The Benko Family Private Foundation is believed to be the secret holding company of the financially ailing Signa Group. Secret documents now reveal what their economic situation really is.
Since the end of November, René Benko’s Signa Holding has occupied a sad leading position in Austrian economic history: with a debt burden of around five billion euros, the financial juggler’s parent company is at the top of the bankruptcy rankings, closely followed by Signa Prime, which has high debts of 4.5 billion.
The opaque group, supervised by curator Christof Stapf, has until February 12 to complete the restructuring process under self-management with a 30 percent quota for creditors. Otherwise there is a risk of destruction.
Auctions and begging letters
Salvation will certainly not come about through auctions of toilet brushes, Signa doormats or well-stocked wines from the estate of the noble Palais Harrach in Vienna alone. The renovation requires fresh capital from outside. Board member Erhard Grossnigg’s recently revealed begging letters to investors were apparently not very successful. Why doesn’t René just give Benko the 150 million that was recently at stake? How rich is Benko really? And where did he hide his money?
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.
