The auction of the inventory of bankrupt Signa Holding caused a stir at the beginning of this year. Not only René Benko’s luxury furniture went under the hammer, but also everyday items such as doormats, clothes hangers and rubbish bins. The latter contained explosive information…
It is bizarre enough that the rubbish bins actually came under the hammer with their contents. But it consisted not only of what was expected, such as bread bags, postal receipts or mandarin peels, but also of documents that should have been removed more thoroughly, radio station FM4 reported.
For example, in addition to notices about the approval process and printed emails, the Signa bins also contain a development calculation for the Lamarr project, which has now had to file for bankruptcy. The document shows that not everything went according to plan during the construction project on Vienna’s Mariahilfer Strasse.
Increasingly higher financing costs
It sets out how the increase in interest rates on loans affects the financing costs of the Lamarr project. In the calculation, these will increase from just under 30 million euros in 2022 to more than 51 million euros at the end of September 2023. In the statement for September 2025, the financing costs already amount to almost 67 million euros. Rising interest rates are one of the reasons often blamed for Signa’s bankruptcy.
The bankruptcy of the German department store KaDeWe, owned by Signa Holding, is said to be due to excessive, market-unusual rents charged by Signa. According to the Lamarr project plan, significant rental income was also expected for the Lamarr department store in Vienna. Accordingly, the plan was for an annual base rent of 14.5 million euros and an additional sales-based rent of 3.5 million euros – which should bring the rental income of Benko’s empire to 1.5 million euros.
Future for department store uncertain
Nothing came of these plans; the project company for the planned Signa department store is bankrupt. Bankruptcy proceedings were opened on Friday regarding the assets of “Mariahilfer Straße 10-18 Immobilien GmbH”. The future of what is probably the most prominent grenade in Vienna today is therefore completely uncertain.
It’s also unclear why printed emails and sensitive documents simply ended up in the trash and weren’t properly destroyed. This may have been omitted for cost reasons: the document destruction company Reisswolf is one of Signa Holding’s numerous creditors.
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.
