Icelandic investor Baugur has once again offered reassurance that its UK retail portfolio will be unaffected by the Icelandic financial crisis.

Baugur spoke out after the Icelandic government seized control of Kaupthing, the bank that has backed Baugur and holds direct stakes in retailers including Mosaic. All of Iceland’s main banks are now in state hands as the country struggles to navigate the credit crunch.

Baugur chief executive Gunnar Sigurdsson insisted the turmoil in Icelandic banking would have no impact on Baugur’s operations or portfolio companies. He addressed the three main issues that have been raised – ownership implications, financing and investments in quoted companies.

He said: “In the individual cases where Icelandic banks may have to sell shareholdings in our portfolio companies, we would like to emphasise that these are all minority shareholdings.

“For each portfolio company, if a shareholder wishes to sell their holding, standard pre-emption clauses apply providing the other shareholders with the right to acquire that stake in proportion to their shareholding.

“Should an Icelandic bank sell all or part of their minority shareholding, there would be no impact on the successful day to day operations and performance of these companies, but would only change the ownership structure.

“The financing of the companies in which we hold investments in the UK is unaffected. Our portfolio companies have committed loan facilities with Icelandic and other international banks, which commitments may not be revoked or altered by those banks unless done so in accordance with the agreed terms of those loan facilities.

“Also, the businesses are performing well and the portfolio is generating strong cash flows, which is key in markets like this. Our operational assets are strong.

“We have forward contracts and contracts for differences in place which have been marked to market as appropriate. As a result, we do not expect there to be any immediate change in our listed equity investments.”