Iceland's government on Friday denied Chinese billionaire investor Huang Nubo permission to purchase land in the island's north, arguing such a transfer of property would be "incompatible" with the country's laws.
The government won't allow Huang, through his company Beijing Zhongkun Investment Group Co, to proceed with a planned purchase of 300 square kilometers of land, the Reykjavik-based Internal Affairs Ministry said in an e-mailed statement on Friday.
Icelandic law "imposes strict conditions on corporations wishing to acquire ownership or the right to utilize Icelandic properties and it's clear that the company in question doesn't fulfill any of the requirements," the ministry said.
Huang was planning to invest about US$200 million in the land to build a resort with a hotel, golf course and racecourse, according to an October 26 article in China Dialogue.
In a September interview with Bloomberg News, Huang said he was in talks to buy the land for US$8.8 million from a group of farmers and was awaiting approval from the government. Huang was estimated by Forbes magazine to have a fortune of US$1.02 billion.
"The question is not how can we turn down direct foreign investment of this magnitude, but rather how can one nation do anything else but comply with the laws it has passed for itself?" Internal Affairs Minister Ogmundur Jonasson said by phone.
"It would have been easy to circumvent these laws, by establishing an Icelandic limited liability company. That reminds us of the necessity to reconsider these laws from top to bottom."
The government won't allow Huang, through his company Beijing Zhongkun Investment Group Co, to proceed with a planned purchase of 300 square kilometers of land, the Reykjavik-based Internal Affairs Ministry said in an e-mailed statement on Friday.
Icelandic law "imposes strict conditions on corporations wishing to acquire ownership or the right to utilize Icelandic properties and it's clear that the company in question doesn't fulfill any of the requirements," the ministry said.
Huang was planning to invest about US$200 million in the land to build a resort with a hotel, golf course and racecourse, according to an October 26 article in China Dialogue.
In a September interview with Bloomberg News, Huang said he was in talks to buy the land for US$8.8 million from a group of farmers and was awaiting approval from the government. Huang was estimated by Forbes magazine to have a fortune of US$1.02 billion.
"The question is not how can we turn down direct foreign investment of this magnitude, but rather how can one nation do anything else but comply with the laws it has passed for itself?" Internal Affairs Minister Ogmundur Jonasson said by phone.
"It would have been easy to circumvent these laws, by establishing an Icelandic limited liability company. That reminds us of the necessity to reconsider these laws from top to bottom."
