Danish pension fund is largest shareholder in Greenland gold miner Amaroq
A Danish pension fund was the single biggest shareholder in Amaroq Minerals when the company moved to the main market of the London Stock Exchange last week, according to Icelandic business newspaper Viðskiptablaðið, which reviewed the shareholder register published in the company’s prospectus.
Amaroq operates the Nalunaq gold mine in southern Greenland, the country’s only producing gold mine, and holds exploration licences across the region. The company was founded by Icelandic businessman Eldur Ólafsson and is one of the few mining ventures in Greenland to have moved from exploration into production.
Industriens Pension, which manages retirement savings for Danish industrial workers, held just under 21.6 million shares at the time of the listing, or 4.63 percent of the company.
The Pension Fund for State Employees in Iceland was the second largest holder with 21.1 million shares, or 4.53 percent. Denmark’s Export and Investment Fund, the state financing body known as EIFO, held 4.14 percent.
Ólafsson, who is also chief executive, held 16.6 million shares, or 3.56 percent. Livermore held 3.16 percent, First Pecos 3.14 percent and the Icelandic pension fund Gildi 3.06 percent.
Those were the only shareholders Amaroq knew of holding at least 3 percent as of 28 July. Together they controlled 122.2 million of the company’s 466.2 million issued shares, or 26.22 percent. None held special voting rights, and the company said it was not aware of any single party exercising control over it.
The pattern points to how Greenland’s mining sector is being financed. Institutional money from Denmark and Iceland, including state-backed lenders and pension savings, sits alongside the company’s founder at the top of the register, at a time when Greenlandic resource projects are drawing increasing political attention in Copenhagen, Brussels and Washington.
Amaroq shares began trading on the London main market on Friday, 31 July, after the UK Financial Conduct Authority approved the company’s prospectus. The listing on the AIM growth market was cancelled at the same time. All 466.2 million shares now trade under the ticker AMRQ, and the company remains listed on Nasdaq Iceland.
