The Chrysler building will be sold

A meeting of creditors in Vienna revealed that the central management of Signa Holding lacked “deep knowledge”. Now the lovely pieces have to be sold.

Vienna – Signa owner ailing Tyrolean investor René Benko has to divest himself of key real estate assets such as the Chrysler Building in New York in his bankruptcy proceedings. “The liquidation plan has been put in place to speed up the sale of investments and assets,” said restructuring manager Christof Stapf on Tuesday at a creditors’ meeting in Vienna.

In addition to Signa Holding’s private jet use, there are also discussions about investing in Signa RFR US Selection AG, whose real estate projects include the luxury Chrysler Building. Signa’s key real estate companies such as Development and Prime are to be consolidated – as is Signa Retail, which also includes the Galeria Karstadt Kaufhof chain of stores.

In Germany, Signa’s smaller subsidiaries are filing for bankruptcy

Stapf is trying to get an overview of Signa’s extensive empire and now also wants to look at previous transactions. Deloitte’s audit firm is supposed to support him in the process.

In Germany, Signa’s smaller subsidiaries have filed for bankruptcy. Locals think that other companies from the Benko empire will follow. Stapf now presented his first interim report to the organization’s creditors’ meeting.

Benko company network: 53 direct participation of Signa Holding

The holding company’s bankruptcy filing shows that Benko’s parent company has direct investments in 53 companies and indirect investments in several hundred other companies, it said on Tuesday. Signa has created very complex structures: the original organizational chart as of the end of September includes “a total of 46 pages in A3 format”. And that’s not all: “The audit has shown that there is a lack of management capacity and deep knowledge in the area of ​​the central management of the group and that the holding company has recently fulfilled its regulatory function.”

Stapf needs money to finance complex bankruptcy cases – because the three million euro grant promised by Benko may not be enough, he said. Continuing the case “also requires regaining control of individual parts of the Signa group of companies, to the extent that this is still possible.” Therefore, Stapf proposed the creation of a group steering committee that would be responsible for restructuring the entire group.

Benkos Signa-Holding: Austria’s biggest bankruptcy

In addition, Signa’s activities from the past should also be looked at. Only then can it be checked if the repair plan offered by Signa is effective. After all, the representatives of Signa worked “to comply with the maintenance manager”. Personal governance in the restructuring process can remain in place.

Benkos Signa Holding has filed for the largest bankruptcy case in Austria to date with more than five billion euros in debt and applied to reorganize the case under private administration on November 29. The commercial court in Vienna accepted the application and appointed Stapf as administrator of bankruptcy.

(with material from Reuters)