Icelanders make a raid on American Airlines

Those northern raiders from Iceland are at it again. Fresh from forays into the shareholdings of Finnair, easyJet, Icelandair and Sterling Airlines, FL Group is now setting its sights on America.
American Airlines to be precise. The Icelandic investment company has revealed that its shareholding in the US major has jumped to a significant 8.63%. That makes it the biggest single shareholder in the company it believes.
"We have been following the airline industry in the United States and we believe AMR Corporation (the parent of American Airlines) presents strong prospects for 2007," said FL Group chief executive Hannes Smarason yesterday at its annual general meeting.
The strong recovery strategy being pursued by American, led by its award-winning CEO Gerard Arpey, is clearly being closely watched by the investment community. Only a few days agorumours surfaced that another group, supposedly including Goldman Sachs and British Airways was sniffing around American.
There will be some sharp eyes on American's stock price over the coming days and weeks.