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Arion Bank to sell Iceland’s 10-11 stores to highest bidder

Alex — Thu, 28 Apr 2011 14:03:31 +0000

Iceland’s Arion Bank has today advertised the convenience store chain 10-11 for sale. The bank has owned the chain since it took over the bankrupt estate of Hagar.

Tiu-ellefu ehf. (better-known as 10-11) runs 23 convenience stores across Iceland.

10-11 was split off from Hagar and put under the control of a specially created company called Eignabjarg after Arion Bank took over the Hagar retail empire. Hagar used to be owned by Johannes Jonsson and his family, including his son, Jon Asgeir Johannesson.

The advertisement which appeared today states that all shares in Tiu-ellefu ehf. will be sold in one go. The sale will be open to all investors who can show they are able to afford the chain and have instantly available liquidity to a minimum value of ISK 300 million (EUR 1.81 million), DV reports.

Non-binding purchase offers must be received by Arion Bank on or before 18th May.

Hagar is Iceland’s biggest retail chain and used to include a variety of clothing chains and the Bonus, Hagkaup and 10-11 food stores, among other interests.

Arion Bank to sell 10-11 convenience stores in Iceland

Alex — Wed, 15 Sep 2010 11:21:01 +0000

Arion Bank says it intends to split the 10-11 chain of convenience stores from the estate of Hagar and sell it off. It is not anticipated that other retail chains within the Hagar group will be sold separately. Former Hagar owners Jon Asgeir Johannesson and his father Johannes Jonsson will explicitly not be allowed to buy 10-11.

Arion made its decision to sell 10-11 separately due to advice that it will raise more money than if it were sold along with other Hagar chains including Bonus and Hagkaup. The bank was also responding to Competition Authority concerns that keeping the group together would not benefit free competition in the food market.

10-11 runs 23 stores in the Reykjavik capital region, in Reykjanesbaer and in Akureyri. They are open 24-7 and employ 230 people. The chain was valued at ISK 4 billion(USD 34.1 million) last year. With 10-11 sold off, Hagar will be left with 38 food stores.

Kaupthing to take stake in Iceland’s Hagar retail empire

Alex — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 08:33:29 +0000

It now seems extremely likely that New Kaupthing will take a 40 percent share in Hagar, the company behind Iceland’s biggest supermarkets and fashion retailers, and that Jon Asgeir Johannesson and other investors will be allowed to keep 60 percent by investing ISK 7 billion. The action will free Hagar’s current mother company from debt and remove it entirely from the picture. Foreign creditors will most likely bear the brunt of the ensuing multi-billion krona losses.

Hagar, which runs shops including Bonus, Hagkaup and 10-11, is one of the companies owned by the holdings company 1998. 1998 is owned by Jon Asgeir Johannesson and family. In 2006, the company took a roughly EUR 260 million loan from Kaupthing to buy Hagar from Baugur. At today’s exchange rate, the euro debt is around ISK 48 billion, Visir.is reports. The debt of 1998 was transferred over to New Kaupthing after the banking crisis because it is an Icelandic company with mainly domestic operations.

A management reorganisation is taking place at Hagar, including the parachuting in of two Kaupthing employees to 1998’s board.

Due to massive debts owed to the bank, it now looks likely that New Kaupthing will take a 40 percent stake in Hagar and a contract is apparently being written up that would confirm the change of ownership, as well as totally removing 1998 from the picture.

New Kaupthing is, for the time being, still a nationalised bank.