René Benko protects his private assets with a foundation. A clever move, says foundation consultant Sascha Drache and explains why other entrepreneurs should also do the same.
Mr. Drache, you advise German companies on setting up foundations. Recently you have Rene Benko touted as a role model. You literally said that some super-rich people could learn a lesson from this. Are you serious?
The statement was of course provocative. But I’m serious too. German entrepreneurs should see the failure of the company or the entrepreneur René Benko as a memorial. The insolvency of his Signa Holding shows how quickly the economic tide can turn and how high an entrepreneur’s risk is of getting into existential difficulties. Benko secured his private assets early on by setting up foundations. This now largely protects him from losing his private assets and thus his entire existence. Many entrepreneurs, especially medium-sized businesses, underestimate the risk of failure and are not aware that they can lose everything with the wrong legal form. Just take Schlecker as an example.
As a foundation expert, do you recommend that every large medium-sized company adopt the Benko model?
I don’t see anything dishonorable in this, it would simply be forward-looking. Just as most of us save or take out car insurance, the super-rich should put something aside in a foundation when times are good – as protection against total economic loss. The family foundation is the only structure that survives the chaos of bankruptcy and protects the family’s assets against possible claims.
Why is that?
If they are held accountable as a manager or individual, their personal funds are also all under fire. Only the assets that you previously gave away, so to speak, i.e. transferred to a private foundation, are not affected. Benko’s wife and children are not affected and his foundation will not be either because there are two, in this case three, separate people. Creditors and the tax office have no access to it.
But the tax office has now seized one of his villas – as far as is known – due to tax debts. The property is part of the Laura Foundation, one of his daughters. How is that possible?
Source: Stern
