Got a spare $324 million? Buy a slice of this strategic Arctic archipelago

The last piece of privately-owned land in the Arctic archipelago Svalbard is up for sale for a cool 300 million euros ($324 million).

Spanning 14,830 acres (23.2 square miles), the land has “significant environmental, scientific and economic importance,” according to a listing from agent Knight Frank.

The archipelago is located between mainland Norway and the North Pole, and has taken on greater geopolitical importance as the sea ice melts, opening new shipping routes and increasing its strategic value.

(The Arctic is of increasing geopolitical importance as climate change melts sea ice. Knight Frank)

“Considering the geopolitical and strategical aspects, the commercial potential, the climate changes and the increasing interest of the arctic areas in general, the property represents a unique opportunity,” according to the sellers.

The land is found at Wedel Jarlsberg in western Svalbard and can be reached in three hours by boat from Longyearbyen, the largest settlement in the archipelago, which offers regular flights to the Norwegian capital Oslo, according to the listing.

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Located inside a fjord, the plot has five kilometers (three miles) of shoreline, as well as mountains, glaciers and “an abundance of wildlife,” reads the listing.

(The land is governed by the Svalbard Treaty. Knight Frank)

An eventual buyer will in fact acquire Aktieselskabet Kulspids, a privately owned Norwegian limited company which owns the land.

Per Kyllingstad, a lawyer representing the sellers, told CNN that the company was formed more than a century ago by a group of wealthy industrialist families from Oslo, who explored the possibility of mining asbestos on the land.

Since discovering that this is not feasible, there’s been almost no activity there, Kyllingstad said Monday.

 (The land is the last piece of private property in Svalbard. Knight Frank)

Potential buyers include nation states, government agencies or ultra high net worth individuals, Jonathan Webb, a lawyer for Zeiler Floyd Zadkovich, an international firm which is working with Kyllingstad on the sale, told CNN.

Ref: Got a spare $324 million? Buy a slice of this strategic Arctic archipelago

Photo Credit: Knight Frank