Thordur Magnusson, Chairman, and Arni Oddur Thordarson, CEO, founded Eyrir Invest in mid-2000 and have been the company’s principal owners since then. In its early years, Eyrir Invest participated in many restructuring projects in Iceland, including playing an instrumental role in the bank merger of Bunadarbanki and Kaupthing.
In 2004, Eyrir Invest purchased a considerable share in Marel and Össur and defined them as long-term active holdings with an emphasis on participating in operation, strategic planning and capital allocation of these companies.
In 2005 and 2006, new financially sound investors joined Eyrir Invest. Their participation substantially strengthened the company and its capacity to pursue further growth.
The year 2007 brought the conclusion of a two-year battle over Stork, a three-division conglomerate based in the Netherlands. Eventually Eyrir Invest and Landsbankinn joined forces with Candover to bid for the whole company for a total value of EUR 1.7 billion.
The financial crisis in autumn 2008 that led to economic downturn at higher magnitude than we have seen for decades provided Eyrir Invest with new challenges. Eyrir Invest had no exposure to the Icelandic banks and had since 2006/2007 been focused on building up a strong cash position and securing long-term funding. For Eyrir Invest, the highlight of 2008 was the successful conclusion in May of Marel’s acquisition of its long-term partner Stork Food Systems. After the acquisition, Marel is a global leader within its field, with a 15% worldwide market share, and is subsequently better placed to serve its global customers.
In November 2008, Eyrir Invest increased its share in Stork B.V. by acquiring NBI’s (Landsbankinn) share in the company. The acquisition was financed with a share issue in Eyrir Invest, thus strengthening the company’s financials.
In September 2009, Össur’s shares were dual-listed on the Nasdaq OMX Copenhagen Exchange in addition to its
listing on the Nasdaq OMX Reykjavik Exchange. Marel made significant progress in strengthening its financials in 2009.
In the last decade Eyrir Invest has proved its ability to successfully navigate the economic landscape. Opportunities have been identified and seized. Equally importantly the right timing of exit in projects have been successfully executed.
An important part of Eyrir Invest strategy is to maintain financial strength both in our own operation as well as in our core holdings. This strategy is important and proved to be vital when the crisis hit the global economy in September 2008. High liquidity of cash and financial assets as well as Eyrir Invest's focus on maintaining a debt maturity profile of at least 4 years were key elements of Eyrir Invest's successful navigation through the crisis. Eyrir Invest was prepared to deal with the crisis and acted quickly when the outlook began to deteriorate.
The world economy was gaining strength in 2010. Marel has been advancing at tremendous speed; order intake has exceeded order booked off for 7 consecutive quarters. Marel also finished long term financing for the whole company. The outlook for the aerospace sector could not be more different now than one year ago, once again the aerospace industry has proved that it really is a growth industry. The oil and gas industry is gaining strength; profitability has been restored and growth is expected to continue. In 2010 Calidirs was sold to Sabre Airlines Solution. Calidris is a great example of a successful build up in our venture portfolio. ReMake was added to our portfolio in 2010.
Our core holdings reported solid operational results with strong cash flows in 2010. Looking forward, Eyrir Invest and core investments are well managed and ready to capture future opportunities.