Group in ruins – pressure too much: Benko withdraws from Signa!

The rumor mill had been going for a long time: Benko’s financiers wanted to lose their confidence in him. In a personal letter, the Tyrolean was called on to resign from the top of the Signa group and also to transfer his voting rights to a trustee. On Friday the time had come: Benko resigned and left the field to his investors. The future of the group is now open.

Signa Holding hit hard
The sign is badly damaged. After several company bankruptcies and construction freezes, the building of real estate juggler Benko is in ruins. What remains are failed projects and thousands of people who lost their jobs due to bankruptcies such as Kika/Leiner. Not exactly a badge of honor for a businessman…

A chronology of recent years with Benko’s “model bankruptcies”:

• January 2018: The affected Kika/Leiner-Owner Steinhoff sells Leiner’s flagship store on Mariahilfer Straße in Vienna to Benko and his Signa.

• February 2018: Hamburg’s then first mayor, now German Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD), introduced the 700 million euro project Elbtoren for. Signa should build the tower.

• August 2018:Kika/Leiner announces the closure of four branches, 1,100 employees will lose their jobs.

• September 2018: Signa Holding takes over the majority Galeria Kaufhof. As of 2019, Signa is the sole owner, followed by a new merger with Karstadt.

• July 2019: Benko wants them Leiner headquarters on Mariahilfer Straße turn it into a luxury department store, following the example of Berlin’s KaDeWe. The excavators roll in and the historic buildings are destroyed.

• April 2020: Galeria Karstadt Kaufhof applies to protection shield procedures due to Corona. 41 branches in Germany will be closed.

• September 2020: The opening of Signa’s mega project “KaDeWe Vienna” has been postponed, it will now take a year longer than originally planned.

• October 2020: Benko is involved because of alleged party donations to the FPÖ Ibiza U committee loaded, the hearing is extremely slow and above all without gaining any knowledge.

• January 2021: Galeria Karstadt Kaufhof receives 460 million euros in German state aid. A year later, the German state had to add another 250 million euros.

• December 2021: Company Signa Sports goes public in New York.

• November 2022: Benko wants to separate himself from individuals Kika/Leiner locations different. Four to 15 of the 42 locations will be for sale, the company said.

• February 2023: The Insolvency proceedings Department store chain Galeria opens via the German Signa. Subsequently, 42 branches will be closed and thousands of employees will lose their jobs.

• May 2023: Benko sells all Kika/Leiner properties to the Supernova group.The operational matters go to a management team led by Hermann Wieser. 23 of the 40 locations will be closed and approximately 1,900 employees will lose their jobs.

• June 2023: The European banking supervisor is examining the loans that banks had granted to the Signa Group Special test.

• October 2023: Stop construction Hamburger Elbtoren. Payments from Benko’s Signa Group are said to be outstanding. The Signa daughter SportCheck is sold. Signa Sports United is insolvent after its stock is capped and delisted.

Within the Signa Group, no stone should be left unturned. In addition to the Elbtower, Signa owns the Kaufmannshaus, the Alsterhaus and the Alsterarkaden in Hamburg. In Berlin, the Upper West high-rise buildings and the well-known KaDeWe, and in Munich the Alte Akademie, belong to the Signa Prime Selection AG business segment. In Vienna, in addition to the Golden Quarter, the group also owns the Wiener Postsparkasse building and the Bank Austria Kunstforum.