2.10.2024 12:13
(Akt. 2.10.2024 12:46)
Restructuring administrator Abel wants to send further legal challenges ©APA/EVA MANHART
The restructuring manager of the insolvent real estate company Signa Prime Selection (SPS) wants to reclaim around 456 million euros in payments that the company may have made unlawfully before the bankruptcy. This emerges from the fifth report by the restructuring administrator Norbert Abel, which was sent to the creditors and is available to the APA. Almost 15 million euros of these payments went to Signa Prime’s executive bodies and 39.6 million euros to shareholders.
A rough analysis up to September 30, 2024 identified 442 outgoing payments to 142 recipients that could be disputed. These could include unlawful bonus payments to board members or supervisory boards or dividends that were selectively paid out to individual shareholders, but also loans that were repaid when insolvency was already foreseeable.
Requests for repayments have already been sent and lawsuits are being prepared – further legal challenges are expected to be filed during October. In addition to examining and enforcing claims for rescission, liability claims (claims for damages) are also examined – however, longer limitation periods apply here, which is why claims for rescission are treated with priority.
At the end of July, the Vienna Higher Regional Court (OLG) overturned the restructuring plan for Signa Prime at the request of the Finanzprokuratur – which represents the legal interests of the Republic – which therefore appealed to the Supreme Court. The OGH ruling is expected at the end of the year. Until the Supreme Court decides, the SPS will continue to be in the restructuring process with self-administration, but its implementation will be delayed by legal uncertainty.
According to the updated financial plan, Signa Prime has sufficient liquidity to continue operating as part of the restructuring process: the first two tranches of the mass loan, each worth 25 million euros, have already been drawn down, as was reported at the end of July. The registered insolvency claims amount to 12.206 billion euros, of which 5.914 billion have already been recognized.
