René Benko (born 20 May 1977) is an Austrian

real estate Real estate is property consisting of land and the buildings on it, along with its natural resources such as crops, minerals or water; immovable property of this nature; an interest vested in this (also) an item of real property, (more general ...

media Media may refer to: Communication * Media (communication), tools used to deliver information or data ** Advertising media, various media, content, buying and placement for advertising ** Broadcast media, communications delivered over mass el ...

and

retail Retail is the sale of goods and services to consumers, in contrast to wholesaling, which is sale to business or institutional customers. A retailer purchases goods in large quantities from manufacturers, directly or through a wholesaler, and t ...

investor An investor is a person who allocates financial capital with the expectation of a future Return on capital, return (profit) or to gain an advantage (interest). Through this allocated capital most of the time the investor purchases some specie ...

and founder of the

Signa Holding Signa Holding GmbH (stylized as SIGNA) is Austria’s largest privately owned real estate company. Signa was founded in 2000 by the Tyrolean entrepreneur René Benko. Over the years, it has become a pan-European real estate group with more than ...

. The company is considered Austria's largest privately held real estate conglomerate. Benko is one of the richest Austrians. Numerous controversies have surrounded Benko’s professional career.

Life

Benko was born in

Innsbruck Innsbruck (; bar, Innschbruck, label=Bavarian language, Austro-Bavarian ) is the capital of Tyrol (state), Tyrol and the List of cities and towns in Austria, fifth-largest city in Austria. On the Inn (river), River Inn, at its junction with the ...

Tyrol Tyrol (; historically the Tyrole; de-AT, Tirol ; it, Tirolo) is a historical region in the Alps - in Northern Italy and western Austria. The area was historically the core of the County of Tyrol, part of the Holy Roman Empire, Austrian Emp ...

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

as the son of a local government employee and nursery schoolteacher and studied at a

business school A business school is a university-level institution that confers degrees in business administration or management. A business school may also be referred to as school of management, management school, school of business administration, o ...

. At the age of 17 he gained his first experience of the real estate sector in a building company owned by an

acquaintance The concept of interpersonal relationship involves social associations, connections, or affiliations between two or more people. Interpersonal relationships vary in their degree of intimacy or self-disclosure, but also in their duration, in t ...

. He subsequently dropped out of school because his overriding interest in the real estate business had led to him missing too many lessons. Benko lives mainly in

. He is married for a second time and has four children. Apart from that, little is known about Benko's private life.

Business activities

Foundation and first investments

At the end of 1999 Benko founded the two-person company Immofina Holding, which was renamed Signa Holding in 2006. The first projects included the extension of attics into luxury apartments and the profitable purchase and sale of the health hotel Lanserhof in Lans. After these successes, the Viennese

entrepreneur Entrepreneurship is the creation or extraction of economic value. With this definition, entrepreneurship is viewed as change, generally entailing risk beyond what is normally encountered in starting a business, which may include other values th ...

Karl Kovarik, who inherited several

gas stations A filling station, also known as a gas station () or petrol station (), is a facility that sells fuel and engine lubricants for motor vehicles. The most common fuels sold in the 2010s were gasoline (or petrol) and diesel fuel. Gasoline ...

, contributed to the first financial jump-start with 25 million euros. The next steps included the purchase of 16 inner-city properties from the portfolio of

BAWAG P.S.K. BAWAG P.S.K. (german: Bank für Arbeit und Wirtschaft und Österreichische Postsparkasse Aktiengesellschaft) is the fourth largest bank in Austria. It was formed on October 1, 2005 by the merger of the separate banks P.S.K. and BAWAG. , the ban ...

bank in 2007, as well as the opening of medical centers in

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

, and the acquisition of the Kaufhaus Tyrol, which was completely renovated between 2007 and 2010. The planning of the latter was carried out by the renowned architect David Chipperfield. In 2008, the former

headquarters Headquarters (commonly referred to as HQ) denotes the location where most, if not all, of the important functions of an organization are coordinated. In the United States, the corporate headquarters represents the entity at the center or the to ...

Länderbank The Länderbank, full original name k. k. privilegierte Österreichische Länderbank () was a major Austrian bank, created in 1880. In 1922 its head office was moved to Paris under the name Banque des Pays de l'Europe Centrale (BPEC, german: Zen ...

and

Bank Austria UniCredit Bank Austria AG, branded and widely referred to as Bank Austria, is an Austrian bank, 96.35% owned by Milan-based UniCredit. It was formed in 1991 by merger of Vienna's Länderbank and Zentralsparkasse, acquired Creditanstalt-Bankverei ...

became the

property Property is a system of rights that gives people legal control of valuable things, and also refers to the valuable things themselves. Depending on the nature of the property, an owner of property may have the right to consume, alter, share, r ...

of Signa Holding and was converted into the Park Hyatt Vienna hotel. In 2011, the company bought the Oberpollinger department store in

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the States of Germany, German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the List of cities in Germany by popu ...

