At the same time, the debts are being reorganized. The buyers are the shareholder Baustoff + Metall GmbH and the investors Ronny Pecik and Stefan Schönauer. Through a complete restructuring of the debts with the financing banks, it was possible to finance the major project until its planned completion in the first quarter of 2025, 6B47 announced on Wednesday.
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The Althan Quartier is currently one of the largest inner-city construction sites in Vienna. Hundreds of apartments, offices, shops and a hotel were originally supposed to be built on a 2.4-hectare site by the third quarter of 2024. According to the 2022 balance sheet, the total project volume should have been around 570 million euros. Most recently, the auditor Deloitte warned of the financial consequences of a “significant extension of the construction period and construction cost overruns”.
“Significant milestone in restructuring”
So far, the mega-project has been financed by a domestic banking consortium with 360 million euros until the end of 2024. The consortium leader was Raiffeisen Bank International AG (RBI). Other consortium partners are Oberbank, the Raiffeisenlandesbanken Steiermark and Oberösterreich as well as Volksbank Wien, Sparkasse OÖ, VKB and Hypo Vorarlberg.
In the press release, 6B47 board member Christian Mayer spoke of a “significant milestone in the restructuring of 6B47 AG”. The project developer had recently also withdrawn from the district development in Vienna’s Eichenstrasse. The construction company Porr is continuing the project there on its own.
At the Althan Quartier above the Franz-Josefs-Bahnhof in Vienna-Alsergrund, 6B47 is to complete the project and also look for tenants for the approximately 260 apartments. Marketing is to start in September. Half of the office space has already been rented, it was said. The Althan project also includes an adaptation of the head building on Julius-Tandler-Platz.
Revitalization project
The real estate project is a revitalization project. By largely preserving the existing building structure, as much of the climate-damaging carbon dioxide (CO2) as possible is to be saved. Steel, concrete and other materials would be reused in the converted and new building, according to earlier documents from the City of Vienna’s Urban Development Commission.
But the project grew beyond 6B47’s control due to rising interest rates and construction costs. Deloitte refused to issue an audit opinion for 2022 because the auditors no longer considered the company’s continued existence to be assured. As Deloitte noted in its negative audit opinion, “the 6B47 Group’s largest project, the Althan Quartier, resulted in a significant extension of the construction period and construction cost overruns, which also had a negative impact on the assets, financial position and earnings due to the significantly increased interest rate level.”
In 2022, 6B47 recorded a net loss of EUR 6.6 million, according to the commercial register. The financial result was deep red at minus EUR 35 million due to “a sharp increase in interest expenses for loan liabilities,” as stated in the consolidated financial statements.
Since 2020, the largest shareholder of 6B47 Real Estate Investors AG has been Baustoff + Metall GmbH, owned by entrepreneur Wolfgang Kristinus, who died in 2022. 6B47 was founded by former ÖBB boss Martin Huber and construction and real estate entrepreneur Erwin Krause. According to “Wirtschaftscompass”, both recently held 20.9 percent of the shares each.
This article was last updated on August 14, 2024 at 5:23 p.m.