René Benko

René Benko (born 20 May 1977) is an Austrian real estate, media and retail investor and founder of the Signa Holding.

The company is considered Austria's largest privately held real estate conglomerate.

Benko was considered one of the richest Austrians.

Numerous controversies have surrounded Benko’s professional career.

In March 2024 Benko declared personal insolvency.

Benko was born in Innsbruck, Tyrol, Austria as the son of a local government employee and nursery schoolteacher and studied at a business school.

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

Benko lives mainly in Innsbruck, Tyrol.

He is married for a second time and has four children.

Apart from that, little is known about Benko's private life.

Part of his assets lie with "Laura", Benko's private foundation.

The foundation was named after his daughter Laura.

Benko owns a painting by Picasso and the yacht “Roma” worth around 40 million euros.

Before his bankruptcy, Rene Benko maintained an extensive network of contacts in Austrian politics.

Alfred Gusenbauer, former SPÖ chancellor, said he was friends with Benko.

He was member of the advisory board of Signa Holding.

Susanne Riess-Hahn, former FPÖ Vice Chancellor, was also on the Signa Holding advisory board.

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 Karl Kovarik, who inherited several gas stations, 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. bank in 2007, as well as the opening of medical centers in Vienna, 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 of Länderbank and Bank Austria became the property of Signa Holding and was converted into the Park Hyatt Vienna hotel.

In 2011, the company bought the Oberpollinger department store in Munich.

Furthermore, a portfolio of buildings consisting of KaDeWe and Karstadt properties was acquired in 2012.

Following these investments, Signa bought the commercial businesses of KaDeWe in 2013, and Karstadt in 2014.

On June 18, 2013, Benko retired from the operational leadership of Signa Holding and took over the chairmanship of the Advisory Board of the Signa Group, shortly before his conviction for bribery was confirmed by the Austrian criminal appeals court.

The conviction, a suspended 12-month prison sentence, was later confirmed by the Austrian Supreme Court.

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 in Bolzano in 2016 by a referendum, 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 Karstadt and Kaufhof was officially confirmed.

Soon after this merger the public debate around the acquisition and Benko's business practices in general intensified.

In November 2018, the first investment in the media sector was announced through the acquisition of shares in the Austrian daily newspapers Kronen Zeitung and Kurier by Signa Holding.

In March 2019, Benko's Signa Holding, together with RFR Holding, acquired the Chrysler Building in New York for an estimated amount of $150 million.

This is René Benko's first major investment in the United States.

A month later, the Technical Commission of the South Tyrol regional government approved the sale of Bolzano Airport to a company owned by Benko, Bolzano entrepreneur Josef Gostner and Strabag founder Hans Peter Haselsteiner.

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