Signa bankruptcy – Benko’s curator wins the jackpot

Signa founder René Benko continues to behave completely aloof. On Wednesday evening, the financial juggler, whose Signa Holding went bankrupt at the end of November, flew from Vienna to Innsbruck in an extra-large private jet. In any case, no longer at the expense of the now bankrupt Signa Holding.

The Vienna Commercial Court announced on December 4 in the so-called insolvency file: The closure of the sub-area ‘representation/acquisition’ (in particular hunting, flight, security and event management) is approved.

Benko has been ‘actual director’ for a long time
Within the Signa Group, René Benko was primarily responsible for representation and acquisition using private jets. Although he has not held an official position for ten years, after a criminal conviction for attempting to make a prohibited invention. Nevertheless, the 46-year-old Tyrolean was considered a kind of “de facto director” who was said to have approved more or less all major decisions in the opaque group of companies.

Largest bankruptcy of the 2nd Republic
Due to the closure of the flight department of Signa Holding by the curator, it can be assumed that the real estate speculator will have to pay for his jet set in the high-flyer (of the Global 7000 type (new price: approximately 70 million dollars). However, this is the case for insolvency experts. The question how it could be that the Second Republic’s largest bankruptcy could be handled as a self-managed insolvency proceeding.

In such a procedure, Benko’s directors remain in office, even though, despite mandatory judicial fines, they were in the middle, rather than just there, of deliberately concealing the annual accounts for years. With self-administration, Benko can continue to pull the strings. With self-management, the curator – unlike a traditional curator – essentially has supervision and approval rights.

The financial manager will cash in big time
And yet 65-year-old Christof Stapf, the restructuring manager of the financially ailing Signa Holding, will make a lot of money in a short time, as Krone research has shown. Stapf, a partner at the law firm Stapf Neuhauser Rechtsanwälte in central Vienna, virtually won the bankruptcy lottery when he was awarded the five billion bankruptcy of Benkos Holding. The compensation to which the administrator is legally entitled in the event of Signa’s insolvency could even exceed Benko’s former provision emperors such as Alfred Gusenbauer (six million euros for services in the period 2020 to 2022) and Sebastian Kurz (2.9 million for services). to protect. in 2023) of reimbursements. Let jealousy turn green.

Daily rate: 197,368 euros and 42 cents
The compensation for a liquidator is regulated in the Insolvency Code. It literally says: “If an arrangement is accepted, the liquidator’s reward is typically 3,000 euros plus 4% of the first 50,000 euros of the amount needed to satisfy creditors.” (…) and of that more than 1.5 million euros “surplus 1 percent.

The calculation for Stapf is simple: in-house restructuring procedures require a quota of at least 30 percent. This means that Benko’s bankrupt holding company with debts of 5 billion euros must raise around 1.5 billion euros to satisfy its creditors. One percent of that is no less than 15 million euros, which Stapf collects as a so-called ‘super commissioner’, as he was recently described.

He must be active within 76 days from the opening of the bankruptcy on November 29 to the closing date on February 12, 2024. If creditors agree to the restructuring plan on Rose Monday, the 15 million will flow immediately. This is because the judicial confirmation only takes place after the curator’s fee has been paid.

In the case of Signa Holding and Stapf, this amounts to a daily rate of no less than 197,368 euros and 42 cents.

Opaque construction
Since Signa Holding filed for bankruptcy at the end of November, insolvency law experts have wondered how the Vienna Commercial Court could allow in-house restructuring proceedings in Signa Holding’s case. After all, the group of real estate jugglers is regarded as an extremely opaque entity consisting of more than a thousand companies, which avoids the banner like the proverbial devil avoids holy water.

At the moment, the group around Benko and co-owner Hans Peter Haselsteiner is trying very hard to downplay Signa Holding’s real estate assets. A completely different strategy was followed in previous years.