The Court of Arbitration of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) has ruled in favour of one of the most important creditors in the Signa bankruptcy case.
The ICC awarded sovereign wealth fund Mubadala from the United Arab Emirates around €700 million for breach of financing agreements, according to the creditor protection association Creditreform. The arbitration tribunal is a non-governmental body for commercial and investment disputes.
Those affected by the ruling include Signa Holding, the Benko Family Private Foundation, and the Laura Private Foundation, said Karl-Heinz Götze, insolvency manager at the Credit Protection Association 1870.
The judgment is particularly relevant for the Laura Private Foundation, which is not insolvent and is believed to hold considerable assets linked to former Signa boss René Benko.
Benko to spend Christmas in prison after pre-trial detention extended
Good news for some of the creditors
However, the insolvent Signa Prime, which specialised in high-end real estate, and Signa Development, which is also insolvent, are not affected by the ruling.
The decision is very pleasing for the 370 creditors of Signa Development, said insolvency administrator Andrea Fruhstorfer. Claims registered for Signa Development total around €2.5 billion.
Approximately €5 billion in claims are currently recognised in the Signa Prime insolvency proceedings.
The exact consequences of the ruling are still difficult to assess, Götze said. There will be many further legal disputes.
“This is not yet a final judgment,” said Creditreform, adding that the legal issues are highly complex. “It will be crucial how the insolvency administrators deal with this new situation.”
Austrian investor Benko spent around 20 years building a multibillion-euro fortune through his complex property and retail empire Signa. Rising interest rates and construction costs, as well as risky acquisitions such as the German department store groups Karstadt and Kaufhof ultimately drove Signa into insolvency.
Benko, who is under investigation in connection with around a dozen suspected offenses, has now been in custody awaiting trial for one year.
(This article has first been published by the Luxemburger Wort. With reporting by DPA. AI translated, with editing and adaptation by Lucrezia Reale.)
