Austria

Administrators of bankrupt Signa Prime Selection AG are preparing to launch the sale of the Vienna Park Hyatt and adjoining luxury retail premises, including Prada’s flagship store, Bloomberg News reported. Real estate investment bank Eastdil Secured LLC has been appointed to offer the properties that are expected to attract bids in the region of €350 million ($361 million) to €370 million, two people said, asking not to be identified as the process is not yet public.

The hearing to present the current status of the insolvency proceedings around KTM and its subsidiaries revealed that the companies have nearly €2.4 billion of collective debt, MotoMatters.com reported. But that Pierer Mobility is in talks with 23 investors to save the company. The hearing established that there are grounds to believe that KTM will be saved as a going concern, and will be able to repay the statutory minimum 30% of debts owed to creditors within the 2 year time period required by Austrian law. But the scale of KTM's financial problems are huge.

Austrian property tycoon Rene Benko can remain in custody for a further 14 days, a Vienna court ruled on Friday, after the founder of collapsed property group Signa was arrested on Thursday on suspicion of trying to hide assets from creditors, Reuters reported. Prosecutors said on Thursday that, in the context of his personal insolvency, 47-year-old Benko was suspected of secretly using a trust meant for his immediate family to keep those assets from being recovered.

Austria has arrested Rene Benko, the founder of fallen property group Signa, on suspicion of trying to hide assets from insolvency administrators and creditors, prosecutors said on Thursday. Benko, 47, was arrested at his villa in Innsbruck early on Thursday, Austrian media reported. His lawyer, Norbert Wess, said that a court would need to decide within 48 hours whether his client should remain in custody. Benko has previously denied allegations made against him.

The administrator of Rene Benko’s bankrupt luxury property unit is asking former supervisory board members to acknowledge their role in causing at least €1 billion ($1.03 billion) of alleged damages by failing to practice proper oversight, Bloomberg News reported. Law firm Abel Rechtsanwälte GmbH claims board members of Signa Prime Selection AG, including former Austrian Chancellor Alfred Gusenbauer, had ignored that the group was materially insolvent by March 2022 — if not earlier, according to a letter seen by Bloomberg.

Austria's Supreme Court of Justice has rejected a restructuring plan for Signa Development, a unit of property tycoon Rene Benko's firm Signa, meaning it must undergo bankruptcy proceedings, the insolvency administrator said on Monday, Reuters reported. The aim is now to utilize the assets of the business as well as possible in the interests of the creditors, insolvency administrator Andrea Fruhstorfer said in a statement. The Supreme Court's decision dismissed an appeal by Signa Development and upheld an earlier ruling by a top appeal court in Vienna, the statement said.

Insolvent tycoon Rene Benko remains free to defend himself against multiple international criminal investigations after Austrian authorities said they couldn’t comply with an Italian arrest warrant, Bloomberg News reported. Austrian officials had questioned the founder of the Signa retail and property conglomerate, and released him under investigation, a spokesman for the Innsbruck prosecutors said by email. With several parallel investigations, Austrian authorities cannot comply with a European arrest warrant, he said, adding that Benko wasn’t required to post bail.

Shares of Pierer Mobility AG tumbled after the company said its KTM AG motorbike unit was filing for a self-administered insolvency in Austria, Bloomberg News reported. KTM will be unable to cover a “very high three-digit million euro” financing requirement, according to a statement. The company will seek to agree with creditors on a reorganization in the next 90 days. Shares slumped 45% to 6.9 Swiss francs ($7.8), heading for their biggest daily decline on record and extending a loss this year to 84%. The company owned by entrepreneur Stefan Pierer and India’s Bajaj Auto Ltd.