Icelandic investment group FL said it made a €140 million profit from the sale of its 16.9 per cent stake in easyJet and that the sale was mainly due to other investment opportunities.
"FL Group first invested in easyJet just under two years ago and the investment has proved to be a great success which has provided a foundation on which we have built FL Group," FL Chief Executive Hannes Smarason said in a statement today.
FL said that following the sale and its recent bond issue it has liquid assets of €600 million, giving it considerable investment capacity, and that its own financial position remained very strong.
"Realising profit from the investment was appropriate for the FL Group at this time. We are working on several interesting investment projects and the sale gives us the opportunity to look at more projects and of greater scale," Mr Smarason said.
The group said concerns over the Icelandic economy did not take fully into account the assets that have been acquired by Icelanders abroad.
FL Group said it remained committed to its investments in Icelandair, and in Finnair in which it has a 10 per cent stake.