Image: HANS KLAUS TECHT (APA/HANS KLAUS TECHT)
This is reported by the “Tiroler Tageszeitung”. There is currently no trace of Benko. Close confidants, who are not named, report that he is a “broken man.” Accordingly, Benko lost his grip on the ground after initially having extreme success.
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“He suddenly believed that he knew everything, that he could turn anything into gold,” said a long-time employee, according to the newspaper. After entering the retail sector and later also the media sector (“Kronen Zeitung”, “Kurier”), the path to becoming a man with a supposed golden touch who lived an ultra-luxurious lifestyle at Signa’s expense resulted in a record bankruptcy. From the plane to the stately and luxurious property in Sirmione with a helipad, from the chalets in Lech to the villa in Igls, staff included.
It is unclear where Benko is currently
Benko was de facto the managing director until the end, even if he tried to hide it from the outside world. Benko “had the reins in his hand” and instructed his employees and his managing directors. “In my opinion, he shouldn’t shy away from that,” said Signa investor Hans Peter Haselsteiner last week. Possible liability issues stand or fall for Benko personally if he is actually a managing director. As reported, the Financial Procuratorate wants to examine this.
Benko shies away from the public eye. According to “TT”, it is unclear where exactly he is, whether in Innsbruck or elsewhere. But he could also be found in Vienna from time to time, sometimes having breakfast at “his” Park Hyatt in “his” Golden Quarter in the city center.
Liabilities in the double-digit billion range
Politicians from ex-Chancellor Sebastian Kurz down used to enjoy being photographed with him. During his time as chancellor, Kurz even took Benko to the Arab world, for example to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in 2019, to hold discussions with investors. The then Chancellor Kurz and the then Justice Minister Josef Moser (both ÖVP) are said to have been involved in the Kika/Leiner purchase of Signa at the end of 2017, including the Leiner building on Mariahilfer Straße, which initially stands as a shell as a luxury department store There is ice.
The bankruptcies in the Benkos conglomerate result in liabilities in the double-digit billion range. It is by far the largest bankruptcy in Austrian economic history.
Dieter Berninghaus is said to have driven Benko
According to Benko’s companions, it was Dieter Berninghaus who knew how to motivate Benko, the newspaper writes. Berninghaus has held a key position in the Signa Group since 2016. In 2022, the former Migros and Rewe manager Berninghaus said in an interview with the Swiss business magazine “Bilanz” that he was currently in the process of building Europe’s largest luxury department store group. He was made commercial head of the real estate empire by Benko.
“Once Benko and Beringhaus agreed on a strategy and a decision was made, then the railway ran over it. You could no longer counteract this from the outside,” says a Signa employee from better days. The 58-year-old Berninghaus, a German with a Swiss passport, earned millions at Signa: from the luxury department stores of Selfridges to the IPO of Signa Sports to the “megalomaniacal purchase” of the Chrysler Building, the “TT” quotes an ex-Signa employee.
It has been unknown for weeks where Berninghaus is. This is what connects him with Benko these days. It is said that Berninghaus is ill and is being treated in the USA. Another speculation is that he went into hiding.
Who is Timo Herzberg?
A second name that appears in the analysis of the Signa bankruptcy is that of Timo Herzberg. Just before Christmas, Herzberg was relieved of his role as CEO of Signa Prime and Signa Selection with “immediate effect”. “The suspicion was clear and left the supervisory boards no other choice,” said Alfred Gusenbauer, ex-SPÖ chancellor and chairman of the supervisory boards of the two companies, at the time. What exactly disrupted the relationship of trust remains unclear. It is suspected that Herzberg ensured that bonus payments amounting to millions were possibly collected using unfair methods.
Signa likes to argue that the ECB is practically to blame for its collapse. This is due to a special audit of bank loans to Signa and the rapid interest rate increases. However, with its increases the ECB was only following previous developments in the USA and, as the “TT” writes: “Every businessman knows that interest rates can change.”
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