Expensive doormats and toilet brushes
Signa auctions off luxurious curiosities
January 19, 2024, 5:29 p.m
The Signa Group is bankrupt. It is the largest corporate insolvency in the Austrian post-war period. In a desperate attempt to ensure its continued existence, the company puts its furniture from its elegant Vienna headquarters under the hammer.
The sell-off at the crumbling Signa Group is progressing – at least on a small scale. The insolvent holding company of the Austrian real estate and trading group has begun auctioning off its office equipment in order to make a – rather manageable – contribution to the continued existence of the holding company. Remarkable results were achieved.
The auction hammer fell at 1,600 euros for a doormat with the Signa logo. A set with toilet brush holders, toilet paper holders and trash cans from the posh holding headquarters in Vienna’s city center was worth 600 euros to a bidder. The winning bid for an office cactus was 220 euros. A total of almost 300 items were auctioned.
The souvenirs of the Signa Group of the Austrian entrepreneur René Benko could have historical value: the holding’s liabilities amount to around five billion euros – making it the largest bankruptcy in Austria’s post-war history.
After a strong growth phase during the years of low interest rates, Signa recently found itself in a serious crisis due to rising interest rates, construction costs and energy prices. It recently became known that the owner of the Elbtower property in Hamburg, which belongs to Signa, has filed for insolvency. This means that the city can now assert its right to repurchase and take over all planning and construction contracts, as the urban development authority announced. However, an architectural model of the Elbtower will be offered to the public at another Signa auction at the beginning of February. The current highest bid on Friday was 2,000 euros.