After Signa bankruptcy

Kaufhaus Tyrol: Mayor expects buyers

After it became known that the Tyrol department store in Innsbruck's prime location is up for sale alongside other luxury assets in the wake of the Signa bankruptcy surrounding founder René Benko, Mayor Georg Willi (Greens) sees a buyer on the horizon soon.

 It will certainly "take a few more weeks", but he is assuming a "high level of interest", Willi told the APA news agency. The city boss reckoned that an "internationally renowned investment bank" could be interested.

However, Willi emphasized that he had no indication of a specific potential buyer at the moment. However, such an investment bank, which "knows its trade", "has a lot of experience in the real estate business" and already carries out valuations of properties such as Kaufhaus Tyrol every year, would seem obvious to him.

Innsbruck's mayor Georg Willi (Greens)(Bild: Birbaumer Christof)

"Jobs are all safe"
Willi was not worried about the department store in Innsbruck's Maria-Theresien-Straße in the center of the provincial capital. In view of the "premium location" and the very high value, a new buyer would probably not be difficult to find and would only have one interest: "That the store continues to run well." In any case, the jobs are "all safe", the city boss said confidently, emphasizing that he would be kept up to date.

Round table called for
The fact that one of his rivals for the mayor's seat in the municipal elections in April, "das Neue Innsbruck" frontman and ÖVP state secretary Florian Tursky, had called for a "round table" and a "Tyrolean solution" on Tuesday - Willi was unable to take any pleasure in this. "This phrase 'a Tyrolean solution'. Dreaming about it doesn't help." 

Willi also had little use for Tursky's statement that Kaufhaus Tyrol should not become a "plaything of international investment funds". A good buyer would be found and "the one who offers the best price should be awarded the contract." In any case, it is "not the job of the city or state" to act as the buyer and pump in taxpayers' money: "The market does and regulates that."