At the end of July 2023, René Benko’s nested Signa construct had long had enormous financial and liquidity problems. Despite all the turbulence, the Signa boss still found time and money for an investment that was as risky as it was interesting.
René Benko’s Signa is in danger of going up in flames as early as the summer of 2023. After the emergency sale of Kika/Leiner’s properties, the financial juggler searches with increasing desperation for donors for his financially ailing conglomerate. Former Chancellor Sebastian Kurz just helped secure a $100 million cash injection from Dubai. But that’s nothing more than a drop in Signa’s ocean. While Benko itself is still trying to convince its co-investors around Hans Peter Haselsteiner to increase capital, it is already clear internally: Signa Holding and Signa Prime, the two most important group companies, closed the past financial year with losses worth billions. Only a miracle can save the structure.
The new investment
And what is René Benko doing next to it? He plays the investor again. Not in real estate. Not even in retail, where the Tyrolean speculator left a trail of blood at Galeria Karstadt Kaufhof and Kika/Leiner at the expense of thousands of workers. Benko buys a horse. And not an ordinary horse, but a jumping horse. Costs: 2.38 million euros.
According to the purchase agreement available to the Crown, the now nine-year-old stallion is called “Chageorge”. The deposit of 200,000 euros net must be paid no later than July 21, 2023, the remainder on July 31. Benko acquires Chageorge through Laura AT 2020 Eins GmbH, a company that is part of his private foundation Laura.
The installment payment for Kika/Leiner
The purchase at the end of July is explosive. On July 31, 2023, the creditors’ committee in the Kika/Leiner bankruptcy case will meet in the St. Pölten Regional Court. The confidential committee is especially eagerly awaiting the report of the special curator, who has had to consider the issues of possible delays in the bankruptcy and payment flows to Signa companies since mid-June. The explosive question then was: is anyone liable for the bankruptcy debts – at the time “only” in the bankruptcy of Kika/Leiner. However, this involves a lot of taxpayers’ money – the Republic is the largest creditor with a total of more than 90 million euros.
A few weeks later it is clear: Signa Holding, as the long-standing owner of Kika/Leiner, can absolve itself of all possible sins from the furniture retail past with 20 million euros. Five million will flow before the final meeting at the end of September. The rest should come in three installments. This installment payment alone should have set alarm bells ringing at the time. Especially with the curator. Why can René Benko’s so-called billion-dollar company Signa Holding only pay off the 20 million in four installments?
The missing 15 million
The bitter end from the taxpayer’s perspective: Since Signa Holding suffered the largest bankruptcy in Austrian economic history at the end of November 2023, it owes the Republic, i.e. the taxpayer, the promised additional 15 million euros for Kika/Leiner.
René Benko, who is in crisis at work and against whom the Republic has filed for bankruptcy due to debts to Finanz, can enjoy a million dollar horse from the summer of 2023. Although there are a number of notable aspects surrounding this transaction at the end of July.
The competition
On the one hand, there is the competition: before he was bought by Benko’s company, the 2.38 million stallion Chageorge only collected prize money of 580 euros. Since the transfer of ownership at the end of July 2023, 1,285 euros have been booked for 31 international tournaments. Is Chageorge a risky investment? After all, the horse is ridden by Christian Kukuk, a German top show jumper with an Olympic medal from the famous stable of Ludger Beerbaum. Beerbaum, who has won several Olympic medals himself, is seen in the scene as a kind of Michael Schumacher of show jumping.
On the other hand, there is the issue of ownership: Chageorge was sold according to the current purchase contract and the invoice of the German riding school Dagobertshausen. Benko’s Laura transfers the remaining installment of just over two million euros to her account by express order on July 31. So far so good.
The roles of the equestrian legends
However: According to the World Equestrian Federation FEI database, the breeder Paul Schockemöhle and his Gestüt Lewitz have been registered as owners with Chageorge since 2015. Did no one whisper to the strict equestrian association that the horse was sold in the summer to a company owned by the Austrian financial juggler? And must have previously belonged to the Dagobertshausen riding school?
Also strange: A few days ago, Stal Beerbaum appeared in the database as the owner, in whose stable Chageorge is trained by Christian Kukuk. Does the second most successful international show jumping horse in the world have an explanation for this?
Beerbaum tells the Crown: “This is not intentional deception.” This could have happened “during an export.” Probably a misunderstanding. In any case, the breeder is Schockemöhle. And as far as he knows, the owners of Chageorge are the owners of the Dagobertshausen riding school.
And who will pay the certainly hefty monthly costs for Chageorge in the Beerbaum stable? “Not a single owner has contacted me,” Beerbaum explains. This all happens “through contact with Schockemöhle”.
Apparently Benko’s journey to the world’s equestrian elite hasn’t been told to the end. Wherever the Signa inventor appears, the lack of transparency doesn’t seem far away.
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.
