic Financial CERT.

BBA//Fjeldco (Legal services)

Gunnar Thor Thorarinsson

Partner and Head of London office

Gunnar Thor Thorarinsson heads the London office of BBA//Fjeldco and specialises in corporate law, corporate finance and acquisitions. Mr. Thorarinsson is dual-qualified to practise as a lawyer in Iceland and England and has over 20 years’ experience working with international investors as well as entrepreneurs and institutions in Iceland, the UK and further afield. Gunnar is on the board of the British-Icelandic Chamber of Commerce and has served on the boards of various Icelandic and English companies.

BBA//Fjeldco’s London office employs expert English corporate and finance lawyers with decades of experience in working with international investors in relation to Icelandic businesses and opportunities. Their understanding of the difference between UK and Icelandic approaches helps them seek solutions and ease transactions for all parties. In addition to being the leading Icelandic firm advising domestic and international clients on general corporate and transactional matters, BBA//Fjeldco is an innovator in the sustainable energy advisory sector with their newly established Elements subsidiary as well as their designated Arctic Desk.

Event moderator

Leslie Hook

Financial Times - Natural Resources Editor

Leslie Hook is the FT’s Natural Resources Editor, leading the FT’s global coverage of commodities, energy and mining. An award-winning journalist, she has reported from more than a dozen countries across Asia and Europe.

Her previous roles at the FT include Environment and Clean Energy Correspondent, San Francisco Correspondent, Lex Writer, and Beijing Correspondent.

Prior to joining the FT in 2010, she was at the Wall Street Journal and the Far Eastern Economic Review in Hong Kong. Leslie was also a 2013-2014 fellow at the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard University.