The IT unit of the severely ailing real estate and trading group Signa has filed for insolvency proceedings.
Signa Informationstechnologie GmbH’s application was submitted to the Vienna Commercial Court, a court spokeswoman confirmed to the German Press Agency on Tuesday. According to the credit agencies KSV and Creditreform, the company has debts worth around 24.1 million euros. 49 employees and 154 creditors are affected by the insolvency. The Signa Group, founded by the Austrian entrepreneur René Benko, did not comment on the recent partial insolvency in the complex network of companies, which also includes the German department store group Galeria Karstadt Kaufhof.
Signa Holding and other sub-companies had previously filed for bankruptcy. Signa Development, the group’s central real estate development unit, also announced such a move “in the very near future” last week. The heavily indebted luxury real estate unit Signa Prime, which includes the KaDeWe department store in Berlin and the idle Elbtower project in Hamburg, has not yet commented on its current financial situation.
During the low interest rate phase of the past few years, Benko was able to take out cheap loans and attract financially strong investors in order to significantly expand his group. The recent rise in interest rates, construction costs and energy prices have put his complex network of companies in trouble. (dpa)