The Signa Group is lacking money everywhere, and in several of the well over 1,000 companies worldwide, managing directors are already consulting with lawyers and insolvency law experts. Financial juggler René Benko resigned as head of the advisory board on Wednesday. He has not held any position as managing director or board member at Signa for ten years – since a criminal conviction for attempted prohibited intervention. Officially. Unofficially, it was clear to everyone that no big deal would happen without him.
Since the massive financial problems became known, business media across Europe have been asking themselves the question: How does this opaque signa thicket of over 1,000 companies actually work? What do the cash flows look like within the construct? What mutual liabilities and guarantees exist? But above all: Why did Signa Holding, the parent company of the Signa Group, never present a consolidated balance sheet, even though it juggles billions every year? To clarify: In addition to the Benko Foundations, the important Signa Holding includes prominent entrepreneurs such as ex-Strabag boss Hans Peter Haselsteiner or Lindt & Sprüngli President Ernst Tanner invested.Systematic planningThe answer to this question can be found in a secret paper from Benko’s tax consulting firm, which “News” reports on. This 13-page document is also available from krone.at – and shows how Benko systematically planned to make it as difficult as possible for the public to see the Signa cards. Together with the tax consulting firm TPA, great effort was made in November 2018 to create a consolidated Accounting requirements – i.e. the presentation of a comprehensible group picture – should be avoided at all costs. The secret document is formulated in a very technical manner. But even laypeople who are less experienced in dealing with balance sheets can understand some of the core principles. Immediately on page 2 it is disclosed: “The aim of our recommendations is to avoid a consolidation obligation for Signa Holding with regard to the Signa Prime Selection AG (‘Prime’), Signa Development Selection AG (‘SDS’) and Signa Retail GmbH (‘Retail’) groups. “It should be avoided that Signa Holding even prepares consolidated financial statements.” It should therefore be avoided that Benko’s important Signa Holding presents consolidated financial statements including a management report year after year, as is actually appropriate for billion-dollar companies. Just for better understanding: A company like Red Bull, for example, has always presented consolidated financial statements that include all activities of the beverage manufacturer, which operates in more than 170 countries worldwide. From Red Bull, the interested public can find out not only all the financial indicators, but also how productive the group with its 16,000 employees is employees. And how high the tax payment to the Republic of Austria has been – most recently more than half a billion euros. Great surpriseAt Benkos Signa, even the co-investors in the holding company are now surprised at how dramatically the situation has worsened. “We don’t yet know how bad it is,” said Hans Peter Haselsteiner before Benko’s resignation as an advisory board member of “TT”. That’s surprising. The former CEO Haselsteiner could have asked René Benko all these years why there are no consolidated financial statements at Signa Holding. Now Haselsteiner has to worry about the millions he invested.
source site-12