Astorg, a private equity firm that manages €22 billion ($24 billion) in assets, is working with Evercore Inc. to explore various financing options as the company prepares for a generational change among its leadership, Bloomberg News reported. The Paris-based firm is assessing funding options, including scenarios that combine debt and equity, it said in an emailed statement Friday. Astorg said an outright sale isn’t being considered.

The U.K. economy grew a little more than expected in the year’s first quarter, offering a minor boon to the ruling Conservatives’ struggling campaign ahead of parliamentary elections next week, the Wall Street Journal reported. Gross domestic product expanded 0.7% between January and March compared with the previous quarter, according to updated figures released Friday by the Office for National Statistics. Previous estimates had recorded a 0.6% increase on the quarter. On an annualized basis, GDP grew 2.9%, similarly outstripping previous estimates.

The International Monetary Fund cut its growth forecast for Ukraine, as Russian strikes on its power infrastructure drag on the nation’s economy, and said talks with bondholders are “intensifying” as a repayment deadline nears, Bloomberg News reported. That outlook came alongside the Washington-based lender’s final approval Friday to release $2.2 billion from Ukraine’s $15.6 billion aid package, an expected step after agreeing to terms late last month. This is the fifth tranche Ukraine has received under the program since it was established in 2023.

The first six months of this year have seen the highest rate of corporate insolvencies in Ireland since 2018, according to a study by Deloitte, the Irish Independent reported. Their research found there have been 412 insolvencies since January – up 25pc on the same period in 2023. Of those, 77 were in the hospitality sector, which was an 88 percent year-on-year increase. Deloitte calculates that Ireland is on course for over 800 insolvencies in the full year, which would be 25pc up on 2023. Almost all the firms going bust are small- and medium-sized enterprises.

A travel firm has cancelled all bookings until the end of next month due to issues of insolvency. Youtravel is cancelling bookings up to an including July 26 after its tour operator brand, FTI Touristik, filed for insolvency earlier this month, the Glasgow Evening Times reported. In a bid to 'secure its future', Youtravel confirmed that bookings made in the firm's system for arrivals up to and including July 26 will be cancelled without charge by Monday, July 1.

Sweden’s central bank held its key policy rate at 3.75% and said it could cut the policy rate two or three times during the second half as long as the outlook for inflation holds, the Wall Street Journal reported. The Riksbank last month became the second central bank from a rich, advanced economy to begin its easing cycle following the post-pandemic surge in inflation, when it lowered its key interest rate for the first time in more than eight years to 3.75% from 4.0%. Switzerland’s central bank was the first to move in March.

The Czech Republic’s central bank on Thursday cut its key interest rate for the fifth time in a row as inflation remains low and the economy is showing signs of recovery, the Associated Press reported. The cut, which had been predicted by analysts, brought the interest rate down by a half-percentage point, to 4.75%. The bank started to trim borrowing costs by a quarter-point on Dec. 21, the first cut since June 22, 2022. Further cuts of half a percentage point each time followed on Feb. 8, March 20 and May 2.

The Federal Statistical Office (Destatis) has reported an increase in corporate insolvencies in the first quarter versus the same period last year, Börsen-Zeitung reported. The upward trend in insolvency numbers remains unbroken, although the momentum decreased slightly in May. Early indicators collected by the Leibniz Institute for Economic Research Halle (IWH) suggest a decline in numbers for the coming months, but credit rating agency Crif anticipates a higher default rate compared to recent figures.

The owner of a prominent skyscraper in Germany's banking capital of Frankfurt has filed for insolvency, as the country reels from its biggest property crisis in a generation, Reuters reported. The tower, described on its website as an "essential part of the Frankfurt skyline", is home to part of Germany's central bank and to Deka, one of its biggest asset managers. Geschaeftshaus am Gendarmenmarkt, which owns the 186-metre, 45-floor Trianon building, filed for insolvency in a Frankfurt court on Monday and an insolvency manager has been appointed, a filing published on Tuesday showed.