Statistics Netherlands (CBS) reports that, adjusted for the number of court session days, there were 24 fewer bankruptcies in January 2024 than in December 2023, CBS.nl reported. This is a decrease of 6 percent. However, there has been an upward trend in the number of bankruptcies for nearly two years. In January 2024, over 60 percent more businesses were declared bankrupt than one year previously. This is an increase of 138 businesses. The number of corporate bankruptcies (adjusted for court session days) fluctuates substantially, with rapidly alternating ups and downs.

The troubled used car supermarket Cazoo is scrambling for a lifeline as it sinks further into a funding crisis, the Telegraph reported. The online dealer hopes to persuade shareholders to agree to an urgent cash injection but is preparing contingency measures. A source involved in the discussions said all options are on the table, including new investors, a sale or break-up of the company, and asset sales. However, if fresh funds can’t be found then it will be forced to consider administration. A team of restructuring and insolvency experts is being called in to navigate the crisis.

Germany’s market for office buildings suffered its sharpest drop in two decades as higher financing costs and sluggish return-to-office trends soured investor appetite, Bloomberg News reported. The downturn accelerated in the fourth quarter with a 13% drop from the previous year, according to data published Monday by German banking association VDP. For the full year, prices slumped more than 10%, the most since records began in 2003, and the outlook is for further declines at the start of 2024.

Like a lot of explosive financial scandals, the story of Michael Quinn and Brendan Cahill could fairly be described as a simple proposition that spun completely out of control, the New York Times reported. Quinn was an Irish oil-and-gas man with warm eyes and a mustache; Cahill was his longtime partner, an accountant by training. The two had been working in Nigeria since the 1970s, doing small-time deals in the energy and defense sectors, like fixing tanks and siting oil wells. But in the mid-2000s, they spied a bigger opportunity.

Bulgarian insurance group Eurohold announced that it filed a lawsuit against Romania at the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) in the case of what it claims to be the illegal bankruptcy of local subsidiary Euroins, Romania-Insider.com reported. Moreover, it also reconfirmed that it is preparing an arbitration request for the amount of over EUR 500 million at an international court in the U.S. At the same time, Eurohold claimed that the lawsuit in Romania against ASF’s decision to withdraw Euroins’ operating license has recently started.

A luxury townhouse in London’s exclusive Kensington district is expected to sell for about $34 million (£27 million) as part of bankruptcy proceedings, Bloomberg News reported. The property, a short walk from Hyde Park, is registered to Khalifa Bin Butti Omeir Al Muhairi — an Emirati former vice-chairman of NMC Health Plc. The once London-listed hospital operator collapsed into administration in 2020 following allegations of fraud, triggering a series of investigations and lawsuits. Al Muhairi filed for bankruptcy in an Abu Dhabi court a year later.

René Benko was a high school dropout and convicted criminal. But by 2018, he was at the pinnacle of global real estate. His company, Signa Holding, launched a glassy, J-shaped skyscraper on the banks of the River Elbe in Hamburg, Germany. The design of the 800-foot tower resembled a chart showing exponential growth, the Wall Street Journal reported. Hamburg’s mayor, the future German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, lauded Signa’s good reputation with banks when the city picked the developer to build the tower. “Signa is financially strong,” he said. It wasn’t.

The French economy is set to end a six-month phase of stagnation and expand by 0.1% to 0.2% in the first quarter, the country's central bank said on Thursday as it released its monthly business survey, Reuters reported. "Declines in the construction and energy sectors were offset by a rise in value added in industry, while services remained stable", the Bank of France said. It also updated the growth rate measured during the fourth quarter of 2023, saying the economy had flatlined. It had previously given a 0.2% growth estimate.

A council is warning it could be at risk of bankruptcy as £3m of government funding for port checks is withdrawn. Dover District Council (DCC) is responsible for checking food for diseases as it enters the UK, including African swine fever, BBC.com reported. The authority will now have to plug the funding gap, which it warns will "severely deplete" council reserves.

For German banks at the forefront of a spreading US commercial property downturn, covered bonds and deposits can offer a lifeline, according to Barclays Plc analysts, Bloomberg News reported. Deutsche Pfandbriefbank AG and Aareal Bank AG have seen their unsecured borrowing costs grind higher as investors scrutinize their loan books for bad US loans. That makes it critical that they continue to be able to rely on more steady sources of funding. Deutsche Pfandbriefbank, known as PBB, said Wednesday that it had increased loan-loss provisions, noting “persistent weakness” in real estate.