The Austrian investor René Benko is bankrupt. The Innsbruck regional court opened corresponding insolvency proceedings on Friday, as a court spokesman announced. The founder of the ailing real estate and trading group Signa had filed for bankruptcy as an entrepreneur himself and is now liable with his private assets.
The Austrian tax authorities have charged Benko with tax debts of almost two million euros, as the German Press Agency learned. However, the demands on the entrepreneur could be significantly higher. For example, the sovereign wealth fund Mubadala in Abu Dhabi is trying to collect 713 million euros from Benko and Signa companies.
The former billionaire Benko no longer had any official management positions at Signa, but did have consulting contracts with individual sub-companies of the group. After these contracts were terminated in the wake of the group’s crisis, Benko currently does not have sufficient current income to settle the claims, as the dpa learned.
In bankruptcy proceedings, the debtor’s assets are divided among the creditors. However, it is possible to create a restructuring plan as part of the process. The debtors would then receive 20 percent of the requested amount. If a debtor does not directly seek restructuring proceedings, but instead files for bankruptcy as a first step, as Benko did, this could be because the debtor does not have the minimum quota of 20 percent, said Gerhard Weinhofer from the credit agency Creditreform of the dpa.
The Signa Group’s portfolio includes, among others, the insolvent department store chain Galeria Karstadt Kaufhof, the abandoned Elbtower construction project in Hamburg and the Berlin luxury department store KaDeWe. Signa had expanded significantly during the low interest rate period and plunged into crisis due to rising interest rates and construction costs. (dpa)