Thor Bjorgolfsson is the largest shareholder in Actavis, one of the world’s leading companies involved in the development, manufacture and sale of generic pharmaceuticals. He has been Chairman of Actavis's board since 2000.

He is an entrepreneur and investor with significant interests in pharmaceuticals, telecommunications and financial services. Mr Bjorgolfsson began his investment activities in Russia, where he was the co-founder of the Bravo brewery in St Petersburg. After nearly ten years of expansion, Bravo was sold to Heineken NV. Mr Bjorgolfsson acquired Balkanpharma (now Actavis Bulgaria) in 1999, through his joint investment fund, Amber, and later merged it with Pharmaco (now the Actavis Group).

Mr Bjorgolfsson sits on the Boards of various organisations and is the Chairman of Icelandic investment fund Burdaras and of Samson Holding, the latter being a significant investor in Landsbanki, a leading bank in Iceland. Thor Bjorgolfsson is also a General Consul of Iceland, representing the country in north-west Russia.

He engineered the merger of Pharmaco and its chief competitor, Delta. Renamed Actavis, the $600 million (sales) generic pharmaceutical maker is today the second-most-valuable company on the Iceland Stock Exchange, and Thor's 36% stake is worth $700 million. In September 2003 he and his partners started buying up shares in Eimskip, Iceland's oldest shipping line, paying $35 million for a 9% stake. At the same time, Landsbanki was also buying, paying $71 million for 19%. Within six months, with Thor now as chairman, they dumped the fishing assets for $300 million and restructured the firm into a financial holding company called Burdaras, which plans a public offering of Eimskip this year. Such deals, made at home, offended some Icelandic sensibilities. Now there were public rumblings that Landsbanki's share of Burdaras was a conflict of interest.

He bought out his father in Actavis and reduced his own share in Samson from 52% to 43%. He is pushing for Actavis to list on the London Stock Exchange and is helping Landsbanki and Burdaras look for overseas deals. He spends a lot of time at home in London or traveling in Europe, where he owns large stakes in telecom companies in the Czech Republic and in Bulgaria.