Baugur is indeed heavily involved in UK 'High Street' retail

'What has long been thought of in the international business community as a potential house of cards — the huge growth enjoyed by Icelandic banks and companies linked to them — could be about to come crashing down.

As they fret in Iceland, we should also worry. On the UK High Street, 40-year-old Jon Asgeir Johannesson is one of the kings. His realm takes in Hamleys, Karen Millen, Mappin and Webb, House of Fraser and much more.

The consequences of problems at ­Baugur can hardly be overestimated, especially in London. Companies in which Baugur has a stake employ 55,000 people in Britain. Household names such as ­Iceland, Debenhams and Whittard of Chelsea all feature in Jon Asgeir's £1.5 billion portfolio and are woven into Baugur's complex web of interests.

That, some observers say, is part of the problem. Baugur is a private company and is not known for its enthusiasm for transparency. Five years ago a Baugur associate in the United States, Jon ­Sullenberger, claimed he had filed fake invoices to disguise the purchase of a 62‑ft motor yacht, Thee Viking, for Jon Asgeir and his father, Johannes'

Icy storm blows through the High Street
Evening Standard 03.10.08

Baugur is a product of Iceland's so called ­business 'miracle'

A new generation of politicians in the 1990s scrapped currency controls, de-regulated the market and encouraged business pioneers, a number of whom had made a lot of money in Russia in the crazy years that followed the fall of the Soviet system.

In 2000 the 'Living Abroad' website quoted 'The standard of living is among the highest in the world"


a propos nothing really did you know that the English word berserk comes from Icelandic?