The owner of Britain’s Royal Mail said it rejected a £3.1 billion ($3.9 billion) bid from Czech entrepreneur Daniel Kretinsky because it “significantly undervalues” the company, Bloomberg News reported. International Distributions Services Plc said it turned down the cash offer, worth 320 pence a share, on April 11. The shares surged 28% on Wednesday, closing at 276 pence — still well below the offer price. “The board believes the timing of the proposal is opportunistic,” IDS said in a statement.

Altice France’s upcoming debt negotiations could see another export of the US restructuring market hitting Europe, Bloomberg News reported. A group of secured creditors to billionaire Patrick Drahi’s French telecommunications company is preparing to sign a six-month cooperation agreement that binds them to act together in debt negotiations, Bloomberg reported on Friday. Such deals have become a common tool designed to prevent US restructurings from turning contentious, but remain a relative rarity in Europe.

Thames Water Utilities Ltd.’s board members are set for last-ditch talks to update their business plan this week after shareholders branded the previous one “uninvestible,” Bloomberg News reported. Directors of the heavily indebted utility are set to meet Thursday, with the plan expected to be released Friday, according to a person familiar with the plans who asked not to be identified discussing private matters. Thames supplies a quarter of the water and sewage services to England, including London.

The European Central Bank will need to make further reductions to interest rates this year and next, following an initial move in June, according to Governing Council member Francois Villeroy de Galhau, Bloomberg News reported. The Bank of France chief said the time has come to ease policy since there’s “no serious evidence” behind the fear that the last mile of bringing inflation back toward 2% is more difficult. He also said there are no signs of a wage-price spiral, with average compensation per employee slowing markedly.

Sweden’s worst slump in home construction in more than three decades is over for now, a gauge of housing starts in the largest Nordic nation suggests, Bloomberg News reported. An indicator from data provider Byggfakta published Wednesday was largely unchanged in March, signaling that activity in the sector is stabilizing following two years of sharp declines from August 2021. “The housing indicator is making it increasingly clear that construction starts have bottomed, and even recovered somewhat in the last six months,” Tor Borg, head of analysis at Byggfakta said in a statement.

Superdry Plc plans to quit the London Stock Exchange as the troubled fashion retailer pushes through a radical restructuring to stay afloat, Bloomberg News reported. The British clothing chain, which soared to popularity in the 2000s for its bold lettered tops, said delisting from the stock market, raising more funds and implementing a program to cut some UK store rents and payments owed to local authorities will help it revive the core business. Shares of Superdry fell as much as 35% in early trading in London before paring back slightly. The stock is down about 94% in the past year.

The euro zone’s second and third-biggest economies are about to pile on debt again after three years of fixing their pandemic-bloated public finances, the International Monetary Fund said, Bloomberg News reported. Both France and Italy will see borrowings as a percentage of gross domestic product rise in 2024 and then keep creeping up over the coming half decade, the fund said in its World Economic Outlook released in Washington on Tuesday.

Unemployment ticked higher and wage growth slowed in the U.K. in the three months to February, adding to key signs that inflation is easing and making interest-rate cuts likelier in the coming months, the Wall Street Journal reported. The unemployment rate stood at 4.2% over the period, still relatively low by historical standards but higher than it has been since the three months to August last year, according to Office for National Statistics figures set out Tuesday.

European Central Bank Governing Council member Gediminas Simkus said borrowing costs will start to decline from June — predicting at least three such moves in 2024, Bloomberg News reported. “I see a higher than 50% chance there will be more than three cuts this year,” Simkus told reporters Monday in Vilnius. “I see a higher than zero chance that an interest-rate cut may follow also in July.

Finland’s government is seeking an additional €3 billion ($3.2 billion) worth of austerity measures to help fix its deteriorating public finances, according to Prime Minister Petteri Orpo, Bloomberg News reported. Orpo’s pro-business cabinet is convening to its first talks over a four-year budget framework. They’re searching for additional savings and tax increases on top of a €6 billion package outlined in the government’s policy program last year. The Nordic country has run consecutive budget deficits since 2008.