As reported, the red pencil is now being applied to René Benko’s Signa. The Commercial Court has already given restructuring administrator Christof Stapf the green light for the savings plan. This affects the majority of Signa Holding’s 43 employees.
Accordingly, all non-essential sub-operations will be halted with immediate effect – in particular personnel for the hunting, flight, security and event management areas, as well as for representation and business initiation tasks, Stapf explained in a press release.
The employees are dismissed or can leave the company with a right of three months to severance pay.
“Significant costs incurred”
According to the restructuring manager, all assets that are not absolutely necessary for the holding company will be put into use immediately. “The Commercial Court immediately approved the requested closure of the sub-areas on Monday,” said Stapf.
“The relevant part of the holding company’s operations has incurred significant ongoing costs. Its continuation would therefore have led to an increase in the loss suffered by the insolvency creditors,” said the restructuring administrator, justifying this step.
The luxury of Signa managers
As the “Krone” recently reported, Signa Holding had incurred 4.9 million euros in travel costs, 2.2 million euros in private jet costs, 409,000 euros in yacht costs, 722,000 euros in security costs and 463,000 euros in helicopter costs in the past year. In the liquidity plan for the next three months, travel costs are stated at 23,000 euros per month. While Signa Holding spent 2.7 million euros on lawyers last year, it has now set aside 50,000 euros for the next three months.
Credit protectors are calling for a creditors’ committee
There are still many unanswered questions surrounding the restructuring process of the bankrupt Signa. To ensure more order and transparency, credit protectors are now calling for the establishment of a creditors’ committee. Representatives of the Alpine Creditors Association (AKV) and the Credit Protection Association of 1870 (KSV) spoke to the ORF’s Ö1 “Morgenjournal” on Tuesday in favor of establishing such a committee.
This should be set by the responsible judge. It would then consist of three to seven members, support and monitor the curator and generally ensure greater transparency, the report said. “With a creditors’ committee, we can ask the trustee the questions that are already burning in our minds,” Karl-Heinz Götze, head of insolvency at KSV1870, told Ö1.
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.
