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Signa Group construction project: 302 creditors have filed claims
Photo: Jens Kalaene/dpa
The creditors of the insolvent Signa Holding of the Tyrolean investor René Benko have registered claims totaling a good 8.6 billion euros. The insolvency administrator of the umbrella company of the troubled real estate empire announced this on Monday. Creditors' claims have increased by more than 70 percent since November. In the insolvency application filed with the Vienna Commercial Court at the time, the total liabilities were put at five billion euros. According to the court-appointed insolvency administrator Christof Stapf, only claims of around 80.3 million euros - a fraction of this - have been recognized so far. Many claims were submitted to the court without the necessary documents or too late. A total of 302 creditors have filed claims.
The insolvency administrator assumes that the claims will probably not be able to withstand this extent. Around 5.1 billion euros alone would be attributable to liability claims (largely from guarantees and letters of comfort) and 1.6 billion euros to intra-group payments, such as loans. Claims within the group were completely disputed, it said. The trade payables are comparatively manageable at around 1.5 million euros. As are the public tax claims of around 940,000 euros and rent claims of around 260,000 euros.
“It will be up to the creditors to provide the documents necessary for the proper processing of the claim registrations via the insolvency court,” said Stapf. Disputed claims could be asserted through a lawsuit in bankruptcy court. The creditors were given a period of two months to do this. The insolvency administrator will continue to examine the claims during this time.
Signa is the biggest victim of the real estate crisis in Europe so far. Last week it became known that the insolvency administrator had taken over the restructuring process of Signa Holding. A reduction in the insolvency rate has not yet been requested. Creditors are offered a quota of at least 30 percent within two years. The vote on the restructuring plan is now scheduled for the end of April.
In addition, the insolvency administrator announced that discussions about the sale of Signa's stake in the New York Chrysler Building and to media are still ongoing. In addition, two arbitration claims from Mubadala from the United Arab Emirates and AM1 from Qatar are still pending, it said. According to the insolvency administrator, this involves payments of 713 million euros or 296 million euros. Signa Holding had applied for the interruption of both proceedings due to the insolvency.
mik/Reuters