Heiðar calls lawsuit over Sýn stake a smear campaign

Heiðar Guðjónsson, chairman of Íslandsbanki and former chief executive of Sýn, says a smear campaign is being waged against him over his sale of a 12.72 per cent stake in the company in July 2022, mbl.is reports.

Gavia Invest, which bought the stake, has filed a damages lawsuit against Heiðar. The investment company alleges that he possessed inside information and withheld information about Sýn’s position when the sale took place. Gavia says Heiðar should have realised that the company faced a significant decline in revenue.

Heiðar rejects the allegations and also denies suggestions that his alleged violations were reported to the Financial Supervisory Authority of Iceland. He points out that the authority carefully assesses the suitability of board members at systemically important financial institutions.

“I am chairman of Íslandsbanki. The Financial Supervisory Authority assesses very carefully whether the person concerned is suitable to sit on the board of a systemically important financial institution. How likely is it that there are unresolved matters with the Financial Supervisory Authority concerning me and that I could become chairman of the board of one of the country’s largest financial institutions?” Heiðar said.

Claims coordinated campaign

Heiðar said the case was part of a broader smear campaign against him and criticised the media coverage.

“This is a smear campaign, and there is nothing to these allegations, nothing at all,” he said.

He said the timing of reports about the case indicated that it was a coordinated campaign, pointing in particular to a statement from Sýn and the coverage that followed.

“It is enough to look at the timing of these reports and how they appeared one after another. Then there is some very unusual statement from Sýn saying that something exists, but also that it does not. Then fully written articles appear 15 minutes later from RÚV and others. So this is entirely a coordinated campaign,” Heiðar said.

Increased stake seven weeks before sale

Heiðar said he attended a working meeting with Sýn’s key managers in June 2022, where the company’s future prospects were discussed.

“We believed that the company’s share price could rise above 100 and approach 150 over the following three years,” he said.

In early June, just over seven weeks before selling his stake, Heiðar increased his holding by buying two million shares at 57.5 Icelandic krónur per share.

“I then sold in July because doctors told me, after a serious illness, that I could not work any more,” he said.

Buyer demanded shareholders’ meeting

Heiðar completed the sale of his 12.72 per cent stake to Gavia Invest at 64 krónur per share during the weekend of 23 and 24 July 2022. The purchase price was nearly 2.2 billion krónur.

The sale and Heiðar’s departure as Sýn’s chief executive were announced on 25 July. The following day, Gavia Invest demanded that a new board be elected at the company.

Heiðar stressed that he had neither sought buyers for his stake nor initiated the transaction.

“I did not have these shares on the market. I had not contacted these buyers and asked them to buy from me. They simply called out of the blue through a bank’s brokerage and wanted to buy, naming a price. I named another price, and the transaction went through.”