2024-04-11 14:40:55
Nothing will come of the planned restructuring of the Signa umbrella company. It is now entering ordinary bankruptcy proceedings and will be liquidated. What will become of the Chrysler Building in New York and the media investments in Austria?
René Benko’s Signa-Holding is now entering into regular bankruptcy proceedings.
Helmut Fohringer / APA
One day nothing will remain of the once proud Signa Holding owned by real estate investor René Benko. In recent months, attempts have been made to pursue a restructuring plan in order to be able to continue running the company.
But on Thursday those responsible had to admit that the project was hopeless. Signa Holding has applied to the Vienna Commercial Court to abandon the previous restructuring proceedings and instead switch to ordinary bankruptcy proceedings. This means that the company will be liquidated.
Benko and his fellow investors come away empty-handed
The owners of the Signa umbrella company will no longer see any of their investments. The company founder René Benko holds a slim majority in Signa Holding (51 percent) – mainly through the Benko Family Private Foundation, which also recently filed for bankruptcy.
The co-investors include prominent business giants from German-speaking countries. From Switzerland, the Lindt & Sprüngli President Ernst Tanner (3 percent), the coffee machine entrepreneur Arthur Eugster (11.5 percent) and the Brazilian-Hungarian entrepreneurial family Arduini-Koranyi (14.5 percent) who live on Lake Zurich are involved. . The largest co-investor following Benko is the Austrian building contractor Hans Peter Haselsteiner (15 percent). Fressnapf founder Torsten Toeller was involved from Germany (4.5 percent).
Who owns Signa Holding
Shareholdings in percent (as of January 2023)
It is unclear whether Signa Holding’s creditors will receive part of their claims back. This depends on what will be left following the company is liquidated.
The sale of some of their assets has already begun. Since the beginning of the year, the inventory of the former corporate headquarters in the Palais Harrach in downtown Vienna has been auctioned off. The exhibits attracted great interest from the public, especially at the beginning – large sums were paid for Signa floor mats or toilet sets, for example. Benko’s four-meter-long desk and his wine collection, which includes around 800 bottles, were also sold. Last week the auctioneer reported that over 6,000 objects had been auctioned in three months.
It is still unclear what will happen to the shares in the high-circulation Austrian daily newspapers “Kurier” and “Krone”. In a joint holding with the German Funke media group, Signa holds around half of each of the two titles. The other half is owned by the Raiffeisen bank (“Kurier”) and the Dichand publishing family (“Krone”). The insolvency administrator declared back in December that a buyer was being sought for the shares. All co-owners were treated as interested parties. Funke should have a right of first refusal. According to the “Press” The media group might have already secured the Signa shares. This is explosive because Funke wanted to exit the Austrian market a few years ago.
The umbrella company also owns real estate in the USA, especially the famous Chrysler Building in New York. Signa acquired the Art Deco high-rise in 2019 for $150 million. However, it is in need of renovation Almost a year ago, “Krone” even mockingly described it as a “hobbyist’s hit.”. Although a buyer has also been sought for the Chrysler Building for months, there is apparently no prospect of sale yet. It doesn’t help that the vacancy rate for office space in New York has been very high since the pandemic.
Shareholdings are no longer worth anything
The bankruptcy of Signa Holding had become apparent in the last few days. Signa Holding’s most important assets consist of its investments in the two central Signa real estate companies, Signa Prime and Signa Development.
In Signa Prime, Benko had bundled the most important properties such as the KaDeWe building in Berlin or the Globus department store on Zurich’s Bahnhofstrasse as well as central construction projects such as the Elbtower in Hamburg. Signa Development pushed forward less prominent construction projects.
In the past few days, however, it has become clear that Signa Holding can no longer hope for funds from the two companies. At both Signa Prime and Signa Development, so-called trust restructuring plans were finally approved by the creditors and the shareholder meetings.
They stipulate that the assets of the companies are sold by a trustee and the proceeds go entirely to the creditors. It is expected that creditors will receive back between 23 and 32 percent (Prime) or 32 to 40 percent (Development) of their claims in a few years.
Signa Holding, on the other hand, would have had to stand behind the creditors. The company therefore announced on Thursday: “Signa Holding is no longer expected to have any significant investment values from its investments in Signa Prime and Signa Development.”
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