Real estate Signa founder Benko confronted with further claims in the millions

In the bankruptcy proceedings concerning the assets of Signa founder René Benko, a further 400 million euros in creditor claims have been asserted. On Wednesday, a retrospective hearing took place at the Innsbruck Regional Court.

However, only a tiny proportion of the new claims were recognized, namely just 34,000 euros. This claim was made by the tax office, as the liquidator Andreas Grabenweger told journalists. The disputed newly registered claims - seven in number - related to national and international investors of the Signa Group.

This means that the total amount of recognized claims remains at around 47 million euros for the time being, as determined at the first verification hearing at the end of April. This is also only a relatively small proportion of the claims; the creditors had claimed over 2 billion euros.

Watches, sports boat and jet ski sold

Meanwhile, the liquidation of assets was also underway in the bankruptcy proceedings. Specifically, the insolvency administrator is selling off Benko's "movable assets". According to the KSV credit protection association, these include watches, a sports boat and a jet ski.

It is also being examined whether various trademark rights owned by the Tyrolean entrepreneur are valuable and can therefore be sold. However, as Grabenweger explained after the hearing, all of this is likely to result in "only" a few hundred thousand euros in proceeds, but certainly not millions.

Still years away

Benko was not present in person at the short hearing in his home town on Wednesday, in contrast to the first hearing in April. The former billionaire is currently employed by a company belonging to the Laura Private Foundation Group, which he himself founded.

Bankruptcy proceedings against the former billionaire Benko were opened in the spring. This means that the entire private assets of the man who built up the now insolvent real estate and retail group Signa can be liquidated. According to observers, the proceedings could drag on for years.

The Signa Group slipped into crisis in the fall of 2023. The real estate and retail group had expanded strongly during the period of low interest rates and built up a portfolio that included the Globus department store chain, the Elbtower in Hamburg, the luxury department store KaDeWe and the Galeria Karstadt Kaufhof department store chain. With the rise in interest rates, construction costs and energy prices, Benko's company structure collapsed.