Big Shakers in Little Iceland

Unfortunately, this might be a subscription required article...

anyway, has anyone else noticed the sudden preponderance of Icelandic acquisitions and financial news? Turns out the little volcanic hotspot in the North Atlantic is gearing up to be the next Ireland or Luxembourg, and its companies are reaching out across Europe and the world in a quest for growth. An excerpt:

Economist.com | Icelandic businessmen abroad: "A broad answer is almost 14 years of deregulating and privatising government. Specifically, Iceland, like Luxembourg or Ireland, has become a friendly place for financiers and, like Switzerland, is not subject to EU tax-prying: Burdaras's biggest shareholder is Landsbanki's Luxembourg private bank. And corporate profits, taxed at 50% in 1991, and, after cuts, still at 30% in 2001, now pay 18%, the lowest tax-rate in the OECD after Ireland and Hungary."

More details about actual mergers and the like are in the article. All in all, quite interesting and some serious rumblings and tremors are emanating from the land of fire and ice across the globe.