Despite a deeply red balance sheet, four board members of René Benko’s Signa company received remarkably high bonus payments – the ‘Krone’ reported. Now one of the managers has announced his resignation.
At the end of last week, the “Krone” reported on bonus payments of a remarkable amount: four board members of Signa Prime Selection AG, one of the most important companies in the opaque business network of real estate juggler René Benko, had received a total of approximately 20 million euros for 2022; despite a dark red balance sheet with a loss of 1.2 billion.
Now the first of the four board members has thrown in the towel: Claus Stadler, who has led Signa Prime and Signa Development AG since 2020, has submitted his resignation to the chairman of the supervisory board Alfred Gusenbauer, according to “Krone ” information. According to his LinkedIn profile, the 53-year-old Stadler worked at the “Signa Group of Companies” as Chief Operations Officer (COO) and is still listed as general manager of more than 100 companies with a connection to Signa. By comparison, founder René Benko has not held any organ positions since a court conviction ten years ago, despite his dominant position in the crisis-ridden group.
Media report: Second investor drops out
There are now increasing media reports that Benko no longer has the full confidence of its investors: Germany’s Handelsblatt reported on the holiday that René Benko lost another shareholder, Torsten Toeller, after management consultant legend Roland Berger. The founder of Fressnapf “would now also have used his put option,” the newspaper writes and further states: “More and more investors are demanding more transparency from real estate entrepreneur René Benko.” Whether the major Benko investor and ex-Strabag also agreed to such a demand – boss Hans Peter Haselsteiner is currently unknown.
Billions in losses at Signa Retail
Speaking of transparency, it’s not surprising that the group’s hard-hit trading division is also facing dramatic losses. According to “News”, Signa Retail Selection AG, based in Switzerland, has a deficit of 1.39 billion euros on its books at the end of September 2022.
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.
