Sale imminent

Who Benko’s luxury properties are now going to

The luxury properties also include the Park Hyatt Hotel in Vienna.(Bild: APA/Georg Hochmuth)

The insolvent Signa Prime Selection, owned by the equally insolvent René Benko, is selling its subsidiary Signa Prime Asset GmbH - which owns a number of prominent and valuable properties. According to market rumors, a deal could be finalized as early as today, Monday.

According to reports, the German industrialist family Schoeller is to take over the company, which owns the Goldenes Quartier, the Park Hyatt Hotel in Vienna and the Tyrol department store in Innsbruck, among others. The creditors' committee of Signa Prime Selection could still approve the sale today.

Helped Benko with a million-euro loan
Last summer, the German industrialists helped René Benko's Signa Prime Selection out of its liquidity crunch with a loan of 200 million euros and in return received liens on the financing company Signa Prime Capital Invest GmbH, which owns shares in valuable properties such as the planned luxury department store Lamarr in Vienna, the KaDeWe in Berlin and the Elbtower project in Hamburg.

Best offer?
The Schoeller Group is now said to have not only offered the best price of the 37 interested parties for Signa Prime Asset GmbH, but also the best structural offer, i.e. the liens on Signa Prime Capital would be removed, meaning that the realization of the valuable properties would no longer be blocked. Prime's restructuring manager did not comment on the rumors when asked.