Signa Prime insolvency

Creditors to receive all assets

(Bild: APA/EVA MANHART)

Financial juggler René Benko's insolvent Signa Prime is about to take a spectacular turn: Until now, the plan was to fob off creditors with a quota and keep the remaining luxury properties. According to information from Krone, the entire assets of Signa Prime, which went bankrupt at the end of December, will now be transferred to the creditors and the proceeds from the sale will go to them.

This means that the existing shareholders will be left holding the bag. If real estate prices rise over the next few years, the creditors will benefit. The planned structure: the restructuring administrator is to act as a trustee over the next two years in order to ensure a controlled sale of the many prime properties in city center locations. The creditors therefore have good reason to hope that they will receive more than the 30 percent of their claims offered to date. 

The Park Hyatt Hotel in Vienna

(Bild: Martin Jöchl)

Recently, there has been harsh criticism of the previous approach to the billion-euro bankruptcy. This included the planned package sale of the special properties Park Hyatt, Constitutional Court, Goldenes Quartier and Kaufhaus Tyrol, which was criticized as being too hasty. It was also criticized that Benko and Haselsteiner confidants still sit on the board of Signa Prime. And that a real estate expert was missing from the creditors' committee.

New board member to bring real estate expertise
A new Management Board with a high level of real estate expertise is to be appointed soon. The current Supervisory Board is to step down. The entire plan must be approved at an Annual General Meeting in April. It is to be presented to the creditors in the next few days.