Baugur Group
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| Private | |
| Industry | Retailer, Real estate |
| Fate | Administration |
| Founded | Reykjavík, Iceland (1998) |
| Headquarters | Reykjavík, Iceland |
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Key people
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Jón Ásgeir Jóhannesson, CEO |
| Products | Retailer, Investment company |
| Website | www |
Baugur Group (/ˈbaʊɡər/; Icelandic: [ˈbøyɣʏr]) was an Icelandic investment company. The group began as a supermarket and general retail company in Iceland, before diversifying to own a number of businesses at its peak, primarily in the United Kingdom.
Baugur was heavily affected by the Icelandic financial crisis that began in 2008, and applied for bankruptcy protection in February 2009. Its largest creditor Landsbanki applied to place Baugur's UK arm, BG Holdings, into administration that month. The group filed for bankruptcy in March 2009.
In 1989, the Baugur Group was started by the opening of a single 'Bónus' supermarket in Reykjavík by Jón Ásgeir Jóhannesson and his father, Jóhannes Jónsson. The company grew quickly and within three years was operating several supermarkets in Iceland. In 1992, Hagkaup, the leading domestic retailer, acquired 50% of shares in Bonus. In 1993, they merged and formed a joint purchasing company named Baugur.
Hagkaup was established over 50 years ago and, as a retailing pioneer, opened both supermarkets and department stores in Iceland. Hagkaup and Bonus merged as Baugur in 1998 and Jón Ásgeir Jóhannesson became the company's President and CEO. Baugur was listed on the same year.
In 1999, Baugur signed franchise agreements with the Arcadia Group and Debenhams for Scandinavia and today Hagar, (formerly Baugur-Iceland) runs several Topshop and Miss Selfridge stores in Iceland and Sweden as well as three Debenhams stores.
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Wikipedia