The holding company of the largely insolvent real estate and trading group Signa will not be restructured as planned. The insolvency administrator of the holding company founded by René Benko announced this on Thursday in Vienna. The original restructuring concept was based on the assumption that the most important sub-companies Signa Prime and Signa Development should also be renovated. However, a trust plan has now been drawn up for both units for the orderly sale of their entire portfolios, which include the Elbtower, the KaDeWe and department store properties of the Galeria Karstadt Kaufhof group.
Since the holding company is ranked relatively low in the ranking of prime and development creditors, it can no longer expect to reorganize itself by exploiting these portfolios, explained the insolvency administrator. Instead, the holding company’s insolvency proceedings should now take place in the form of a so-called bankruptcy, in which the focus is on the rapid realization of the assets.
Thais snap up KaDeWe
In contrast to a restructuring, creditors cannot expect 30 percent of their claims to be repaid in a bankruptcy. The bankruptcy has no impact on the trust process of Signa Prime and Signa Development, informed sources told the German Press Agency.
The prestigious Berlin Kaufhaus des Westens is now going to the Thai Central Group. This was reported by “Handelsblatt” on Thursday. Accordingly, the Signa Group sold the department store in Berlin-Schöneberg for around one billion euros. The sum is significantly below the value assigned to KaDeWe in Signa’s books, according to the Handelsblatt.
