The Signa Group is in talks to sell its stake in the famous Chrysler Building in New York. The insolvent holding company must now quickly bring other assets onto the market.
The insolvent holding company of the real estate and trading group Signa has to part with prestigious properties and investments. As the insolvency administrator of Signa Holding, Christof Stapf, announced today in Vienna, discussions are also underway about the sale of investments such as the famous Chrysler Building in New York. Signa owns half of the high-rise building. In order to close the financial gaps, the holding company has already terminated rental agreements for its offices in two luxurious city center palaces in Vienna, said Stapf.
The insolvency administrator also announced the exploitation of media investments. However, Stapf said he is trying to support the stabilization of the Signa core companies that are not directly affected by the bankruptcy. These include the subsidiaries Signa Prime, Signa Development and Signa Retail – for example with the Hamburg real estate project Elbtower or the Galeria department store group.
Benko’s private jet is sold
Signa Holding, founded by Austrian entrepreneur René Benko, says it has liabilities worth five billion euros. Creditors have so far claimed 1.1 billion euros of this as part of the judicial insolvency proceedings.
In order to ensure the liquidity of the holding company, more than the three million euros that Benko has so far promised and some of which have already been allocated are probably needed. For example, René Benko’s Cessna Citation XLS private jet is to be sold. This emerges from the statement from the restructuring administrator.
An organizational chart on 46 A3 pages
The Signa Holding had expanded significantly during the years of low interest rates. But rising interest rates, high construction costs and falling real estate prices have put the group in trouble. The company is also extremely opaque: the holding company has an indirect stake in hundreds of companies. According to Stapf, the organizational chart alone fills 46 pages in A3 format.
In the complex company structure of the Signa Group there is a “lack of management capacity with comprehensive knowledge”. The holding company has also “recently only partially fulfilled its control function,” criticized Stapf.