As of: February 8, 2024, 5:08 p.m
By: Bona Hyun
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The Benko insolvency proceedings are apparently chaotic: renovator Grossnigg is said to have concealed statements about the financial requirements of 350 million.
Berlin - New details about Signa Holding's insolvency proceedings are coming to light: Shortly before Christmas 2023, renovator Erhard Grossnigg asked for 350 million euros to save the Signa subsidiaries Prime and Development.
However, he appears to have left major questions surrounding financial needs unanswered.
This is what business insider
reports .
Benko insolvency proceedings behind the scenes: Many questions remain unanswered
When asked, however, Grossnigg was unable to explain to potential donors where the money would specifically be invested or how the investments should be secured.
According to the renovator's own admission, this is the decisive and possibly final liberation for the Signa subsidiaries.
The Austrian real estate investor René Benko.
© Marcel Kusch/dpa
When the shareholders asked in December what the renovator specifically needed the money for, Grossnigg replied with a half-sentence.
According to Business Insider,
participants in the conversation
reported this .
Grossnigg simply stated that he needed the money to pay current bills.
The total amount is only enough for three to four months anyway, said the renovator, according to those present.
Grossnigg wants to save the Benko empire - the financial requirement of 350 million euros was apparently never explained
It also remained unclear how this potential investment by the shareholders would be secured.
According to insiders, there was never any corresponding legal notice, as is usual for investments of this size.
Signa's data room was also almost empty at the time.
Grossnigg initially tried to scrape together the 350 million euros using profit participation rights.
The money is earmarked for the two companies Signa Prime and Signa Development.
In a letter to investors in the Signa Group, which was available to
Spiegel
, the restructuring board of both Signa subsidiaries wrote the day before Christmas in 2023 that it was “about saving the assets of the two real estate companies.” Signa has “outstanding real estate projects realized,” Grossnigg advertised in the two-page letter.
Signa needs money: Benko's renovator Grossnigg is in trouble
The time pressure for
Signa restructuring director Grossnigg's efforts to raise fresh money for the continued existence of Signa are growing.
After the failed attempt, the restructuring board contacted the investors again in December 2023.
However, according to several media reports, Grossnigg reduced the required amount to 150 million euros.
The capital requirement has been reduced by real estate sales, according to the
Kronen Zeitung,
justifying the lower amount.
According to a report by
Standard
, the 350 million euros are still in play, but the money should be set up gradually.
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So far, however, none of the shareholders have followed Grossnigg's calls.
Signa Prime Selection, the largest real estate subsidiary of René Benko's insolvent Signa Group, is not currently facing any financial emergency, said the restructuring administrator in mid-January 2024. But that should not be a reason to give the all-clear.
Next Benko bomb: Investors file criminal charges after Signa's insolvency
In the case of the bankruptcy of the real estate and trading group, criminal charges have now been filed.
After the real estate company's billion-dollar bankruptcy, Signa's investors filed a complaint with the Economic and Corruption Prosecutor's Office (WKStA).
They are calling for investigations into the empire of the absconded Austrian real estate investor Benko.
The lawsuit was filed at the end of last week by a Viennese law firm on behalf of a group of domestic and international investors.
She had granted Signa long-term loans, as the
press
reported.
Signa Development, one of the largest companies within the Signa network, conducted "unlawful transactions" before filing for bankruptcy on December 29, the lawsuit says, according to the
Financial Times
.
(bohy)