Signa’s Financial Struggle: Swiss Creditors Face Millions in Unsettled Debts
The collapsed Austrian real estate group Signa owes large sums to several Swiss banks and companies. A list of creditors published in various media lists Migros Genossenschaftsbund (MGB) as well as Migros Bank, four cantonal banks and a private bank as major debtors of the group.
A list of creditors published by the German newspaper “Bild” states that Migros owes Signa 129 million euros. The Swiss retail giant had sold the Globus department store chain to the Austrian Signa. Migros itself is tight-lipped: Confidentiality had been agreed about the terms of the sale at the time. “The figures mentioned do not come from us,” explained a Migros spokesperson when asked by AWP.
In addition to FMC, the list of creditors also includes Migros Bank, with which Signa is said to be in debt to the tune of EUR 101 million. For reasons of bank client confidentiality, the bank does not wish to comment on “suspected or actual business relationships”.
More Signa Debt
Signa is said to have further high debts to various cantonal banks: The Graubündner Kantonalbank (60.8 million euros), the Obwaldner Kantonalbank (25.3 million euros), the Walliser Kantonalbank (25.3 million euros) and the Zürcher Kantonalbank (11.1 million euros) are listed. In addition, Signa is said to have debts of 30 million euros with the Zurich private bank IHAG.
The high outstanding amounts at Bank Julius Baer are already known. The private bank indirectly confirmed the loans at the end of November; according to the information provided at the time, the sum amounted to CHF 606 million. Last week, Aargauische Kantonalbank (AKB) also disclosed loans of CHF 73 million to the Signa Group, but these were mortgage-backed property financing.
Austrian investor René Benko’s real estate group has run into massive difficulties as a result of rising interest rates. In recent weeks, both the Signa holding company and numerous companies in the extremely complex group have filed for insolvency. In Switzerland, the Signa Group owns a 50 percent stake in the Globus Group, while a further 50 percent is held by the Thai Central Group.
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