Filing for insolvency at Signa Sports United was announced today – Tennis Point has already filed. An insolvency administrator was appointed.
According to SSU, Signa Sports United (SSU), which is controlled by investor Rene Benko’s Signa International Sports Holding (SISH), and several subsidiaries are facing insolvency applications. The subsidiary Tennis Point has already submitted such an application, SSU announced on Friday. Other companies, including parent company Signa Sports United NV, are about to file for bankruptcy, it said. This will happen in the coming days.
SSU includes, among others, the British online bicycle retailer Wiggle as well as brands such as Fahrrad.de, Brügelmann, Campz and Outfitter.
Tennis Point had filed for insolvency at the German district court in Bielefeld. The court appointed restructuring expert Christian Gerloff, who specializes in the retail industry, as provisional insolvency administrator, as his spokesman confirmed. In addition to the online business, Tennis Point also has branches.
Equity injection withdrawn
Signa Holding, controlled by Benko, only pulled the ripcord on Monday on the online sporting goods retailer SSU, which was listed on the New York Stock Exchange two years ago. At that time the valuation was still at 3.2 billion dollars, today it is 12 million dollars. Signa Sports United recently announced that Signa Holding had withdrawn its commitment to an equity injection of 150 million euros.
The Signa International Sports Holding (SISH) around Benko recently held 48 percent of the listed Signa Sports United, six percent is held by the British financial investor Bridgepoint, the former Wiggle owner. The Japanese SoftBank Capital Partners, the British MIC Capital Management and the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund each have 1.2 percent. The rest of the SSU shares are in free float.
The owner of the Signa Sports main shareholder SISH is Signa Retail, in which Signa Retail Beteiligung GmbH holds 92.2 percent according to “WirtschaftsCompass” (company register). Signa Holding GmbH holds 3.2 percent of the shares, SiRe Beteiligung GmbH 2.7 percent and the German management consultant Roland Berger (2 percent). According to “WirtschaftsCompass”, Signa Retail Beteiligung GmbH is directly or indirectly owned by the Benko family private foundation.
Share price collapsed
Signa Sports United NV is registered as a public company in the Netherlands but does not have a physical branch there. The company headquarters is in Berlin. Signa Sports’ share price has fallen from $8 to $0.03 since its IPO on the New York Stock Exchange. The events surrounding the sports retailer are now also calling on investor advocates. The German Association for the Protection of Securities Ownership (DSW) is asking small Signa Sports shareholders to get in touch. “Our Dutch colleagues have the case in their sights,” wrote DSW Managing Director Marc Tüngler on Tuesday on the X platform (formerly Twitter).
Benko’s Signa Group also owns numerous properties in Germany and Austria as well as the German department store chain Galeria. In June, the Signa Group sold the operational Kika/Leiner business to the Austrian trade manager and investor Wieser and the furniture store properties to the Graz Supernova Group. Shortly after the sale, the local furniture chain filed for bankruptcy. The real estate industry is currently under pressure. Increased interest rates and thus increasing refinancing costs, exploding material prices and high inflation are causing problems for real estate companies, developers and investors. The Galeria department store chain, which Benko had forged from Karstadt and Kaufhof, had recently slipped into difficulties again despite public aid, and the insolvency proceedings ended in the spring. (APA/Reuters)
2023-10-20 17:14:49
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