Image: WOLFGANG EDER (APA/WOLFGANG EDER)
It will certainly take “a few weeks,” but he expects a “high level of interest,” said Willi.
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At the moment there is no indication of a specific buyer
The city boss expected an “internationally renowned investment bank” to strike. But Willi emphasized that he currently has no indication of a specific potential buyer. Such an investment bank that “knows what it’s doing,” “has a lot of experience in the real estate business,” and already carries out valuations every year on properties like the Kaufhaus Tyrol, would be obvious to him.
In any case, Willi wasn’t worried about the department store on Innsbruck’s Maria-Theresien-Strasse in the center of the state capital. Given the “premium location” and the very high value, a new buyer will probably not be difficult to find and they will only have one interest: “that the store continues to do well.” In any case, the jobs are “all safe,” said the city boss confidently and emphasized that he would be “kept up to date.”
- Also read: Bankruptcy decision on Benko delayed until March
“Dreaming about it doesn’t do any good”
Willi couldn’t accept the fact that one of his competitors for the mayor’s seat in the local council election in April, “das Neue Innsbruck” frontman and ÖVP state secretary Florian Tursky, called for a “round table” and a “Tyrolean solution” on Tuesday. “This phrase ‘a Tyrolean solution’. Dreaming about it is of no use.” In addition, so far – “except that Benko is Tyrolean” – the majority have not spoken of “Tyrolean money” or a Tyrolean solution if one takes a close look at the sources of money and pays attention to the international donors.
Willi also had little use for Tursky’s statement that the Tyrol department store should not become a “plaything for international investment funds.” A good buyer will be found and the contract should be awarded to “the one who offers the best price.” In any case, it is “not the task of the city or the country” to act as a buyer themselves – and in this dimension at that – and pump in tax money: “The market does and regulates that.”
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