Several large construction projects have been stopped and lenders are rebelling. According to a business partner, real estate entrepreneur René Benko has now agreed to withdraw from his Signa group. At the same time he makes demands.
At the ailing trading and real estate group Signa, there are increasing signs that the Austrian billionaire René Benko is about to be disempowered. The entrepreneur Hans-Peter Haselsteiner, who holds 15 percent of Signa Holding, told the today ORFthat the company’s founder Benko basically agreed to withdraw operationally. Instead, the restructuring expert Arndt Geiwitz should take the helm.
In addition to prestige properties in German city centers, Signa Holding also owns the Galeria department store chain. Several of the group’s large construction projects – including the Elbtower in Hamburg and the Carsch House in Düsseldorf – have been stopped due to obvious financing problems. The entire real estate industry is currently struggling with the consequences of sharply increased interest rates and high inflation.
Billionaire is looking for fresh capital for the group
The most important Signa shareholders have written a letter calling for the founder Benko to be removed from power, as the “Handelsblatt” reports. This is the only way to get the company back on track.
“This week the shareholders asked René Benko to go one step further and appoint Mr. Geiwitz not only as a restructuring representative, but also as a kind of general representative,” said Haselsteiner, who formerly headed the Strabag construction group. In addition, according to Haselsteiner, Geiwitz should also be given all voting rights that Benko or his foundations hold in Signa Holding. Directly and indirectly through private foundations, Benko is loud ORF around 77.5 percent of the shares.
Benko’s final approval is apparently still pending. The billionaire now wants to know “whether the shareholders would also be willing to make a contribution to the restructuring of the group with such a far-reaching solution,” said Haselsteiner.
“We don’t get any information”
Several shareholders in his Signa Holding had previously signaled that they wanted to withdraw. The loss of trust that the billionaire has suffered from his backers appears to be enormous. “Benko doesn’t talk to us anymore,” the “Handelsblatt” quoted a former shareholder as saying. “We don’t get any information.”
So far there are no signs that Benko’s previous partners at Signa are prepared to provide further capital to restructure the real estate group. The logistics entrepreneur Klaus-Michael Kühne told the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ): “At the moment there are no solutions with our involvement.” According to previous information, Kühne Holding holds a ten percent stake in the luxury real estate subsidiary Signa Prime.
The billionaire also rejected publicly expressed expectations from Hamburg politicians that Kühne could participate in the Elbtower project. “This is completely absurd and fictitious; they are trying to force an Elbtower commitment on me,” Kühne told the FAZ.
Complicated company network
The building contractor Haselsteiner described Signa as “renovable”. The restructuring specialist Geiwitz is “the best man to handle this,” the Signa co-owner told the “Presse”.
René Benko officially no longer holds any operational positions in the Signa Group – but is considered to be the one who made all important decisions through the Signa Holding Advisory Board until the end. As the main owner, he has special rights within the group that no other shareholder can claim. Its complicated network of companies includes several hundred individual companies.