Abu Dhabi’s sovereign investor Mubadala Investment Company has won an arbitration award exceeding €700 million ($825 million) tied to losses from the collapse of Austria’s Signa property empire, according to creditor protection group Creditreform.
The ruling marks one of the largest recovery claims to emerge from the downfall of Signa, once among Europe’s most expansive real estate groups. Mubadala is one of several international investors seeking compensation after the company’s failure left creditors facing hundreds of millions of euros in losses.
Creditreform said the arbitration, overseen by the International Chamber of Commerce, targeted Signa founder Rene Benko, core Signa entities and two family trusts linked to him. The total amount in dispute was about €900 million. Mubadala declined to comment, while the ICC did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Questions remain over source of payment
It remains unclear how Mubadala will recover the awarded sum. Some creditor representatives have pointed to the Laura Private Foundation, owned and controlled by the Benko family, as a possible source of funds. Karl-Heinz Goetze of creditors’ association KSV 1870 said the foundation appeared to be the only Benko-related entity with substantial assets still intact.
Signa’s two main property arms, Signa Prime Selection and Signa Development Selection, were spared payment and cost obligations in the arbitration, according to their insolvency administrators. Those units held many of the group’s flagship city-center properties and development projects in Germany, Austria and Switzerland.
Benko’s lawyer, Norbert Wess, told Reuters that the arbitration claim against Benko personally had been dismissed, though he did not respond to further questions regarding the Laura Private Foundation.
Signa collapsed into insolvency in late 2023 after rising interest rates and higher borrowing costs strained its heavily leveraged business model. The group had owned landmark assets, including major department stores and prime commercial real estate across central Europe.
Benko, once regarded as one of Europe’s most ambitious property developers, has been in custody for about a year. He has been convicted twice on fraud charges related to insolvency cases and is appealing both convictions.
