HE is a business giant but a most unlikely one. Jon Asgeir Johannesson is a softly spoken 37-year-old, though he could easily pass for a mature student who hasn’t quite got round to finishing his PhD.

But in Iceland, Johannesson is big. Very big. Talk to him, and he very matter-of-factly describes how, through his Baugur Group and other interests, he controls large parts of the country’s media, retail, and just about everything else.

Anyone that powerful is bound to have enemies, and Johannesson’s arrest yesterday, along with members of his family, will come as no surprise to him. He had been half-expecting it, but remained hopeful it would not happen. The size of the alleged fraud — £7m — is small, and it relates to a deal in the late 1990s. Friends say it is all to do with local politics.

No doubt it is a big talking point in Iceland. Probably the biggest story since Bjork made the Top 10 with It’s Oh So Quiet. But Johannesson is also big news here. That’s because he has been at the forefront of the amazing Icelandic spending spree in the UK over the past two years. The Big Food Group, including Booker and Iceland; Goldsmiths, the jewellers; Hamleys Group — you name it and Jon and his company Baugur have been there in the hunt.

Some of his pursuits are not yet public knowledge. I am pretty sure he has building a position in Marks &Spencer in recent days, sticking close to Kevin Stamford, the retail entrepreneur, who has also built up a position. I am also told that French Connection shares have been experiencing the Icelandic touch.

Johannesson will cheerfully admit that he does not have mega Rich List money himself. Instead he has used his close relationships with Icelandic banks to fund the acquisitions, putting the “top layer” of funds in himself, or through Baugur. The assets, when acquired, are broadly left alone and most definitely not merged with something else.

When people ask him what his secret is, he tells them his catchphrase — “Let’s go and make some money!” He would agree that confidence has played a crucial part in his success. Deals beget deals, and fellow deal-makers such as Robbie Tchenguiz have had few doubts about linking up with him. Until now.

Being charged with fraud is not ideal for anyone. It is probably rather irritating if you are trying to raise multiple millions from banks for your next deal. That transaction is Somerfield, the fifth force in supermarkets in Britain. It seems obvious that banks supplying the debt to help Tchenguiz and Johannesson do that deal are now going to run a mile. Nobody likes to lend money to someone who might go to jail.

During Philip Green’s bid for Arcadia, a similar thing happened. He turfed Johannesson out and found the money elsewhere. This time the Icelander has already offered to step down from the Somerfield consortium “if that is required”. A no-brainer, I’d have thought.

Still, the Icelandic story might be about to get even stranger. Maybe the banks won’t care. Let’s go and make some money.

Baffling Beeb bid

HOW is it that Macquarie Bank won the bidding battle to buy BBC Broadcast, the digital transmission business? The £166m that the Australian financial group put together was not very far off what other bidders offered, so we can rule out the blow-away price argument.

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