Canada's Magma says not trying to buy up all Iceland energy

Canada's Magma Energy, whose ongoing take-over of an Icelandic geothermal power company has caused uproar in the island nation, countered charges on Tuesday it was planning to take over the country's entire energy sector.

"As we see it, the current debate is full of misleading and incorrect information," Asgeir Margeirsson, who heads Magma's Iceland branch, told AFP, insisting the Canadian group had no intention of buying up multiple Icelandic energy companies.

"That is totally incorrect. We are aiming at only one stake in one power company," he said.

Magma's ongoing acquisition of HS Orka, Iceland's largest privately owned energy company that produces about nine percent of the country's power using its geothermal sources, has led to public outcry.

Icelandic singer Bjork has headed a campaign against the take-over, calling last month for a referendum on foreign ownership of energy resources and more transparency in talks around the deal.

In an interview with AFP on Monday, the 44-year-old artist who was crowned Best Actress in Cannes in 2000 for "Dancer in the Dark" charged that Magma was "checking out if they could buy out all Iceland's energy sources."

The Orka HS acquisition had been set for completion at the end of July, but following the campaign against it, the left-wing coalition government said it would probe the takeover and look into whether it could restore public ownership of Iceland's power groups.

Margeirsson said on Tuesday the deal would be concluded "hopefully in a few days," insisting that his company was working in accordance with Icelandic law.

"As the law is now, and it's quite a recent law, privatisation is allowed and foreign investments are allowed," he said, also countering that Magma was grabbing one of Iceland's most valuable resources.

"The truth is that the (geothermal) resources are owned by the public. We just get a lease for exploiting them. In our case, we're speaking about a lease which stems from an agreement that fulfills the provisions of the law," he insisted.