Signa Holding files for bankruptcy | tagesschau.de

The Austrian Signa Holding is insolvent. Today she wants to file an application for insolvency under self-administration at the Vienna Commercial Court. Signa owns large real estate portfolios and the Galeria department store chain.

The ailing Signa Holding GmbH, owned by entrepreneur René Benko, plans to file for bankruptcy today. As the company announced in Vienna, it wants to submit an application to open restructuring proceedings under self-administration. “Despite considerable efforts in recent weeks, the liquidity required for an out-of-court restructuring could not be sufficiently secured,” it said.

The Signa Group is active across Europe; according to the company, the gross asset value of the real estate division alone is 27 billion euros. The parent company Signa Holding also owns the Galeria Karstadt Kaufhof department store chain.

The Signa Group has high debts to banks – in the middle of the year, insiders spoke of total debts of around 2.2 billion euros.

Benko resigned as chairman at the beginning of November

At the beginning of November, Benko handed over the chairmanship of the Signa advisory board to the restructuring expert Arndt Geiwitz. Apparently this wasn’t entirely voluntary. Business partners and investors had apparently lost trust in his business policies. However, the Benko Family Private Foundation remained the largest shareholder in Signa. Geiwitz is considered one of the most prominent renovators in Germany.

Last Friday, a subsidiary of the Signa Group had already filed for bankruptcy. This is Signa Real Estate Management Germany – the German subsidiary of Signa Prime Selection, in which Signa has bundled prestigious properties. It was the first bankruptcy of a Signa real estate company.

Signa Sports United – a company in the Signa trading division – had to file for bankruptcy in October.

A number of construction sites are at a standstill

Signa Prime Selection has construction projects in central inner-city locations in several major German cities, such as the Elbtower in Hamburg or the “Mynd” high-rise on Berlin’s Alexanderplatz. However, many of the construction sites are now at a standstill – high construction costs, rising loan interest rates and home-made problems have put the company under pressure.

In Hamburg, billionaire and logistics entrepreneur Klaus-Michael Kühne may be considering joining the derelict Elbtower construction project. The skyscraper, which costs at least 950 million euros, is currently Signa’s largest construction site.