04/02/2009
NEWS STORY
Icelandic company Baugur, which until recently was a major sponsor of the Williams F1 team, has gone into administration this morning, seeking court protection from its creditors.
In addition to owning Hamleys, Diamonds.com and All Saints, whose names all appeared on the Williams, the Icelandic company owns a significant stake in a number of major High Street names, including; Saks, French Connection, Iceland Supermarkets, Jane Norman, Debenhams, House of Fraser, Mappin & Webb, Watches of Switzerland and a whole host of well known fashion retailers.
With debts of around $2bn, the company will now seek to sell off some of its brands and while there will be interest in some of the bigger names it is widely thought that others could fall by the wayside, much like Woolworths in which it had a significant shareholding.
With no signage on the FW31 it unclear whether there is still a relationship between Baugur and Williams or whether there are any outstanding payments due.
Ironically, at one stage Baugur was in negotiations to purchase the Grove outfit before opting to back the still-born Prodrive F1 project.