René Benko: What has already been sold from the Signa empire - and what nobody wants
The Signa boss says he wants to sell off assets for around 25 billion euros. WELT has compiled a list of what has already been sold.
René Benko has been drawing attention to himself for months with his sales plans. By 2024, the Signa boss wants to raise around 25 billion euros. Benko has built up a real estate empire in recent years. However, the group has also taken on a lot of debt.
Due to the real estate crisis in China and rising interest rates, the empire is now in danger of collapsing. In order to prevent this, sales are now to take place quickly. WELT has compiled a list of what has already been sold and what Signa would still like to get rid of.
Shopping center sold to Blackstone for 900 million
Signa has already sold two shopping centers to the US financial investor Blackstone. These are the MyZeil in Frankfurt and the Riem Arcaden in Munich. The purchase price amounted to around 900 million euros. Signa had acquired both shopping centers in 2011 from the French investor Unibail-Rodamco.
Sale of Kaufhof-Karstadt in negotiations
Signa is also currently negotiating the sale of its department store chain Galeria Karstadt Kaufhof. The Canadian group Hudson's Bay is said to be particularly interested. Hudson's Bay already operates 17 Galeria Karstadt Kaufhof stores as a franchisee. The department store chain is said to have a purchase price of around 2 billion euros.
Signa wants to sell 120 hotels for 4 billion euros
Signa also wants to sell 120 hotels from its portfolio. According to its own statements, the group wants to raise around 4 billion euros from this. Interested parties include Deutsche Hospitality, Marriott and Accor. A first package of hotels with a total of 5,000 rooms is said to have already been sold for around 500 million euros.
Sale of media investments is still pending
The sale of Signa's media investments, which include, among other things, the Styria newspaper group, has not yet progressed. Negotiations with a potential buyer are said to be ongoing. According to insiders, the group could raise up to 1 billion euros from the sale of the media assets.
Other assets up for sale
In addition to the properties and companies already mentioned, Signa also wants to sell other assets. These include, among other things, a logistics portfolio, a development project in Vienna and its stake in the fashion retailer Peek & Cloppenburg. The Signa boss said he wanted to use the proceeds from the sales to reduce the group's debt and invest in new business areas.
Conclusion
Signa is currently undergoing a major restructuring. The group wants to sell assets worth around 25 billion euros by 2024. Some properties and companies have already been sold. However, Signa is still looking for buyers for a number of other assets. The proceeds from the sales are to be used to reduce debt and invest in new business areas.
