Signa Holding
 | |
| Gesmbh | |
| Industry | Real Estate |
| Founded | 1999 in Innsbruck |
| Founder | René Benko |
| Website |
www |
Signa Holding GmbH (officially written as SIGNA) is Austria’s largest privately owned real estate company. Signa was founded in 1999 by the Tyrolean entrepreneur René Benko. Over the years, the two-man company with an initial focus on classic real estate development has become a pan-European real estate group with more than 150 employees and offices in Vienna, Innsbruck, Munich, Düsseldorf, Zurich and Luxembourg. The principal focus of the Signa Group of Companies is the long-term investment in real estate in prime city centre locations.
Structure
Fifteen years old, SIGNA Group has emerged as one of the leading and most successful privately owned European real estate companies. Dedicated to exceptional retail properties, the group was able to cultivate expert knowledge on the retail sector. In 2013, SIGNA extended its activities on merchandising by acquiring majority stakes in the German sporting goods specialist Karstadt sports and in Karstadt Premium. In summer of 2014, SIGNA took over Karstadt Warenhaus.
Since 2013 SIGNA operates in two independent business segments.
| SIGNA Real Estate | SIGNA Retail |
|---|---|
| Within SIGNA Real Estate, over 150 employees manage a real estate portfolio of around €6 billion out of seven offices in Austria, Germany, Italy and Switzerland. Real estate operations are organised in four distinct divisions:
SIGNA PRIME SELECTION AG |
SIGNA Retail holds and manages all merchandising activities with stakes in three of the largest German retail companies. Over 20.000 people working in over 100 locations generate annual revenues of over €3 billion. Karstadt Sports |
Markets
The group of companies covers real estate assets worth more than 5.5 billion euros and is one of the largest private owners of real estate in the centres of Vienna and Innsbruck. The Signa Group is not only active in its core markets of Austria and Germany but also in Italy, Switzerland, Luxembourg, Belgium and the Czech Republic.
Corporate structure
The principal shareholder of Signa Holding is the Familie Benko Privatstiftung which holds 50 per cent plus one vote. The remaining shares have been owned since 2009 by the Greek ship owner George Economou.
Management
The management of Signa Holding GmbH is the responsibility of the two CEOs Christoph Stadlhuber and Marcus Mühlberger. Since the beginning of 2013 the operational and strategic management of the Signa Group has been the responsibility of the Group Executive Board (GEB) whose five members are the CEOs of the core areas and the Group CFO. The GEB deals not only with the operations of the individual core areas but also with cross-company matters including group strategy and coordination as well as fundraising.[1]
Advisory board
Since switching to the Advisory Board, René Benko has been its Chairman. The Deputy Chairman is the former Federal Chancellor of Austria, Alfred Gusenbauer (who is, amongst other things, also Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Strabag and Chairman of the Haselsteiner Privatstiftung). Further Advisory Board members are: Roland Berger, George Economou, Karl Samstag (former CEO of Bank Austria UniCredit), Susanne Riess-Passer, Karl Stoss, Rainer De Backere (former CIO of Westfälische Provinzial Versicherung), Peter Hasskamp (former Chairman of the Board of Bremer Landesbank) and Wendelin Wiedeking.
A selection of real estate assets
The new headquarters of the German Stock Exchange in Eschborn near Frankfurt, the luxury department store KaDeWe in Berlin which is rented by Karstadt, Alsterhaus in Hamburg and Oberpollinger in a prime city centre site in Munich and objects in Vienna’s pedestrian zone and Mariahilfer Straße belong to the Signa portfolio, as do the Sevens shopping centre on Düsseldorf’s Königsallee which has been jointly refurbished with the Düsseldorf-based Centrum Group and further buildings in the centres of Hamburg, Stuttgart and Freiburg. In Austria, Kaufhaus Tyrol and the properties of the Goldenes Quartier in Vienna and one of the buildings which houses Meinl am Graben belong to the Signa portfolio. In December 2013 it was announced that Signa had acquired the Wiener Postsparkasse, the headquarters of Bawag P.S.K., and rented it back to the bank long-term.[2]
Takeover Karstadt Warenhaus GmbH
Karstadt Premium GmbH, Karstadt Sports GmbH and Karstadt Warenhaus GmbH and their sub-divisions were taken over in a series of steps. At the end of December 2012 a portfolio of 17 Karstadt department stores including the Kaufhaus des Westens (KaDeWe) in Berlin was acquired by Signa Prime Selection AG for a sum of over 1.1 billion euros.[8] The role of partner in this transaction was played by the BSG Group of the Israeli businessman Beny Steinmetz. The transaction was by far the largest retail real estate investment in Germany in 2012. On 16 September 2013 it was disclosed that Signa, together with the BSG Group, had taken over 75.1% of the operative business of Karstadt-Premium-GmbH and 75.1% of the operative business of Karstadt-Sports-GmbH from the Berggruen Holding of the German-American businessman Nicolas Berggruen for 300 million euros. This sum was to be spent on the strengthening the Karstadt Group and the modernisation of individual stores with the aim of guaranteeing Karstadt’s long-term competitiveness. In November 2013 Signa passed on half of its shares – that is to say 37.55% - in Karstadt Premium and the sports shops, to the Israeli businessman Beny Steinmetz. Karstadt Premium operates the three luxury department stores Kaufhaus des Westens in Berlin, Alsterhaus in Hamburg and Oberpollinger in Munich. With its 28 sports shops, Karstadt Sports is one of Germany’s leading retailers of sporting goods. On 15 August 2014 SIGNA Holding acquired 100% of the shares in Karstadt Warenhaus GmbH and the remaining shares in Karstadt Premium GmbH and Karstadt Sports GmbH. The deal marked the final withdrawal of Berggruen Holdings from any involvement in the operations of the Karstadt Group and from its share in the ownership of individual Karstadt properties.[3]
Miscellaneous
On 13 May 2013 it was disclosed that Strabag boss Hans Peter Haselsteiner had - via his private family trust - taken a share in Signa Prime Selection AG. In addition to a majority share of 75.99% held by the Signa Group, shares in Signa Prime Selection AG are also held by the sovereign wealth fund of Abu Dhabi via the Falcon Private Bank (which holds 18.09%) and several prominent personalities. The business figures who hold shares in Signa Prime include Roland Berger, Wendelin Wiedeking, Ernst Tanner, Harti Weirather and Torsten Toeller.