Baugur’s head office in Bond Street, Central London, is dominated by a 10ft-tall statue of a Viking and for much of the past decade the company has raided the high street in a manner that would have made its ancestors proud.

Little known at the start of the millennium, it has acquired a series of unloved retailers including Hamleys, Oasis and House of Fraser and turned them round when much of the City was writing them off as has-beens.

Baugur’s success has turned Jon-Asgeir Johannesson, its founder and chairman, into a billionaire and the undisputed pin-up of Iceland’s economic boom. His empire now includes stakes in 20 retailers, more than 3,900 stores in 35 countries and total sales of an estimated £10 billion.

Baugur’s stunning transformation has always been shrouded in some mystery. Critics talk of Russian money financing much of the company’s acquisition spree, but even the most envious executives would admit that Mr Johannesson, 40, has an undoubted ability in spotting an opportunity.

In 2001 Baugur bought a 20 per cent stake in Arcadia, the Topshop-to-Dorothy Perkins group now controlled by Sir Philip Green, and sold out for a £100 million profit, ten times its original investment.

Similar investments in J Sainsbury and Marks & Spencer paid off handsomely and these helped to fund acquisition of Hamleys and Goldsmiths the jewellers.

Baugur’s approach has been to draw other investors into its acquisitions to spread the risk, parachute in experienced management teams and use debt to help to fund the turnaround.

The tactic has worked best at Iceland, the frozen food supermarket chain, which has enjoyed a stunning rennaisance under Malcolm Walker, the founder, who was brought back by Baugur to run the business three years ago.

Yet more recently there have been signs that Baugur’s fortunes could be changing.

A bet on shares in Woolworths has turned into a disaster and earlier this year Baugur walked away from a takeover of Moss Bros, the menswear retailer, despite an asking price of only £40 million. The bank lined up to provide the funding? Glitnir.

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