Real estate - ECE CEO: Consequences of the Signa crisis remain manageable
The head of the Hamburg-based real estate group and shopping center operator ECE, Alexander Otto, does not see any serious effects of the Signa crisis for his sector. "The mood in the industry is already very bad, and it will certainly not improve as a result of Signa's problems," Otto told Wirtschaftswoche. But the real estate sector is very fragmented. "Even Signa does not have a particularly high market share. I therefore assume that the consequences will remain manageable," said Otto.
Signa Holding GmbH, owned by Austrian real estate and retail entrepreneur René Benko, applied for debtor-in-possession restructuring proceedings on Wednesday. The real estate and retail group consists of a complex network of companies with several hundred individual companies. This includes Galeria Karstadt Kaufhof. Germany's last major department store group had to seek rescue in protective shield proceedings for the second time at the end of 2022. Galeria is represented in 5 of the 100 or so ECE shopping centers across Germany.
ECE is one of the largest real estate companies in Germany and is primarily known for its 200 or so shopping centers across Europe. Business there has developed well in the current year, Otto told Wirtschaftswoche. "By the end of September, sales in our centers across Europe were around twelve percent up on the previous year." The first few days of Christmas business also got off to a good start. The real estate sector will remain under pressure in the coming year. "I don't expect a recovery until 2025," said Otto.
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Source: www.stern.de
