FRANKFURT, Dec 29 Reuters Signa Development, a key division of European property company Signa, filed for insolvency on Friday in a Vienna court with debts of around 1.16 billion euros 1.28 billion, the KSV creditor protection association said.

Signa on Thursday had said that the development division, as well as its big business Signa Prime, would be filing for insolvency this week, in what was a significant twist in the unravelling of founder Rene Benko39;s real estate empire.

Signa Development has 39 projects in the works, according to KSV. Projects are located in Vienna, Berlin, Wolfsburg, Germany, and elsewhere, according to Signa39;s website.

The holding company of Signa a group of some 1,000 companies, with highprofile projects and department stores across Germany, Austria and Switzerland filed for insolvency last month with around 5 billion euros in debt.

Other divisions have since followed suit, making Signa the biggest casualty so far in Europe39;s real estate crisis.

1 0.9030 euros

Reporting by Tom Sims and Alexander Huebner, Editing by Rachel More and Miranda Murray

Source Reuters