The Innsbruck regional court has dealt with the personal solvency of the Austrian Signa founder René Benko. A non-public hearing took place on Tuesday in the absence of the former billionaire.
The Republic of Austria had filed for insolvency against the founder of the ailing real estate and trading group. No decision was made on Tuesday, as the court in Benko’s hometown announced. The judge ordered further documents until the beginning of March in order to then either initiate private insolvency proceedings or reject the state’s application. Benko’s lawyers had no comment.
The Austrian state is one of the creditors in the ongoing insolvency proceedings within the Signa Group, which includes, among others, the Elbtower project in Hamburg and the Galeria Karstadt Kaufhof department store group.
Benko’s fortune was estimated last year by the US magazine Forbes at around 6 billion dollars (5.6 billion euros). However, he was removed from the global billionaire list at the end of 2023 when his group of companies plunged into crisis amid rising interest rates, construction costs and energy prices. (dpa)