He Purchased a Piece of the Chrysler Constructing. Now His Empire Is Falling Aside.

The property droop sweeping the globe has claimed a brand new high-profile sufferer: René Benko, an Austrian-born retail and department-store magnate who additionally co-owns New York’s Chrysler Constructing.

Benko’s most important holding firm, Signa Holding, mentioned Wednesday it’s submitting for insolvency in Austria. The transfer, just like U.S. chapter process, places billions of {dollars} of firm debt in danger and casts uncertainty over a property empire that features stakes within the largest division retailer chains in Europe, upscale British retailer Selfridges and a now-stalled Hamburg tower that may have been among the many tallest in Germany.