Higher interest rates in Europe will put pressure on the credit ratings of the region's companies and banks, S&P Global said on Tuesday, Reuters reported. "The trend in credit quality is turning negative for corporates, especially for speculative-grade issuers, as financing conditions tighten," the rating firm said in a new report. "Real estate remains one of the most exposed sectors. For European banks, while asset quality deterioration will emerge, credit losses are expected to only normalize," the report added.

Scandinavia’s biggest airline SAS AB has received a final round of bids from potential suitors looking to invest in the carrier as part of a rescue plan to shore up its ailing finances, Reuters reported. The Stockholm-based company, which is going through a chapter 11 reorganization in the U.S., needs to raise at least 9.5 billion Swedish kronor ($856 million) in new equity and convert or cut its debt pile of about 20 billion kronor. Chief Executive Officer Anko van der Werff has previously said the amount of equity is not set and could go higher.

SBB, the landlord at the center of Sweden’s property crisis, will deploy roughly half of a cash lifeline to repay upcoming debt maturities, according to comments by rating firm Standard & Poor’s, Bloomberg News reported. On Sunday, Samhallsbyggnadsbolaget i Norden AB — as the company is formally known — said it had covered a near-term funding gap in a deal that will raise 8 billion Swedish kronor ($720 million) by ceding control in a portfolio of schools to Canada’s Brookfield Asset Management Ltd.

Hungary’s central bank cut its key interest rate by a full percentage point for a fifth month, ending an emergency monetary regime imposed last year to arrest a slump in the forint, Bloomberg News reported. The Monetary Council lowered the overnight deposit rate to 13% on Tuesday, matching the forecast of all economists in a Bloomberg survey. That’s on par with the level of the base rate, which is expected to resume being the effective key interest rate for the economy.

Germany slashed the volume of federal debt sales planned for the fourth quarter by €31 billion ($33 billion) as the government winds down financial support for households and companies hit by soaring energy costs, Bloomberg News reported. Bond issuance will be cut by €8 billion and sales of bills by €23 billion compared with a plan published last December, the federal finance agency said Tuesday in an emailed statement. Together with the reduction in the third quarter, that would trim total sales for this year by €45 billion to about €500 billion, still a record.

Struggling Swedish landlord SBB took a major step toward stabilizing its finances with a cash injection and a plan to divide up its operations, sending a signal that money is available despite the country’s real estate crisis, Bloomberg News reported. Samhallsbyggnadsbolaget i Norden AB — as the company is officially known — will largely close its near-term funding gap in a deal that will raise 8 billion Swedish kronor ($720 million). The shares surged as much as 40%, and the company’s bonds maturing in January 2025 jumped 6 cents on the euro, according to data complied by Bloomberg.

The cabinet of Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni approved a fiscal aid package worth about €1.3 billion ($1.4 billion), including help for households coping with soaring energy bills, a government official said, Bloomberg News reported. Meloni’s right-wing government will extend tax breaks and discounts on electricity and gas bills and help low-income families pay for fuel and public transportation, the official said.

Laden with debt it couldn’t pay back, Greece nearly broke the eurozone a decade ago. Today, it is one of Europe’s fastest-growing economies, the New York Times reported. In a significant acknowledgment of the country’s turnaround, credit ratings agencies have been upgrading their appraisal of Greece’s debt, and opening the door for large foreign investors. The economy is growing at twice the eurozone average, and unemployment, while still high at 11 percent, is the lowest in over a decade. Tourists have returned in droves, fueling a construction frenzy and new jobs.

Struggling Swedish landlord SBB took a major step toward stabilizing its finances after agreeing to sell a further stake in a portfolio of school buildings to Canada’s Brookfield Asset Management Ltd., Bloomberg News reported. Samhallsbyggnadsbolaget i Norden AB — as the company is officially known — agreed to sell 1.16% holding in the education division to Brookfield, making the Canadian investor the majority shareholder after it already owned 49% of the unit called SBB EduCo AB.

Drugmaker Mallinckrodt said on Thursday that it had initiated examinership proceedings in the High Court of Ireland, as it seeks protection from actions taken by creditors during the chapter 11 bankruptcy process, Reuters reported. The Ireland-based company filed for its second bankruptcy in the United States last month, with a restructuring plan that would cut $1 billion from what it owes to victims of the U.S. opioid crisis. Read more.