. Furthermore, a portfolio of buildings consisting of

KaDeWe The Kaufhaus des Westens (), abbreviated to KaDeWe, is a department store in Berlin, Germany. With over of retail space and more than 380,000 articles available, it is the second-largest department store in Europe after Harrods in London. It att ...

and

Karstadt Karstadt Warenhaus GmbH was a German department store chain whose headquarters were in Essen. Until 30 September 2010 the company was a subsidiary of Arcandor AG (which was known until 30 June 2007 as KarstadtQuelle AG) and was responsible wi ...

properties was acquired in 2012. Following these investments, Signa bought the commercial businesses of KaDeWe in 2013, and Karstadt in 2014. In November 2012, Benko and the

tax advisor A tax advisor or tax consultant is a person with advanced training and knowledge of tax law. The services of a tax advisor are usually retained in order to minimize taxation while remaining compliant with the law in complicated financial situations. ...

Michael Passer were found guilty of "attempted prohibited intervention" (bribery) and convicted to a suspended sentence of one year by the Vienna Regional Court. The judge saw the case as a "model of corruption", in which Benko commissioned Passer to contact the former Croatian Prime Minister

Ivo Sanader Ivo Sanader (born 8 June 1953) is a former Croatian politician who served as Prime Minister of Croatia from 2003 to 2009. He is to date the second longest-serving prime minister since independence, holding the office for over five and a half yea ...

and offered him 150,000 euros to influence a pending Italian court case in Benko's favor. The conviction was confirmed by the Higher Regional Court in 2013 and, following Benko's appeal, by Austria's Supreme Court in 2014. As Benko received a suspended sentence of one year, he is not considered a criminal by Austrian law and does not have a criminal record.

Expansion towards a holding company

On June 18, 2013, Benko

retired Retirement is the withdrawal from one's position or occupation or from one's active working life. A person may also semi-retire by reducing work hours or workload. Many people choose to retire when they are elderly or incapable of doing their j ...

from the operational leadership of Signa Holding and took over the

chairmanship The chairperson, also chairman, chairwoman or chair, is the presiding officer of an organized group such as a board, committee, or deliberative assembly. The person holding the office, who is typically elected or appointed by members of the grou ...

of the

Advisory Board An advisory board is a body that provides non-binding strategic advice to the management of a corporation, organization, or foundation. The informal nature of an advisory board gives greater flexibility in structure and management compared to th ...

of the Signa Group. In 2013, the new company division Signa Retail was founded. With the acquisition of the Karstadt department store chain in 2014, as well as several online and multi-channel retailers, Benkos Signa Holding became a significant company in the retail sector. Since 2014, several projects have been completed in Austria and other European countries. Another milestone was the approval of the WaltherPark

shopping center A shopping center (American English) or shopping centre (Commonwealth English), also called a shopping complex, shopping arcade, shopping plaza or galleria, is a group of shops built together, sometimes under one roof. The first known collec ...

Bolzano Bolzano ( or ; german: Bozen, (formerly ); bar, Bozn; lld, Balsan or ) is the capital city of the province of South Tyrol in northern Italy. With a population of 108,245, Bolzano is also by far the largest city in South Tyrol and the third la ...

in 2016 by a

referendum A referendum (plural: referendums or less commonly referenda) is a direct vote by the electorate on a proposal, law, or political issue. This is in contrast to an issue being voted on by a representative. This may result in the adoption of a ...

, there have also been further expansions in e-commerce since 2017, such as the acquisition of Probikeshop or hood.de. After the acquisition of the Austrian furniture chain Kika-Leiner with around 6500 employees in June 2018, negotiations on the acquisition of the department store chain Kaufhof were resumed in July 2018 by Signa Holding under the leadership of René Benko. On September 11, the merger of

and

Kaufhof Galeria Kaufhof GmbH was a German department store chain, headquartered in Cologne. It was a member of the International Association of Department Stores from 1930 to 2010, with various CEOs acting as presidents of the Association over time. U ...

was officially confirmed. In November 2018, the first investment in the media sector was announced through the acquisition of shares in the Austrian daily newspapers

Kronen Zeitung The ''Kronen Zeitung'' (), commonly known as the ''Krone'', is Austria's largest newspaper. It is known for being Eurosceptic. History The first issue of the ''Kronen Zeitung'' appeared on 2 January 1900. Gustav Davis, a former army officer, ...

and

Kurier ''Kurier'' is a German-language daily newspaper based in Vienna, Austria. History and profile ''Kurier'' was founded as ''Wiener Kurier'' by the United States Forces in Austria (USFA) in 1945, during the Allied occupation after World War II. ...

by Signa Holding. Chrysler building- top

In March 2019, Benko's Signa Holding, together with

RFR Holding RFR may refer to: * ''Radio Free Roscoe'', a Canadian TV series * Ralph Firman Racing, a British racecar constructor * Recovering from Religion, an organisation * Regional Fast Rail project, Victoria, Australia * ''Reichsforschungsrat'' (RFR, Rei ...

