But the legal battle that an investment company has set in motion over the ownership of Jokulsarlon, an otherworldly glacier lagoon on Iceland’s southeastern coast, is also a key test of the new government’s business credentials. Tourism receipts for 2016 are estimated at 34 per cent of total exports by Islandsbanki, the island’s second largest lender. “If my clients win this case, we’ll get powerful investors pushing the project ahead,” Jonatansson said in an interview. It’s now facing a legal challenge from two powerful U.S. funds with millions of dollars worth of assets trapped behind the country’s capital controls. Jonatansson, the lawyer, says he hopes the standoff over the Jokulsarlon lagoon can be resolved “before the summer.”Like agent 007 in that 2002 movie, the investors would rather Die Another Day.

Source: National Post February 09, 2017 18:18 UTC