The regional court in St. Pölten may have thought that special insolvencies require special measures – and in mid-June they appointed not only a classic restructuring trustee for the Kika/Leiner debacle, but also a special estate manager.
Occurs extremely rarely. In any case, for this one special court order at Kika/Leiner: he may investigate “the causes of the financial collapse” and the “recovery of claims arising from the violation of creditor protection provisions”.
After all, this is the largest Austrian bankruptcy in ten years. About the fate of some 2000 employees. About imminent losses for the taxpayer of more than 100 million euros. And a former owner (Benkos Signa Group, note), who shortly after the surprise sale of Kika/Leiner at the end of May, just days before the bankruptcy, stated that Kika/Leiner was “a very good investment” for him. been.
“Negotiations with the Signa Group”
Two months later it is certain: the Signa group of department store juggler Benko will receive a visit. By court-appointed special liquidator Stephan Riel. This is evident from the minutes of a confidential meeting of the creditors’ committee, which met on July 31 in the Regional Court of St. Pölten, Chamber 216, chaired by the insolvency judge. Riel reports under agenda item 1 on “the previous investigations and results of the investigation with regard to possible delays in bankruptcy, rents (amount in line with the market); Payments to affiliates/associated companies” and the “merger of Rudolf Leiner GmbH with kika GmbH”, which took place retroactively on September 30, 2021. Then the key sentence: “The special liquidator explains in particular the intended further procedure, after which the negotiations with the SIGNA Group will now be started.”
Republic of Deferred Sales Tax Income
Apparently Riel sees action towards Signa, which, as the owner of Kika/Leiner, transferred millions of rent from the retail division to the real estate sector within the group. In addition, the Republic granted a deferment of receipt of the sales tax. A first detailed report from the trustees is expected for August 21.
Signa took over the traditional furniture business in the summer of 2018 with the active help of former ÖVP chancellor Sebastian Kurz. By the way: Ex-SPÖ chancellor Alfred Gusenbauer holds important supervisory positions at both Signa and Strabag as president. Strabag founder Hans Peter Haselsteiner is a major investor in Signa.
The Raiffeisen banking group, which according to “Spiegel” lent the Signa group a total of about two billion euros, is considered the most important Signa lender in Austria. Media holdings, such as the courier, also belong to the Raiffeisen empire.
Source: Krone
I’m Ben Stock, a journalist and author at Today Times Live. I specialize in economic news and have been working in the news industry for over five years. My experience spans from local journalism to international business reporting. In my career I’ve had the opportunity to interview some of the world’s leading economists and financial experts, giving me an insight into global trends that is unique among journalists.
