Mainland billionaire Huang Nubo is unfazed by the Icelandic government's rejection of his ambitious land-buying plan and he will continue to pursue similar projects in northern Europe, his spokeswoman said yesterday.
Huang, 55, chairman of Beijing Zhongkun Investment Group, was rejected by the Internal Affairs Ministry in Reykjavik on Friday over his attempt to buy 300 square kilometres of land on the north shore of Iceland, or 0.3 per cent of the country, citing various legal issues, including that Huang had not stayed or lived in Iceland for more than five years.
Yao Chen , spokeswoman for Zhongkun, said by phone that Huang and the company were now looking for similar projects in Scandinavian countries.
Yao said the Icelandic project was originally designed to have luxury resorts on converted wasteland with an estimated investment of US$200 million to attract rich tourists from China.
'Finland, Sweden and Denmark have all thrown us olive branches with offerings for similar projects,' she said. 'We are not upset by the rejection in Iceland. We will continue our worldwide expansion.'
However, Huang, when interviewed by mainland media, had a much stronger reaction.
'The denial reflects the unjust and parochial investment environment facing private Chinese enterprises abroad,' Huang told China Daily. 'The so-called political stability for foreign investments is not like what we think we know, or what they preach.'