Restructuring of Brown Thomas owner ‘does not change anything’ for Irish operations

The transfer of control of the company which owns Brown Thomas and Arnotts to allow for restructuring “does not change anything” for Irish operations, the retailers have confirmed.

It was reported on Friday that Rene Benko, founder of Signa Holding which counts Brown Thomas and Arnotts among its businesses, is handing over control of the €23 billion empire to a restructuring expert.

A spokeswoman for Brown Thomas Arnotts, the company that operates Brown Thomas and Arnotts stores in Ireland, said that the handover of control from Rene Benko will not affect trading.

“This does not change anything for Brown Thomas Arnotts as we trade independently of any support from shareholders and as a business,” she said.

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“We are very focused on the Christmas period and welcoming our customers into our stores for an exceptional shopping experience,” she added.

According to Hans Peter Haselsteiner, a shareholder in Signa Holding, the handover of control would be temporary and is contingent on shareholders agreeing to fund the conglomerate’s turnaround.

Shareholders called on Benko earlier this week to cede his role as chairman of Signa’s advisory board and to give up his voting rights to German insolvency expert Arndt Geiwitz.

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Brown Thomas Arnotts, which operates stores in Dublin, Cork, Limerick and Galway, was sold as part of the sale of the Selfridges group to Thai-headquartered Central Group and Austrian Signa Holding last December in a deal worth a reported €4.7 billion.

As well as the Irish department stores, Signa co-owns London’s Selfridges department stores and New York’s Chrysler Building.

Rene Benko’s departure would mean the end of an era for the company, which has long drawn questions about its exponential growth and complex dealings, including with Europe’s most prominent billionaires.

Signa’s luxury developer Prime has tapped Rothschild to advise on debt refinancing. Holders of €300 million in bonds issued by Signa Development, a smaller unit, have hired Kirkland & Ellis to advise them on discussions with the company.

If approved, the first task of Geiwitz would be to plug funding gaps that have halted construction work, including at Signa’s flagship Elbtower project in Hamburg, Germany.

The prominent restructuring expert in Germany already led insolvency proceedings for Signa’s Galeria department store chain. That process left taxpayers with a €590 million write-off of Covid-era emergency loans.

— Additional reporting: Bloomberg.