After politicians hoped for support from Klaus-Michael Kühne in the further construction of the Elbtower, the billionaire is distancing himself. There should be no state aid for this. Meanwhile, the pressure on investor René Benko is growing.
The future of the prestigious Elbtower in Hamburg remains uncertain. The billionaire rejected publicly expressed expectations from Hamburg politicians that the logistics entrepreneur Klaus-Michael Kühne could participate in the project in the Hanseatic city’s Hafencity. “This is completely absurd and fictitious; they are trying to force an Elbtower commitment on me,” said Kühne to the “Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung”.
He is far from that, says Kühne. He is only marginally involved in the discussions about the future of the Elbtower developer Signa Prime, a company owned by the Austrian real estate investor René Benko, which is currently obviously having financing problems. “At the moment there are no solutions with our involvement,” Kühne told the “FAZ” and the “Hamburger Abendblatt”. According to previous information, Kühne Holding holds a ten percent stake in Signa Prime.
Construction stopped due to lack of payments
Work was interrupted last week on one of Germany’s most famous construction sites – apparently due to a lack of payments from Karstadt billionaire Benko’s group, which is an investor in many construction projects in German cities. The Lupp construction group had stopped its construction activities because the entrepreneur’s Austrian Signa Group was in arrears with payments, as managing director Matthias Kaufmann confirmed to several media outlets.
With a height of 245 meters and 64 floors, the skyscraper is actually intended to be the tallest conventional building in Hamburg and the third highest in Germany – after the Commerzbank Tower and the Messeturm in Frankfurt am Main. According to media reports, the ongoing construction costs add up to 25 million euros per month. In total, the building, which was launched under the direction of current Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD), is expected to cost almost one billion euros.
But now the work is largely at a standstill – and the tower is just 100 meters high. On Monday, the authority for urban development and housing confirmed the construction interruption. Urban Development Senator Karen Pein (SPD) referred to possible contractual penalties and explained that Hamburg expects the construction project to be completed in accordance with the time periods and characteristics agreed in the purchase contract.
Hamburg does not want to provide state aid
There are obviously intensive discussions currently underway about further construction. However, Hamburg’s first mayor, Peter Tschentscher, ruled out state financial aid yesterday. The city will “not assume any financial burden,” the SPD politician told “Spiegel”.
The contracts with the developer Signa were “well negotiated,” and canceling the project would mean major economic damage for private investors, said Tschentscher. He assumes that the investors will “find a solution for resuming construction work” out of their own interest.
Investors withdraw their trust in Benko
A spokesman for Commerzbank asset manager Commerz Real, which has a 25 percent stake in the project, said: “We are still absolutely convinced of the Elbtower and assume that construction work can be resumed soon.”
Signa itself has not yet commented on the construction stop. In the ailing real estate group, the most important shareholders have now 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.
The entrepreneur Hans-Peter Haselsteiner, who holds 15 percent of Signa Holding, told the today ORFthat Benko basically agreed to withdraw operationally. Instead, the restructuring expert Arndt Geiwitz should take the helm.
“This week the shareholders asked Rene 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, Benko is loud ORF around 50 percent of the shares.