The Arab sovereign wealth fund Mubadala wanted to quickly get 713 million euros after the bankruptcy of René Benko’s Signa Holding. The failed real estate magnate Benko, some of his co-owners at Signa and several Signa companies were supposed to pay. But it doesn’t happen that quickly. According to Signa’s restructuring manager, the Mubadala sovereign wealth fund was unsuccessful in its urgent proceedings before an international arbitration tribunal.
“This request was rejected,” said restructuring administrator Christof Stapf. An appeal against this decision is not possible. The Mubadala Investment Company is now dependent on “asserting its asserted claims in regular arbitration proceedings.” Such a procedure takes much longer. For René Benko & Co. this means a breather, which should also come in handy for the restructuring manager.
For his attempt to save Signa, Stapf needs more money than the three million euros that Benko has so far promised and some of which have already been paid. The actual money requirement is likely to be “above the promised and announced subsidies from Mr. René Benko,” the restructuring administrator wrote in a report submitted to the Vienna Commercial Court at the beginning of the week. This report also mentioned Mubadala’s million-dollar lawsuit, which was reported by the Austrian news magazine profile and the Süddeutsche Zeitung reported.
There is another lawsuit from Luxembourg
Abu Dhabi-based Mubadala is one of the world’s richest sovereign wealth funds. The fund accuses Benko & Co. of “violating the conditions of financing agreements.” In plain language: Benko and Co. are said to have not kept promises. According to Austrian press reports, Mubadala has invested several hundred million euros in the Signa Group.
In the report by restructuring administrator Stapf, another lawsuit by a Luxembourg investment company for 296 million euros against several Signa companies is mentioned under Mubadala. However, there is apparently another Arab fund behind the Luxembourg company, not Mubadala.
Meanwhile, as reported from Signa circles, the holding’s prominent advisory board will be dissolved. Benko headed the advisory board until recently. The committee included, among others, the former chancellor and former SPÖ chairman Alfred Gusenbauer. After his time as chancellor, Gusenbauer worked for Benkos Signa, where he still sits on the supervisory boards of three companies. The Signa advisory board also included former Vice Chancellor Susanne Riess-Hahn (FPÖ). She has been CEO of the Austrian Wüstenrot building society and insurance groups since 2004. Riess-Hahn sits on the supervisory boards of two Signa companies. At least that’s what it says on the websites of these companies, just like Gusenbauer.