Bargain Hunting at Saks Fifth Avenue (Portfolio.com)

Monday October 13, 4:43 pm ET The financial turmoil in Iceland might seem like a distant concern for those nervously tracking Wall Street's daily gyrations, but there's at least one way in which the meltdown in the North Atlantic could create some very real problems on Fifth Avenue. That has to do with the rapidly changing fortunes of Jon Asgeir Johannesson, the Icelandic playboy with '80s hair and a penchant for extravagant spending. Johannesson owns 8.5 percent of Saks Fifth Avenue through his retail investment group, Baugur, which also owns a variety of upscale British retailers. Until recently, Johannesson had been talking about buying Saks outright. He had planned to raise the necessary cash by selling a stake in a Baugur to Stodir, an investment firm he also controls. Unfortunately, Stodir went bankrupt last week after... [read full story]