Signa Development

18 percent annual interest rate for lender Haselsteiner

Apparently there is nothing that does not exist. Not when it comes to René Benko. Not in matters relating to the major Signa bankruptcies.

One event that took place at the end of January 2024 seems particularly remarkable. Signa Development Selection AG, one of the three core companies of the Signa Group led by Benko, Hans Peter Haselsteiner and Co, which had been insolvent since the end of 2023, received a loan to continue its operations.

Haselsteiner's work ...
 The lender is ZMH GmbH, based in Spittal an der Drau, which is owned by a foundation set up by former construction tycoon Haselsteiner, 80. The former Strabag boss is making 25 million euros available to the financially ailing Signa Development. At conditions that any small saver would never dream of. 1.5 percent per month. That's a whopping 18 percent per year. This is clear from the loan agreement, which is available to "Krone". What's more, if the loan is not repaid by the end of June, the loan rate increases to 1.92 percent per month. That makes 23.04 percent, calculated over the year. From January 1, 2025, the rate would be 28.08 percent.

Excerpts from the loan agreement: high interest rates with high increases(Bild: Krone KREATIV, zVg.)

... and Grossnigg's contribution
This "dream contract" on the part of Signa Development is signed by Haselsteiner's friend Erhard Grossnigg, 77, of all people, who was installed as "Chief Restructuring Officer" in December and is known to have a joint office with Haselsteiner in Vienna's city center. However, restructuring administrator Andrea Fruhstorfer, who receives a seven-million-euro fee for her work, has also signed the contract.

It is all the more remarkable that the majority of creditors approved the restructuring plan in March. Voices of reason - such as Wolfgang Peschorn, President of the Austrian Financial Procurator's Office - had always urged the Signa conglomerate to be broken up so that all possible malversations could be dealt with thoroughly and mercilessly.