(Bloomberg) — Shareholders of the main property unit of Rene Benko’s Signa conglomerate have nominated a new supervisory board as the insolvent company starts selling off assets.
Austrian business executives Michael Mitterdorfer and Karin Exner-Woehrer have been nominated by the insolvent company’s main shareholder Signa Holding, people familiar with the matter said. Three other investors proposed additional candidates of their own, the people said, asking for anonymity because the nomination haven’t been made public yet.
The candidates are slated to be elected at the annual general meeting of Signa Prime Selection, the group’s flagship luxury unit, on Wednesday. They will be tasked with finding a new management to oversee the disposal of assets in a restructuring that’s expected to recoup about 30% of creditors’ money. The process will be led by a trustee, following approval by the shareholders and an Austrian court.
Among the candidates to join the board of directors are Sebastian Schaefer, who is being nominated Kuehne Holding; and Michael Siefert, Europe head for Madison International Realty, the people said. Juergen-Johann Rupp, the CFO of RAG foundation, who has been on the supervisory board since 2019, will be nominated for reelection, they added.
The administrators for Signa Prime and Signa Holding declined to comment, as did officials for Kuehne, RAG and Madison. The candidates didn’t respond to emails seeking comment.
Signa Prime owns famous properties such as the Selfridges department store in London and the KaDeWe in Berlin. Its sister company Signa Development is a traditional commercial real estate developer and is also slated to elect a new supervisory board at a shareholder meeting next week.
Creditors to Signa Prime have registered combined claims of €12.8 billion ($11.8 billion), according to a recent statement from administrators. Of those, €5.9 billion have been accepted so far. Turnaround specialist investor Attestor will provide a loan of as much as €100 million to help avoid a firesale of assets.
The downfall of Benko — once among Austria’s richest billionaires before he filed for personal insolvency — has sparked criticism about the work of Signa’s former supervisory board, which was chaired by former Austrian Chancellor Alfred Gusenbauer. Gusenbauer announced in February that he would resign from his role at Signa Prime.
–With assistance from Marton Eder.
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