In Signa Holding’s insolvency application, which was submitted to the Vienna Commercial Court in November, Signa Holding’s total liabilities were still valued at five billion euros, but now a good 8.6 billion have been registered. According to the court-appointed insolvency administrator Christof Stapf, only claims of around 80.3 million euros – a fraction of that – have so far been recognized, the rest, well over 8.5 billion, is not recognized.
Many claims were submitted to the court without the necessary documents or too late. A total of 302 creditors have filed claims. The insolvency administrator assumes that the claims will probably not be able to withstand this extent.
How the demands are divided according to Stapf
According to the insolvency administrator, around 5.1 billion euros alone would be attributable to liability claims (largely from guarantees and letters of comfort) and 1.6 billion euros to intra-group payments, such as loans. Claims within the group were completely disputed, it said.
debate
What consequences will the Signa bankruptcy have?
The trade payables are comparatively manageable at around 1.5 million euros, as are the public tax claims of around 940,000 euros and rent claims of around 260,000 euros.
“It will be up to the creditors to provide the documents necessary for the proper processing of the claim registrations via the insolvency court,” said Stapf. Disputed claims could be asserted through a lawsuit in bankruptcy court. The creditors were given a period of two months to do this. The insolvency administrator will continue to examine the claims during this time.
No self-administration bankruptcy
Last week it became known that Signa Holding was giving up self-administration in the restructuring process and that the restructuring manager was taking over the helm. A reduction in the insolvency rate has not yet been requested. Creditors are offered a quota of at least 30 percent within two years. The vote on the restructuring plan is scheduled for the end of April.
In addition, the insolvency administrator announced that discussions about the sale of Signa’s stake in New York’s Chrysler Building and to media are still ongoing. In addition, two arbitration claims from Mubadala from the United Arab Emirates and AM1 from Qatar are still pending, it said. According to the insolvency administrator, this involves payments of 713 million euros or 296 million euros. Signa Holding had applied for the interruption of both proceedings due to the insolvency.
KaDeWe Group has filed for bankruptcy
Insolvency proceedings under self-administration were applied for. The trading company emphasized that the rents at the three locations in particular are putting a strain on business. They made “sustainable, profitable economic activity almost impossible,” it was said.
Graphics: APA/ORF; Source: Company
According to a report in the ‘Handelsblatt’ from December, the annual rent in the Oberpollinger in Munich amounts to 20 percent of sales, in the Alsterhaus in Hamburg to 17 percent and in the KaDeWe in Berlin to 13 percent,” the report says. Common in the market Rents are up to twelve percent. Most recently, the group achieved sales of 800 million euros.
50.1 percent in Thai hands
Companies that have good prospects of continuing business operations usually apply for insolvency under self-administration rather than with the help of an insolvency administrator. It is a variant of insolvency law that aims to restructure a company instead of winding it up.
50.1 percent of the KaDeWe Group belongs to the Central Group of the Thai family Chirathivat and 49.9 percent to Signa Retail, which also owns Galeria Karstadt Kaufhof. Signa Retail announced at the end of November that it would wind up its business in an orderly manner. Galeria Karstadt Kaufhof filed for insolvency proceedings three weeks ago.
Spar board interested in Lamarr
The future of the Lamarr department store in Vienna is also in jeopardy. Signa and the project company for the Lamarr department store have not recently commented on construction progress. An official construction stop has not yet been announced; the opening was scheduled for the beginning of 2025.
There has been no significant activity at the Lamarr construction site since November. Several weeks ago, the district head of Wien-Neubau called on the city of Vienna to take action so that the Lamarr did not degenerate into a ruin. Shortly afterwards, the city of Vienna said that the building was expected to be completed.
There is already someone interested in the Lamarr. Spar CEO Hans Reisch was interested in an interview with the “Salzburger Nachrichten” at the weekend. “We tried very hard to get the Hedy Lamarr – the Leiner on Mariahilfer Strasse back then – before we sold it to Rene Benko, but we didn’t get the chance,” said Reisch. “That would still be an asset we would be interested in. But nothing is concrete.”