According to the media, Signa owes millions to Swiss creditors. Car rental company Hertz is selling a third of its electric cars and buying new combustion engines

According to a media report, the bankrupt Austrian real estate group Signa owes large amounts of money to several Swiss banks and companies. A list of creditors published in various media lists the Migros Cooperative Association (MGB), as well as Migros Bank, four cantonal banks and a private bank as major debtors of the group.

A list of creditors published by the German ‘Bild’ lists Migros’ outstanding debts to Signa at 129 million euros. The Swiss retail giant sold department store chain Globus to the Austrian Signa. Migros itself remains tight-lipped: it was agreed at the time not to make the sales conditions public. “The figures mentioned do not come from us,” a Migros spokesperson explained when AWP asked about them.

In addition to the MGB, Migros Bank is also on the list of creditors, where Signa reportedly has debts of 101 million euros. Due to bank customer confidentiality, the bank does not want to comment on “assumed or actually existing business relationships”.

Signa is also said to have high debts with various cantonal banks: the Graubündner Kantonalbank (60.8 million euros), the Obwaldner Kantonalbank (25.3 million euros), the Valais Kantonalbank (25.3 million euros) and the Zürcher Kantonalbank (11. 1 million euros) are listed on the stock exchange. In addition, Signa is said to have debts of 30 million euros with the Zurich private bank IHAG.

The high outstanding balances at Bank Julius Baer are already known. The private bank indirectly confirmed the loans at the end of November; according to information at the time, the amount was 606 million francs. Last week, the Aargauische Kantonalbank (AKB) announced loans to the Signa Group amounting to 73 million francs, but these were mortgage-backed real estate financings.

The real estate group of Austrian investor René Benko has run into major problems due to rising interest rates. In recent weeks, both the holding company Signa and numerous companies from the extremely complex group have filed for bankruptcy. In Switzerland, the Signa Group owns a 50 percent stake in the Globus Group, and another 50 percent is owned by the Thai Central Group. (saw/sda/awp)