SportScheck

"In 2019, Signa acquires the retailer SportScheck from the Otto Group. The idea had been to merge Karstadt Sports and SportScheck as a counterforce to Decathlon and Intersport. They believed Benko could do it, says a participant from back then. As a dowry, Otto gives Signa a buyer loan, a double-digit million amount, for which Signa Holding and Signa Retail guarantee."

"The leak is particularly large at SSU. The abbreviation could stand for "Signas Super Disaster," but actually it refers to Signa Sports United, a collection of online stores, from fahrrad.de to Tennis-Point to the team sport specialist Outfitter, which were acquired gradually after 2016. Originally, SSU was conceived as an online platform for Karstadt Sport and SportScheck, but in the end, the idea was discarded. SSU is intended to become an online-only player, thereby serving the investors' dreams of spectacular value increases. At that time, retail was under the impression of Amazon's success; in 2014, the market capitalization of the American behemoth was $144 billion, by 2016 it had already reached $356 billion, and by 2020 it comfortably exceeded the trillion dollar mark. It was the heyday of successful IPOs, with digital companies performing the best."

"Benko generated 140 million euros, only then was a protective shield procedure possible, in which, unlike a complete bankruptcy, the owner still has control. The protective shield procedure offers Benko - besides the risk of a poor image - also opportunities. Lease contracts can be terminated more quickly, employees can be laid off more easily, and the already planned restructuring can be done more radically and in fast-forward. Signa's man for the protective shield procedure is a familiar face to Benko: Arndt Geiwitz, the tax consultant and auditor known to the broader public from the Schlecker insolvency. Benko first hired Geiwitz in 2013 during the purchase of Karstadt, where he had him review the finances. He also assisted in the takeover of the Otto subsidiary SportScheck. Now he is supposed to reorganize the department store business at Galeria. In the end, around 40 branches will close. No one among the top executives had experience with a protective shield procedure, says a trade manager. Geiwitz, on the other hand, would have known how to quickly set up a protective shield procedure, how to control the creditors' committee, which people to bring in; he did all that very cleverly."