The German subsidiaries of the Belgian chemical company DOMO Chemicals - DOMO Chemicals, DOMO Caproleuna and DOMO Engineering Plastics - have filed for insolvency, CHEManager-Online.com reported. The three German companies concerned belong to DOMO Chemicals, a family-run group of companies headquartered in Ghent, Belgium. The group manufactures and markets polymers, engineering plastics and high-performance fibers worldwide for customers in the automotive industry, for consumer and industrial goods as well as electrical engineering and electronics.

The upmarket fashion brand LK Bennett appears to be heading for collapse for the second time in six years, The Guardian reported. The company filed an application with the high court on Tuesday to appoint an administrator to the business, which employs about 280 staff. The move suggests that the clothing chain, which was founded by Linda Bennett in 1990 and is now owned by China-based backers, appears to have failed in its widely publicised efforts to unearth a saviour. In 2019 the business collapsed into administration after its owners failed to find a new financial backer.

A struggling U.K. pharmacy chain accused of owing its locums £670,000 in unpaid fees has been hit with an application to place the business into insolvency proceedings, The Guardian reported. Jhoots Chemist, which trades under the name of Jhoots Pharmacy, was named in a high court application to appoint an administrator, submitted on Monday by Lloyds Bank. The move comes after the company – which has run more than 100 outlets – was criticised in the autumn by MPs for not paying locum pharmacists who had worked at the company’s branches on a freelance basis.

Sberbank, Russia’s second-largest bank, issued the country's first bitcoin-backed loan to one of its largest bitcoin miners, calling the transaction a pilot and suggesting it was keen to issue more in the future, CoinDesk.com reported. “We believe this product will be relevant not only for cryptocurrency miners, but also for companies that own cryptocurrencies,” the bank said in a statement. It did not disclose the loan amount. The bank said it used its own crypto custody product, Rutoken, to hold the bitcoin used as collateral for the crypto loan.

Bankrupt Irish property developer Sean Dunne has filed a fresh objection to the distribution of $3.8 million (€3.24 million) of the remaining assets in his dozen-year-old U.S. bankruptcy case, the Irish Times reported. U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Julie A Manning, sitting in Bridgeport, Conn. last week ordered payment of $2.8 million to his two ex-wives and about another $1 million in legal fees to the US bankruptcy trustee and his lawyers.

Two bosses of the private equity group behind deals including an acrimonious takeover of Maker & Son, a luxury furniture business, have been banned from running companies over “unauthorised” banking transactions worth almost £14 million, The Times reported. The bans relate to what the government’s Insolvency Service called “exploitation” of the banking system, which it said left “behind insolvencies worth more than £52 million”.

Russia’s financial system is reportedly coming under more strain as Moscow’s war on Ukraine nears the end of its fourth full year, Fortune reported. The White House is seeking to revive peace talks this weekend with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky due to meet President Donald Trump in Florida on Sunday. Russian forces stepped up their bombardment of Ukraine ahead of the meeting, but prolonged fighting presents risks for the economy. “A banking crisis is possible,” a Russian official told the Washington Post recently on condition of anonymity.

Klöckner Pentaplast announced yesterday that the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas has confirmed its reorganization plan, PlasticsToday.com reported. The plan, according to the company, was developed and financed with the support of an ad hoc group of its first-lien lenders and noteholders. Upon completion of the restructuring, Klöckner Pentaplast said it will reduce approximately €1.3B ($1.5B) of funded debt.

Russia’s central bank laid out a proposed framework that would legalize and regulate cryptocurrency trading for both individuals and institutions, continuing its softening stance toward cryptocurrencies. However, it continues to caution that investing in crypto carries risks, including potential losses, CoinDesk.com reported. “They are not issued or guaranteed by any jurisdiction and are subject to increased volatility and sanctions risks,” the central bank’s press release said.