Creditors are demanding around 6.3 billion euros from the luxury real estate unit of the ailing Signa Group.
The insolvency administration announced on Monday in Vienna that around 2.6 billion of these have been recognized so far in the insolvency proceedings of Signa Prime Selection AG. In addition, there would be previously undeclared claims from other Signa Group companies, meaning the final total would be “substantially” higher than 2.6 billion euros, it said.
Signa Prime’s portfolio includes, among others, the Hamburg Elbtower project, the Berlin KaDeWe department store and a number of properties from the Galeria Karstadt Kaufhof department store chain. In order to settle the debts, luxury properties in Austria will be sold as a first step, as the insolvency administration announced in mid-February. On March 18, creditors are scheduled to vote on whether to approve a restructuring plan that would give them 30 percent of their claims.
The real estate and retail group Signa was founded by Austrian entrepreneur René Benko. The company network expanded strongly in times of low interest rates, but fell into a crisis as interest rates, construction costs and energy prices rose. (dpa)