Jón Ásgeir Jóhannesson , the 40-year-old executive chairman of Baugur, is described by colleagues as the company's visionary. From a young age he expressed a desire to make money - one that he has achieved via a sprawling retail portfolio. Early success came through the purchase and subsequent sale of a stake in Arcadia, the then listed fashion retailer now owned by Sir Philip Green. Subsequent investments have been a mixed bag: good so far in House of Fraser, excellent in Iceland, but more troubled in MK One, Woolworths and Moss Bros. Having apparently come to the end of a long legal battle, the striking Icelander is now facing the most challenging fight of his business career. Karl E Wernersson and Steingrimur Wernersson control Milestone, an Icelandic investment company that invests in financial services. Milestone has a direct stake of about 5 per cent in Glitnir, Iceland's third-largest bank, which was nationalised this week.

Karl, the elder brother, is chairman of the board of Milestone and was formerly vice-chairman of Glitnir. He was a founder of Askar Capital, a Nordic investment bank and is chairman of Moderna Finance, a Swedish financial services group. Steingrimur is also a board member at Morderna, as well as holding board seats at Milestone and Askar.