Home News

Baugur says Icelandic crisis will have no impact

Baugur says Icelandic crisis will have no impact

Baugur says Icelandic crisis will have no impact

Baugur has rejected speculation for the second time in a week that the banking crisis in Iceland will affect its UK investments.

In a statement today, Baugur chief executive Gunnar Sigurdsson said that any sale of shareholdings by an Icelandic bank would have no impact on Baugur's portfolio of companies.

He said: "In the individual cases where Icelandic banks have direct shareholdings in our portfolio companies, we would emphasise that these are all minority shareholdings. For each portfolio company, if a shareholder wishes to sell their holding, standard pre-emption clauses apply providing the other shareholders with the right to acquire that stake in proportion to their shareholding.

"Should an Icelandic bank sell all or part of their minority shareholding, there would be no impact on the successful day-to-day operations and performance of these companies, but would only change the ownership structure."

Over the weekend it emerged that insurance firm Euler Hermes has decided to stop cover for suppliers to some Baugur related businesses, as well as speculation that bank Kaupthing may merge with another Icelandic bank Landsbanki.

Advertisement

Please note: In order to post a response you need to be registered on the site. You can register here.

Reader Response

Added: Monday, 6 October 2008 22:47 BST
Josie S, london and brighton, United Kingdom

A lot has been written about A Minsky Moment. Worth a look on the 2 links below....as it looks like we are having one (in the global economy) now.
http://www.bondvigilantes.co.uk/index.php?itemid=314

http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/economics/article4880829.ece


Alert if offensive or unsuitable

Added: Monday, 6 October 2008 21:15 BST
Anonymous, london and brighton, United Kingdom

oh ...and are my thoughts going to be removed again? The Maxell effect is at it again.


Alert if offensive or unsuitable

Added: Monday, 6 October 2008 20:54 BST
Anonymous, london and brighton, United Kingdom

and if the below seems heated...it is because this one is personal to me. I trade alongside 3 units that are Mosaiic owned (though one is now Jane Sheperdsons....and I really hope it is doing well under her ownership).
I had a disastrous rent review on 2003/04 and they couldn't be bothered to hel me defend it.....even tyhough my valuation affected theirs a few months after......so I fell and ended up with a gigantic rent (and. therefore, business rates) that is now unsustainable with the slump in T/O we have had the past 12 months.

On the Upside, we are now negotiating a rent reduction.....and Big Landlord in Glass Tower seems willing to talk.....yet 1 month back they wanted to increase our rent from £32,500 to £51,300pa. Ha diddy ha......are they in a different world?

And one of the Mosaic fascias (cos I chit chat with the staff) had a Minus day recently...the refunds exceeded the sales that day.....I turned over more on one twentieth of their stock value

If I didn't have asos sales right now, it would be over for me too....after 23 years fully liable trading.


Alert if offensive or unsuitable

Added: Monday, 6 October 2008 20:45 BST
Anonymous, london and brighton, United Kingdom

errr....yeah .....right.........
The whole Icelandic Retail Pyramid scheme is about to go the same way as every other pyramid scheme.....just like the overvalued asset PS that the banks were building. And looks what's happening to that one right now.
Old rules are being thrown out with the worthless CDO's, derivatives etc into the gutter right now. Too big to fail? Look what happened to Lenhams.

Just like the bank lending on inflated house prices, so the 'Tescopoly' strategy of Bauger over valued retail premises too. Greedy landlords were all happy to play the game.....and now the party is nearly over.
Too late for many first time buyers priced out of owning their own home, too late for the good businesses that had to close their shops down due to huge rent increases that they couldn't cover, trading on margins on outdated mark ups of X 2.7.

According to The FT today, seems that the banks will wait until January 09...then bang. Game over. The insurance still covers Hof F so, seems to me that the plan is to sell all the brands from Hof F stores and from asos.com.....dump all those pricey individul shops.......and carry on.....oh and shaft a few unsuspecting suppliers in The Far East...just to add a garnish to the whole megalomaniacal scam.

And there was us thinking it was all about the clothes...well it was sort of...an, alledgedly, useful laundry service.


Alert if offensive or unsuitable

Sign up to Multiples |