Europe

Italy is struggling to find a "strategic" buyer for its stake in lender Monte dei Paschi di Siena before a year-end deadline, leaving it with little alternative but to turn to the market and broaden a fragmented shareholder base, Reuters reported. Italy must cut its 26.7% stake below 20% by the end of December to show the European Union authorities it no longer controls MPS, in line with re-privatisation commitments agreed during a 2017 bailout. The original EU deadline was extended after Italy failed to sell MPS to UniCredit in 2021.

The eurozone’s economy grew more rapidly than expected in the three months to the end of September, a boost to hopes that the bloc is set for a soft landing from the surge in inflation that followed Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the Wall Street Journal reported. The pickup in growth will ease worries that a long period of high interest rates has stalled the currency area’s recovery, and reassure policymakers at the European Central Bank that rapid cuts to its key interest rate aren’t urgently needed.

German inflation quickened more sharply than expected and exceeded the European Central Bank’s 2% target – underpinning the challenges for policymakers in deciding on the pace and extent of further monetary-policy easing, Bloomberg News reported. Consumer-price growth in Europe’s largest economy picked up to 2.4% in October from 1.8% the previous month – well above the 2.1% median estimate in a Bloomberg survey. Base effects linked to energy helped drive the uptick, with services, goods and food also contributing, according to statistics agency Destatis.

Britain’s new Labour government presented its plan to jolt the U.K. out of years of moribund growth: more taxes and a bigger state, the Wall Street Journal reported. Standing in Parliament, Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves Wednesday said her government will raise taxes by £40 billion, equivalent to around $51.9 billion, one of the biggest tax hikes in a generation, and borrow billions in the coming years to invest in the country’s infrastructure.

In January, the Catalan regional government in Spain created a specialized desk dedicated to increasing investment and trade with China, the world’s second-largest economy. In July, the Port of Barcelona approved plans to build a terminal with direct access to the port’s railway for electric vehicles that China is exporting to Europe, the New York Times reported. Last month, during a visit to Beijing by Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, the Chinese wind turbine giant Envision Energy agreed to team up with his government and invest $1 billion to build a green hydrogen industrial park.

Sweden’s Northvolt AB is likely to complete an expected funding round of about $300 million next week, as the troubled battery-cell maker races to get its finances on a more stable footing, Bloomberg News reported. The final steps are being drawn out because of the complex documentation needed for the deal involving customers, investors and lenders, said the person, who asked not to be identified discussing a private matter. While the bailout is progressing, the timeline to complete the new package may yet move, the person added.

The Schoeller Group is in exclusive talks to buy Signa’s Upper West tower in Berlin, according to people familiar with the matter, in one of the most closely watched property transactions in Germany, Bloomberg News reported. The industrialist family’s investment office has been picked for exclusive negotiations after several rounds of bids for the building that is part of Austrian tycoon Rene Benko’s defunct empire. The insolvency administrator of Signa Prime Selection AG had been nearing a deal to sell the property for more than €400 million ($432 million), Bloomberg previously reported.

Gloucestershire Constabulary finance chiefs have dismissed fears they could go bust '"like Birmingham City Council" amid concerns over funding, BBC.com reported. The force said that it would not face bankruptcy as concerns grew over plans for a stark rise in debt, a recruitment freeze and a "blip" in officer leaving. According to a report by Peter Robinson, the Office for Police and Crime Commissioner's (OPCC) interim chief finance officer, the force needed to find cumulative budget savings of £7m next year, with an increase year on year.

Volkswagen AG’s truckmaking brand Scania plans to equip all its future electric trucks with Northvolt batteries, in a vote of confidence for the cash-strapped Swedish battery maker as it works to seal up a rescue package, Bloomberg News reported. “We are now shifting over. For the future, all of our currently sold battery electric vehicles will come with Northvolt cells,” Scania Chief Executive Officer Christian Levin said in a call with reporters on Monday. The volumes Northvolt is currently supplying to Scania are “satisfactory to us given the total market right now,” Levin said.