Hamburg

"René Benko created something great and then destroyed much of it. Solid business operations and trust in the solidity of the real estate business were left by the wayside. Even though the business and legal processing will take years and it is likely that Benko will have to face court, he did not build the castle in the air called Signa alone. He readily found financiers, including wealthy private individuals, bank managers and insurance people, foundation managers, and Arab sheikhs. Benko invited them to his yacht "Roma" or his estate high above Lake Garda, or he quickly flew to Dubai or Abu Dhabi, to Hamburg or Vienna on his private plane. And all the economic experts willingly gave him capital, apparently without really examining his business model. Just as auditors and real estate appraisers played their roles in the illusion theater of the Austrian entrepreneur. The lawmakers in Germany and Austria, who left gaps through which the clever newcomer slipped, also bear some of the blame."

"René Benko created something great and then destroyed much of it. Solid business operations and trust in the solidity of the real estate business were left by the wayside. Even though the business and legal processing will take years and it is likely that Benko will have to face court, he did not build the castle in the air called Signa alone. He readily found financiers, including wealthy private individuals, bank managers and insurance people, foundation managers, and Arab sheikhs. Benko invited them to his yacht "Roma" or his estate high above Lake Garda, or he quickly flew to Dubai or Abu Dhabi, to Hamburg or Vienna on his private plane. And all the economic experts willingly gave him capital, apparently without really examining his business model. Just as auditors and real estate appraisers played their roles in the illusion theater of the Austrian entrepreneur. The lawmakers in Germany and Austria, who left gaps through which the clever newcomer slipped, also bear some of the blame."

""We have of course been following the reporting over the past years and have repeatedly asked ourselves how comfortable we feel with Signa," a board member of Signal Iduna tells in the autumn of 2023. In the end, the managers calm themselves down, saying that they have very little subordinated capital, very few profit participation certificates. Most of it is in mortgages and in a few senior bonds, he explains. It has always been important for Signal Iduna to be engaged in the prestigious locations and thus be properly secured. At the end of the day, the argument in case something went wrong was: then you would own the Alsterhaus in Hamburg, the Oberpollinger in Munich, the Elbtower in Hamburg and the Kaufhof in Hohen Straße in Cologne."

"In August 2022, Signa even closed the biggest deal in its history: Benko, with his Thai partners from the Central Group, bought the British luxury department store chain Selfridges for 4 billion pounds. And in Hamburg, Signa had already made all the preparations for the construction of the 245 meters tall Elbtower. The contract with the city was long signed, the excavation pit was dug, and the construction started promptly in January 2023."

"Benko could no longer count on the banks since the intervention of the regulatory authorities. They fled from Signa. This was also evident in Benko's most important project: the Hamburg Elbtower. The fact that the Landesbank Hessen-Thüringen (Helaba) finally withdrew its loan commitment for the Elbtower at the beginning of 2023 and the capital-weak Signa would almost be left alone with the estimated construction costs of 950 million euros, most shareholders found out only months later. Just like the city of Hamburg, which wanted to build its largest current architectural showcase project with Benko."

"Benko invited them to his yacht "Roma" or his estate high above Lake Garda, or he quickly flew to Dubai or Abu Dhabi, to Hamburg or Vienna on his private plane. And all the economic experts willingly gave him capital, apparently without really examining his business model."