Image: GEORG HOCHMUTH (APA)
According to reports, the resort, consisting of individual villas that extend over a hillside in Gardone, was transferred from Signa Holding to a Benko foundation in August this year.
Signa briefly commented on this on Thursday afternoon: “It is a completely normal transaction at market prices,” explained a company spokesman in response to an APA request based on a report in “Standard”.
In view of the group’s financial difficulties, Benko recently resigned at the urging of numerous Signa investors. On November 8th, he vacated his place at the top of the company. The German renovator Arndt Geiwitz moved up.
The houses in the “Villa Eden Reserve Resort” in Gardone am See can be rented by the day or week for a price of 3,000 to 10,000 euros per night. On the hotel website as well as in Signa company documents, the Eden is presented as a Signa property. But questions arise as soon as you look at the company books. Marcus Mühlberger, a high-ranking manager at Signa Holding and a close confidant of Benko, is the managing director of the Italian company that runs the Eden.
Read more about this:
- With billions in the chalk: Who Signa owes what (OÖNplus)
- Benko hands over the helm at Signa to the renovator Geiwitz
However, a look at the company register shows that the luxury resort has nothing formally to do with the Signa Group; at least there is no publicly visible connection to the group. Instead, the resort belongs to an Italian company, which in turn belongs to a Luxembourg company – and is owned by a foundation, the Ingbe Foundation, based in Schaan near Vaduz in Liechtenstein, founded in 2014.
According to “Standard”, it is unknown who the financiers and beneficiaries of this foundation are. But it is considered Benko’s direct sphere of influence. “Ingbe” reportedly stands for “Ingeborg Benko”, the mother of the Signa founder. Only Liechtenstein lawyers can be found as representatives of this foundation in commercial registers. According to the newspaper, we don’t know who was behind it, who the financiers and beneficiaries were.
Signa spoke of a “serious investor” in the background
According to the information, the German “Wirtschaftswoche” dealt with the foundation in 2017. Signa told the medium at the time that it was a kind of investment vehicle – an anonymous financier was behind it. “A Signa spokesman assured that it was a serious investor who did not want to be named,” wrote “Wiwo” in 2017.
As another example of non-transparent ownership, “Der Standard” cites Chalet N in the Vorarlberg ski resort of Oberlech, which is named after Benko’s wife Nathalie. Well-off guests could rent here for 270,000 euros per week. As with the Eden Resort, the Signa logo can also be found on the Chalet N website. The chalet is operated by the company Signa Luxury Collection GmbH, registered at the Signa headquarters on Freyung in Vienna. This Luxury Collection in turn belongs to a company called Signa AT 2020 Vier KG.
According to “Standard”, the latter company is not part of the Signa Group, “at least not for the most part”. Signa Holding board member Mühlberger also appears here personally as a partner with unlimited liability – i.e. the actor who assumes the risk should financial problems arise. Signa Holding only acts as a limited partner, up to a sum of 5,000 euros. “It remains unclear why a manager is virtually privately fully liable for a Signa project,” says the “Standard”.
According to the newspaper, the cases mentioned raise questions as to whose responsibility the properties fall after Benko’s resignation, whether under that of Geiwitz, who is supposed to restructure the company, or under that of Benko.
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