, acquired the

Chrysler Building The Chrysler Building is an Art Deco skyscraper on the East Side of Manhattan in New York City, at the intersection of 42nd Street and Lexington Avenue in Midtown Manhattan. At , it is the tallest brick building in the world with a steel fra ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

for an estimated amount of $150 million. This is René Benko's first major investment in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. A month later, the Technical Commission of the South Tyrol regional government approved the sale of

Bolzano Airport Bolzano Airport ( it, Aeroporto di Bolzano — Dolomiti, german: Flughafen Bozen — Dolomiten) is a small regional airport near Bolzano in the province of South Tyrol in northern Italy. History The airport was created in October 1926 with a 130 ...

to a company owned by Benko,

entrepreneur Josef Gostner and

Strabag STRABAG SE is an Austrian construction company based in Spittal an der Drau, Austria, with its headquarters in Vienna. It is the largest construction company in Austria and one of the largest construction companies in Europe. The company is acti ...

founder

Hans Peter Haselsteiner Hans Peter Haselsteiner (born 1 February 1944, in Wörgl) is an Austrian industrialist and former politician. Education After his Matura, Hans Peter Haselsteiner studied business economics at the Vienna University of Economics and Business, f ...

. In mid-2019, Benko's Signa Holding acquired the remaining shares in Galeria Kaufhof. These were held by

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

retailer

Hudson's Bay Company The Hudson's Bay Company (HBC; french: Compagnie de la Baie d'Hudson) is a Canadian retail business group. A fur trading business for much of its existence, HBC now owns and operates retail stores in Canada. The company's namesake business div ...

, who thus withdrew from the European market. French investment holding company Société Foncière, Financière et de Participations, which manages the

Peugeot Peugeot (, , ) is a French brand of automobiles owned by Stellantis. The family business that preceded the current Peugeot companies was founded in 1810, with a steel foundry that soon started making hand tools and kitchen equipment, and the ...

family's holdings, acquired a 5% stake in Signa Prime Selection for €186 million. The Hotel Bauer Palazzo on the Grand Canal in

Venice Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 ...

was acquired in 2020 by Benko's Signa Group, which is thus expanding its hotel portfolio. In 2021, Signa acquired the British luxury department stores of

Selfridges Selfridges, also known as Selfridges & Co., is a chain of high-end department stores in the United Kingdom that is operated by Selfridges Retail Limited, part of the Selfridges Group of department stores. It was founded by Harry Gordon Selfridge ...

in a joint venture with

Central Group Central Group consists of a variety of diverse investments in various corporations in Thailand and abroad, including investments in retail, property development, brand management, hospitality, and food and beverage sectors, and in digital lifes ...

. This will extend their already existing shared portfolio of luxury department stores across European countries. Moreover, Signa Sports United completed its business combination with Yucaipa Acquisition Corporation and started trading on the

New York Stock Exchange The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE, nicknamed "The Big Board") is an American stock exchange in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It is by far the world's largest stock exchange by market capitalization of its listed c ...

on December 15, 2021.

Awards

* 2011: ''Tyrolean of the Year'' by the Regional Governor Günther Platter * 2012 and 2018: ''Man of the Year'' by the Austrian Business Magazine

Trend A fad or trend is any form of collective behavior that develops within a culture, a generation or social group in which a group of people enthusiastically follow an impulse (psychology), impulse for a short period. Fads are objects or behavior ...

* 2018: ''Strategist of the Year'' by the German Business Magazine

Handelsblatt The ''Handelsblatt'' (literally "commerce paper" in English) is a German-language business newspaper published in Düsseldorf Düsseldorf ( , , ; often in English sources; Low Franconian and Ripuarian: ''Düsseldörp'' ; archaic nl, Du ...

;

Roland Berger Roland Berger (born 22 November 1937) is a German entrepreneur, consultant and philanthropist. Life Roland Berger was born in Berlin in 1937 as Robert Altmann; his family name changed later, after his father, Georg L. Berger, married his mot ...

wrote the contribution. * 2018: ''Man of the Year'' by Across, a European business magazine for the retail and real estate industries *2019: ''Pentola d’Oro International'' by Il Quotidiano Immobiliare, a professional industry journal

References

External links

Profil at SIGNA Holding
company website {{DEFAULTSORT:Benko, Rene 1977 births Austrian real estate businesspeople Living people Businesspeople from Innsbruck Austrian investors Austrian billionaires Controversies in Austria