Svend Hardenberg

Hardenberg rose to the peak of Greenlandic public administration as Permanent Secretary of the Premier's Office, making him among the most senior non-elected officials in the Greenlandic Self-Government. He was subsequently appointed Chief Executive of Nukissiorfiit, the state-owned entity responsible for Greenland's electricity, water, and heating infrastructure ². According to reporting, his departure from government — described as a firing approximately a decade before 2026 — preceded the commercial career he has since built ⁴. Those government roles provided the institutional contacts and regulatory familiarity that underpin his subsequent commercial activity.

His transition to commercial activity began no later than 2015, when Danish registry records show him taking a 50–66.65% stake in Greenland Invest ApS (CVR 12713460) ³. The Nanoq Power ApS chairmanship follows from December 2016, consistent with a pivot toward energy project development following his Nukissiorfiit tenure ³. Greenland Development A/S, which Hardenberg previously chaired, is another dedicated Greenland-branded holding and development structure ⁵.

Hardenberg and Jørgen Wæver Johansen co-founded Greenland Invest ApS, which holds the parent position in Greenland Water Bank ApS (CVR 12941218, incorporated 2016) ⁵. The Water Bank bottles Lyngmark Spring water from Disko Island under the Imivik brand. Danish corporate registry data records a 2024 annual result of −20,014 DKK against total assets of 699,000 DKK, indicating a loss-making operation at present scale.

Ronald Lauder's Delaware vehicle, Greenland Development Partners LLC, acquired partial stakes in both Greenland Water Bank and Greenland Investment Group ². As of the July 2025 board appointment recorded in the Danish registry, Josette Sheeran chairs the Greenland Water Bank board alongside Hardenberg and Johansen. Sheeran separately chairs and serves as CEO of Greenland Investment Group, Lauder's principal Greenlandic operating entity, which is competing for the Tasersiaq hydroelectric concession (rated 680–2,250 MW).

According to reporting, Hardenberg and Johansen jointly executed the partial-stake sale of Greenland Water Bank to the Lauder consortium ⁴. Johansen's simultaneous position as Siumut party chairman and husband of Foreign Minister Vivian Motzfeldt — who previously sat on the Greenland Water Bank board — was documented by Greenlandic newspaper Sermitsiaq as a potential conflict of interest. Hardenberg's presence on the same board places him inside that documented governance overlap.

Drew Horn served in the Trump administration as Chief of Staff and Acting Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary at the Department of Energy's Office of International Affairs, as Associate Director of Policy for Vice President Pence, and as Senior Advisor to the Director of National Intelligence. He founded GreenMet in January 2021 immediately after leaving government.

According to reporting, Hardenberg's Inuit Development Company ApS signed a letter of intent with Horn's AmForge Corporation for a proposed AI data center in Kangerlussuaq, initially rated at 300 MW with a stated scaling target of 1.5 GW by 2028, to be powered by Greenlandic hydropower ⁴. Horn describes the division of labor in published statements: "He handles everything related to Greenland and Denmark, I handle everything related to the United States" ⁶. GreenMet's role is advisory — Hardenberg approached Horn to identify a US corporate partner, and GreenMet continues as an advisor for securing US government investment — rather than a formal joint-venture position ⁶.

According to reporting, the project had not secured land or regulatory approvals, and Greenland's Department of Business had not entered into dialogue with Horn or GreenMet ⁴. Hardenberg and Horn are also partners on a seaweed treatment project modeled on Royal Greenland's state-owned seaweed operation, constituting a multi-project commercial relationship rather than a single-transaction engagement ⁷.

GreenMet's minority shareholders include George Sorial, former Executive Vice President of the Trump Organization, and Keith Schiller, Trump's former personal bodyguard. The data center project connects Hardenberg to a commercial network whose other members include figures with concurrent foreign agent registrations and federal lobbying activity.

In May 2025, Hardenberg was appointed Chair of ETM Greenland A/S and General Manager Greenland for Energy Transition Minerals (ASX: ETM), the Australian listed company that controls the Kvanefjeld rare-earth and uranium deposit in southern Greenland ¹. ETM Greenland A/S is the operating subsidiary through which that deposit is managed. According to public filings, Chinese state-linked company Shenghe Resources holds approximately 7% of ETM, creating a disclosed Chinese equity interest in the deposit over which Hardenberg now serves as the on-the-ground executive.

Kvanefjeld is a separate deposit from Tanbreez, the rare-earth asset that GreenMet's Horn brokered into Critical Rare Metals Ltd (CRML, formerly Greenland Resources Inc). The two deposits are operated by different corporate structures, different listed vehicles, and different external investor groups. Hardenberg's concurrent involvement with both Horn's Tanbreez-adjacent commercial activities and ETM's Kvanefjeld operations means he holds executive positions in competing Greenlandic rare-earth interests ¹.

Danish registry records show the ETM Greenland A/S appointment alongside board roles at Imivik of Greenland ApS (from August 2025) and Greenland Minerals A/S (from October 2024), with the latter being the ETM subsidiary through which the Kvanefjeld project has historically been organized ³. The sequence of appointments — Greenland Minerals A/S in October 2024, then ETM Greenland A/S chair in May 2025 — tracks the consolidation of ETM's Greenlandic management under Hardenberg.

Danish registry ownr.dk documents 21 directorial and ownership positions for Hardenberg as of mid-2025 ³. The core vehicles break into three functional groups:

Personal holding and consulting entities: Qappik ApS (CVR 43890484, 100% ownership, founded 2023) functions as his primary consulting vehicle ³. Amaroq ApS (CVR 42270458, 100% ownership, founded 2024) is a recently-incorporated personal holding entity. Greenland Invest ApS (CVR 12713460, 50–66.65% stake held since 2015) is the co-founding vehicle shared with Johansen that sits above Greenland Water Bank.

US-partnership vehicles: Inuit Development Company ApS (Danish-registered, chair since 2024) is the entity through which the AmForge data center letter of intent was signed. A now-dissolved UK counterpart, Inuit Development Company London Ltd (Companies House 13273140), was incorporated in March 2021, which records indicate predates the AmForge engagement, suggesting UK-side structuring that was subsequently abandoned ³.

Sector-specific positions: Nanoq Power ApS (chair since December 2016) is a long-standing energy project structure ³. ETM Greenland A/S (chair from May 2025) is the Kvanefjeld operational entity. Greenland Minerals A/S (board from October 2024) is the earlier ETM Greenland subsidiary. Imivik of Greenland ApS (chair from August 2025) is the Disko Island water brand vehicle held through the Greenland Water Bank corporate chain.

Mannvit ApS appears in some registry records as a vehicle through which Hardenberg has held CEO-level roles; it is distinct from the Icelandic engineering firm Mannvit hf and its Danish subsidiary ⁵. The range of vehicles across Greenland, Denmark, and the dissolved UK entity is consistent with matching the jurisdictional expectations of different foreign investor counterparties.