Austria's insolvent Signa sells Venice's Hotel Bauer to German group

VIENNA (Reuters) - Insolvent Austrian property company Signa Prime Selection, part of the troubled Signa empire, has sold the luxury Hotel Bauer on Venice's Grand Canal as part of a deal with German industrialist family business Schoeller Group, Signa Prime said on Friday.

Signa, the property group founded by Rene Benko, has become the biggest casualty so far in Europe's real estate crisis, with creditors filing claims totalling billions of euros.

The group's holding company that sits at the centre of a web of hundreds of firms has declared insolvency, as have two of its most important units, Prime and Signa Development.

"The management boards of Signa Prime and the Schoeller Group have signed the contracts after successful negotiations between Vienna, Munich and Bolzano," Signa Prime said in a statement, referring to their bases and the city in northern Italy where two other projects included in the deal are located.

Signa Prime did not say how much Schoeller Group was paying for the three properties. The deal is subject to banks' and antitrust approval and expected to close in "a small number of months", it added.

Signa Prime includes some of Signa's most prized properties. It was in talks with Schoeller last month about selling assets including the Park Hyatt Hotel and so-called "Golden Quarter" in central Vienna but rather than strike a deal then the talks were extended, a source said at the time.

Schoeller Group is involved in sectors ranging from packaging to property and includes a family office, according to its website, which says it is "now held by Martin and Christoph Schoeller and their families in the 7th generation".

Signa Prime has owned the Bauer since 2020. It is currently under renovation and is due to reopen next year under the management of Hong Kong's luxury Rosewood Hotel Group.