The Swiss private bank Julius Bär can look forward to 100 million francs in connection with the insolvency of the Signa Group. This was first reported by the Handelszeitung. Julius Bär had granted the holding company of the Austrian investor René Benko a total of over 600 million francs in loans. These were paid in three tranches of 200 million francs each.
According to Handelszeitung, two of the loans were secured with guarantees from the German Signa business. Julius Baer will probably not receive any money from this. The third tranche, however, was intended for the purchase of Globus AG and was secured with shares. Julius Baer will receive half of this, i.e. 100 million francs. The other half will probably go to the Thai Central Group.
The Swiss bank did not want to officially confirm its investments in Signa, even when asked by this media outlet. However, it is known that Julius Baer is one of the creditors. The business with the Signa holding company ultimately had more than just financial consequences. Former CEO Philipp Rickenbacher no longer works for the private bank and has since been succeeded by Stefan Bollinger, previously a partner at Goldman Sachs. The management also had to forego bonuses.
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Romeo Lacher, President of Julius Baer, had already announced in the past that the focus would be on “claiming as much of our collateral as possible on the individual positions.” Lacher can now apparently be pleased about at least part of this.
Benko has several proceedings pending against him
There are currently several proceedings against Benko. The Munich I public prosecutor’s office has been investigating him since November 2023 for possible money laundering and insolvency offenses. Since April 12, proceedings have been underway in Liechtenstein for Krida (roughly equivalent to German bankruptcy) and money laundering. And the Vienna public prosecutor’s office has also been investigating Benko since the end of June, this time for credit fraud. In Austria, a special commission has already been set up on suspicion of property crimes such as breach of trust and fraud.
In addition, there are around 50 charges against Benko, seven of which have been upheld. Julius Baer is not the only one trying to get as much money back as possible from Benko and Signa. Various Benko foundations are also the target of the investigation. It is currently unclear how much money the creditors will ultimately receive.
