The downturn in the real estate market is hitting René Benko’s Signa Holding hard. Last year, the group of companies recorded a loss of around 505 million euros. Debts also apparently increased enormously: from 634 million euros to 1.996 billion euros. Signa initially did not respond to the figures.
According to ‘News’, the holding company reported an annual profit of 570 million euros for the 2021 financial year. Last week, Signa Holding withdrew a promised capital injection of 150 million euros for Signa Sports United (SSU). Shortly thereafter, SSU had to announce that it and several subsidiaries were facing bankruptcy filings.
SSU includes retailers Tennis-Point, WiggleCRC, Fahrrad.de and Bikester. With 80 online shops, Signa Sports United achieved a turnover of more than 1 billion euros in 2022, but also high losses in the millions. The German SSU subsidiaries Tennis Point and internet stores GmbH (fahrrad.de) have already filed for bankruptcy.
Renovation expert on duty
German restructuring expert Arndt Gietenz recently advised Signa Holding. A spokesperson said Monday that Gietenz received a corresponding order a few days ago. In June, the Signa Group sold the operational Kika/Leiner activities to the Austrian trading manager and investor Hermann Wieser and the furniture store properties to the Graz Supernova Group.
Shortly after the sale, the local furniture chain filed for bankruptcy. With further property sales and a cash injection from existing investors, Signa Holding has secured liquidity in recent months.
“Difficult market environment”
The annual accounts of Signa Prime Selection AG for 2022 have now also been made public in the trade register – via the minutes of the general meeting of July 13, 2023. Due to high devaluations on the real estate activities, the company recorded a net loss of more than one billion euros, after a plus of 732 million in 2021. The devaluations of billions of dollars were the result of the difficult market environment.
According to a current report from the “manager magazine”, some of the Signa financiers, including Fressnapf founder Torsten Töller, freight forwarder Klaus-Michael Kühne and well-known management consultant Roland Berger, have the contractual right to convert their shares into cash.
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.
