Signa Group dissolves prominent advisory board

The real estate and trading group Signa, which has been hit by bankruptcies, has dissolved its prominent advisory board.

The strategic advisory committee, which included the German management consultant Roland Berger, never had a legal function, but still incurred costs, according to well-informed circles on Thursday. Among the advisory board members were the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Swiss chocolate manufacturer Lindt & Sprüngli, Ernst Tanner, as well as the Austrian ex-Chancellor Alfred Gusenbauer and ex-Vice-Chancellor Susanne Riess-Hahn.

Signa Holding, founded by the Austrian entrepreneur René Benko, is insolvent, as are several other companies in the intricate network of companies. The Signa Group includes, among others, the Galeria Karstadt Kaufhof department store group and the idle Elbtower construction project in Hamburg, whose parent companies have not yet filed for bankruptcy.

Thanks to low interest rates and good connections to financially strong investors, Signa was able to grow strongly during the low interest rate phase of the past few years. The increased interest rates and construction costs have recently put the real estate industry under pressure and plunged Signa into serious problems. (DPA)