René Benko has filed an application for sole proprietorship insolvency at the Innsbruck regional court. The Austrian media had previously incorrectly reported on a personal bankruptcy.
The Austrian investor René Benko has filed for bankruptcy as an entrepreneur. This was confirmed by the Innsbruck regional court after Austrian media reported on it. The judge is expected to decide in the coming days on the application by the entrepreneur, who founded the real estate and trading group Signa.
Tax debts of more than two million euros
Reports that Benko had filed for so-called personal bankruptcy were not correct, the court said. As a sole proprietor and therefore a legal entity, you can submit an application for restructuring proceedings. This is not possible if a natural person goes bankrupt.
The legal representation of the Republic of Austria filed an application for insolvency against Benko at the regional court in January. The reason given was tax debts of over two million euros. Among other things, it was about a subsidy that the 46-year-old had announced for the insolvent holding company of the Signa Group, which had not yet been fully paid.
Benko – from the billionaire…
Until a few months ago, Benko was still considered one of the richest Austrians. Over the years, the Tyrolean had built an empire with many prestigious properties. According to Forbes, his fortune reached a peak of six billion dollars (5.5 billion euros) in 2023. At the beginning of December, however, the US magazine removed him from its international billionaire list in view of the Signa Group’s growing problems.
As interest rates, energy prices and construction costs rose, Signa slipped into crisis. It came to light last fall that the group was in trouble. At the end of November, the parent company initially filed for bankruptcy, followed soon after by several subsidiaries. The debts amount to several billion euros. Benko had never publicly commented on Signa’s demise in recent months.
Benko’s nested company structure includes, among others, the Elbtower project in Hamburg, the luxury department store KaDeWe in Berlin and the also insolvent department store chain Galeria Karstadt Kaufhof.
As a 17-year-old, Benko was already earning good money by converting attics in his hometown of Innsbruck. This was later followed by a fairytale rise to become a real estate tycoon, becoming super-rich with skyscrapers, shopping centers and other buildings in prime locations.
Wolfgang Vichtl, ARD Vienna, tagesschau, March 7, 2024 3:43 p.m