Selfridges tycoon files for personal insolvency as empire collapses

SELFRIDGES tycoon Rene Benko has filed for insolvency following the implosion of his property empire Signa.

In the latest chapter of Mr Benko’s downfall, the embattled businessman voluntarily filed for personal insolvency in Austria, four months after his business Signa collapsed. Signa, which remains a shareholder in Selfridges, has been battling financial turmoil ever since higher interest rates piled pressure on multibillion-pound debt pile.

Mr Benko’s decision to file for insolvency, first reported by Bloomberg, comes after an Austrian lawyer alleged he failed to make financial commitments during Signa’s insolvency process. After founding Signa in 1999, Mr Benko was ousted by the company’s shareholders in November after restructuring experts were brought in to oversee the business.

Signa’s portfolio includes stakes in London’s Selfridges, New York’s Chrysler Building and Berlin’s Kadewe luxury department store.

However, Thai retailer Central Group seized majority control of Selfridges’ operating company in November by converting a €364m (£317m) loan into equity. Signa’s collapse has proven to be one of the most complicated insolvencies in Austria’s history, thanks in part to its sprawling corporate structure.

The business is made up of more than 100 companies held through trusts and shell companies based in Switzerland and Liechtenstein. Prior to Signa’s collapse, Mr Benko was ranked as one of Austria’s richest people, and is reportedly said to have joked that only the property portfolios of the Catholic church and the British Royal family could match that of Signa.

Questions over Signa’s insolvency recently led to creditors filing a criminal fraud complaint against the business, as they have called for an investigation into alleged “unlawful transactions”. At the time of Signa’s failure, it owed European lenders almost £7bn.

Born in a small apartment in Innsbruck, Mr Benko developed an interest in property during his school years, when he began converting attics into living spaces.

Mr Benko’s representatives were contacted for comment.