The deal with Arion will see key executives keeping a slice of the company worth around ISK 330 million (EUR 2.07 million). They will not pay anything for the shares and will not need to pay tax on them either, according to the contract with the bank.

Having made the deal, Arion will now be able to sell on the remaining 97.5 percent of the company.

Hagar runs many of Iceland’s biggest shops, including the Bónus and Hagkaup supermarkets.

Vísir.is reports that Arion Banki has not released any details about which Hagar bosses will be given shares; but it is known that current president of the company Finnur Árnason is among them.

The latest reports value Hagar at around ISK 13 billion (EUR 81.35 million). The stake being gifted to its former execs is worth around ISK 330 million, and is therefore around 2.5 percent of the business.

20 year-old Hallur Reynisson is a student and also works at the Hagkaup supermarket branch in Akureyri and yesterday decided to report 16 businesses to the Icelandic equality complaints committee; including the head of the VR trade union, Stefan Einar Stefansson and his own boss, the Hagkaup CEO, Gunar Ingi Sigurdsson.

Reynisson made his complaint and then sent a note out to the media saying what he had done, and why. In it he says he is an egalitarian; which means he cannot sit by and do nothing while women get a ten percent discount when they shop in Hagkaup.

In justification for his stance, Reynisson says it is similarly absurd as it would be to give customer discounts based on skin colour, sexual orientation or religion. Hallur Reynisson sent his complaints in yesterday, Visir.is reported.

Despite being hailed as one of the best countries for women, Icelandic females still earn on average ten percent less than their male colleagues and the VR trade union has long been at the head of the campaign to cut the gender pay gap. The ten percent women’s discount at Hagkaup and other companies is seen by many as a fun, helpful and temporary advertisement for women’s rights.

Opponents like the young checkout clerk disagree, saying that it is not a shop’s role to discriminate for or against its customers — even if it is for a noble cause.

Will he be fired for his stunt? Hallur Reynisson told DV he does not know, “But if I am, it will be for all the wrong reasons,” he said.

Hagar is Iceland’s biggest retail chain, including household names like Bonus, Debenhams, Hagkaup, Top Shop and 10-11 in Iceland. Arion Banki took over 95.7 percent of the company when it took control of owner 1998 ehf, which was itself owned by Jon Asgeir Johannesson and family, best known for their Baugur business which is now bankrupt.

Current Hagar investors will be allowed to increase their stake to 15 percent – including ten percent for Johannes Jonsson, Jon Asgeir’s father. Jonsson will remain chairman of the board.

The remaining 85 percent of the business will be traded on the stock exchange and Arion Banki intends to entirely sell its share. The bank believes the move serves both its own purposes and the public’s, allowing more people to buy a share of the important company.

Current president Finnur Arnasson will remain in his role and be one of the old owners allowed to invest. The remaining four seats on the new board will go to new investors.

Arion Banki defended leaving Johannes Jonsson in charge of the company’s board; saying that he is one of the company’s founders and has largely done a good job over the last two decades or more, leading the bank to believe he should remain a major investor.

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.

Hagar is owned by 1998 ehf. which is itself owned by Jon Asgeir Johannesson, the former Baugur boss and his family who are now struggling to keep control of Hagar. Johannes Jonsson is Jon Asgeir Johannesson’s father. According to DV, two Kaupthing staff members have now been put on the board of Hagar and the nationalised bank will take the company over if the refinancing is not successful. This means that a large swathe of the Icelandic high street would fall under indirect government control.

Hagar runs the Icelandic operations of: Hagkaup, Bonus, Bananar, Hysing, Adfong, Ferskar Kjotvorur, 10-11, Debenhams, Karen Millen, All Saints, Warehouse, TOPSHOP, Zara, Oasis, Dorothy Perkins, Coast, Evans, Utilif, Jane Norman and DAY, according to the company’s website.

Jonsson said the refinancing is going well, pointing to a contract between the company and Kaupthing to increase capital in the company as evidence. He would not be drawn on where the indebted business planned to source the extra capital from.