Image: (APA/GEORG HOCHMUTH)
A corresponding report from ORF “ZiB1” was confirmed by informed circles on Monday evening. It should depend on the sales price, and further negotiations will take place soon. The assets include the Goldenes Quartier, the Hotel Park Hyatt in Vienna and the Tyrol department store in Innsbruck.
- More on the subject: Schoeller Group is to take over Signa Prime
The German industrialists helped René Benko’s Signa Prime Selection out of its liquidity crisis last summer with a loan of 200 million euros and in return received liens on the financing company Signa Prime Capital Invest GmbH, which includes shares in valuable properties such as the planned Lamarr luxury department store in Vienna KaDeWe in Berlin and the Elbtower project in Hamburg.
- You might also be interested in: Suspicion of money laundering: investigations against René Benko
Of the 37 interested parties for Signa Prime Asset GmbH, to which the properties belong, the Schoeller Group is said to have not only offered the best price, but also made the best structural offer, that is: the liens on Signa Prime Capital would be deducted, meaning that the exploitation of the valuable properties would no longer be blocked. Prime’s restructuring manager did not respond to the rumors when asked.
Claims in the millions
There was also news on Monday about Signa REM Transactions GmbH, Signa Hospitality GmbH and Burgenland Jagdpachtgesellschaft mbH. The general audit meetings in the bankruptcy proceedings for these companies took place today at the Vienna Commercial Court. The creditors have registered claims amounting to millions for the companies, as the KSV1870 announced. The companies were closed by bankruptcy court and there were no plans to continue or restructure them.
Meanwhile, the Munich public prosecutor’s office is investigating Signa company founder Rene Benko on suspicion of money laundering. According to a report by the German “Bild am Sonntag”, a corresponding procedure was initiated in November last year. The Munich authorities did not want to comment on the report to the newspaper. Benko’s lawyer said he was not familiar with the proceedings. According to “BamS” it is about a construction project between Munich Central Station and Karlsplatz (Stachus).
120 million euros from the RBI
According to the report, Benko’s companies are said to have collected almost 1 billion euros from banks and investors for the acquisition and development of the “Munich’s New Center” project. 120 million euros are said to come from Raiffeisen Bank International (RBI), the newspaper writes, citing Signa files and land register extracts. The Benko companies are said to have provided inflated information about future rental income in order to obtain higher loans at better conditions. A large part of the money is said to have flowed abroad.
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