Karstadt

René Benko’s empire is in danger of collapsing. The Austrian entrepreneur also owns real estate in Munich. What will become of these now?

After the online shop Tennis-Point filed for bankruptcy, the parent company Signa Sports United NV (SSU) from the Signa Group also filed for bankruptcy last Friday. Work on Hamburg’s Elbtower has been put on hold for now, and what will become of the new sports arena on Stuttgart’s Königsstrasse is also uncertain. And the 46-year-old could also be threatened with the collapse of his empire in Munich.

Benko secures “fillet piece by fillet piece”

In recent years, Benko has been buying things in the city center “fillet by fillet,” as the “Merkur” once described it. He started twelve years ago. In June 2011, Benkos Signa Holding acquired the properties of the Oberpollinger luxury department store on Neuhauser Straße and the neighboring Karstadt Sport building. He put a whopping 250 million euros on the table for this.

Together with the KaDeWe in Berlin and the Hamburg Alsterhaus, Benko spun off the Oberpollinger department store into “The Kadewe Group” and sold 50.1 percent of it in 2015 to the Italian company La Rinascente owned by the Thai billionaire Tos Chirathivat. According to information from the “Immobilienzeitung”, the Karstadt building on Karlstor became the property of Euro Real Estate from Wilhelm von Finck’s group of companies in 2013, just two years after its purchase, for 95 million euros.

Benko also owned the Galeria branch on Marienplatz, which according to the “Abendzeitung” was once the highest-grossing branch in the country. However, he sold his shares in the summer of last year, as research by the “Immobilienzeitung” showed.

Signa is looking for potential buyers

The Austrian’s empire also includes the former “Kaut-Bullinger-Haus” on Rosenstrasse, the now empty Karstadt on Schützenstrasse, the Galerie-Kaufhof on Rotkreuzplatz, the Hermann-Tietz-Haus at the main train station and the prestigious property – the Old Academy in downtown. What will happen next with all the buildings is unclear.

For some properties – such as the demolished “Kaut-Bullinger House” – a buyer is actively being sought, and Benko has asked for around 100 million euros. At least one Munich entrepreneur is said to be among those interested, reports “AZ”. Potential buyers have to pay the same price for the Galeria branch on Rotkreuzplatz.

In general, according to the “AZ”, it is said in the Munich real estate industry that Benko is open to purchase offers for all of his properties and projects. However, according to the report, Signa did not want to comment on this.

City council group demands statement from Mayor Reiter

So there is a lot of speculation that is causing a lot of unrest in Munich these days. The city council faction consisting of “Die Linke” and “Die PARTEI” therefore wanted to know from Mayor Dieter Reiter (SPD) what impact the Signa Group’s financial difficulties are having on Munich? Stefan Jagel (Left Party) submitted a corresponding request on October 24th.

“Benko gambled away,” wrote the politician. They therefore want to know the current status of ongoing projects. In addition, the group has repeatedly called for a pre-emption statute to be enacted for the city center. Given Benko’s development, this is “more than appropriate and overdue.”

The application is currently still “in progress,” as a look at the “muenchen-transparent.de” page shows. However, a response from the town hall should be received by December 5th. The deadline ends on this day. Maybe then some light will be shed on what will happen to the Benko properties in Munich.

2023-11-02 21:03:08
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