SBB said on Tuesday that one of its creditors had started legal proceedings against the Swedish property group for debt recovery, citing a breach of a bond clause, Reuters reported. Although the company did not disclose the name of the bondholder, it said the combined debt owned by the party represented 46 million euros ($49.43 million). Reuters reported in November that U.S. hedge fund Fir Tree Partners was accelerating its notes and starting proceedings against SBB for debt recovery, the first such official demand faced by the landlord.

Britain’s biggest homebuilder Barratt Developments agreed on Wednesday to purchase rival Redrow for £2.52 billion ($3.18 billion) as signs emerged of a recovery in the U.K. housing market, MarketWatch.com reported. Adding Redrow’s high-end homes to Barratt’s portfolio would give “customers a wider range of home types and price points,” while also delivering cost synergies of up to £90 million from “procurement savings and a rationalization of divisional and central functions,” said the FTSE 100 member.

Sweden's central bank could cut rates as early as the first half of this year, but there are risks that inflation might prove stubborn, delaying policy easing, the minutes of the central bank's most recent meeting, published on Wednesday, showed, Reuters reported. The Riksbank kept its key interest rate unchanged at 4.00% on Feb. 1, but said it could start loosening policy much earlier than its previous forecast.

Telecom Italia SpA is planning to reject Italy’s bid of up to €750 million ($805 million) for its submarine cable unit Telecom Italia Sparkle SpA dragging on the sale of a strategic asset for the government, Bloomberg News reported. The company’s board is expected to ask Italy’s Finance Ministry for better terms for the entire unit at a meeting Wednesday. Giorgia Meloni’s government is trying to take over what it views as a particularly strategic asset beyond Italy. Sparkle operates over 600,000 kilometers (373,000 miles) of cables connecting countries including Israel and the US.

Retail sales growth in the U.K. slowed in January mainly due to easing inflation and weak consumer demand, with cost-of-living pressures entering their third year, according to British Retail Consortium data, the Wall Street Journal reported. Total retail sales for the four weeks to Jan. 27 increased by 1.2% on month compared with 1.7% growth the prior month and the three-month average of 1.9%, the BRC-KPMG Retail Sales Monitor said Tuesday. Growth stood at 4.2% in January last year.

Europe's green energy transition is stuck between a rock and a hard place. A flood of cheap Chinese solar panel imports is driving record solar energy installations. But those same imports are crushing Europe's few local solar manufacturers, Reuters reported. Governments and industry are split over how to respond. Europe just had a bumper year for green energy. European Union countries installed record levels of solar capacity, 40% more than in 2022. The vast majority of those panels and parts came from China – in some cases, 95%, International Energy Agency data show.

Scandinavian airline SAS said it would file a second amended chapter 11 plan of reorganization with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York on Monday and said it had obtained the support of the unsecured creditors' committee, Reuters reported. The company said it expected about $325 million to be allocated to general unsecured creditors as part of the amended plan, consisting of up to $250 million in cash and $75 million in new equity.

Bradford Council has drafted in a specialist to overhaul its finances as it tries to avoid going bust, BBC.com reported. Steven Mair became the authority's interim director of finance last month. He had previously been brought in by councils in Essex and Berkshire as they went through effective bankruptcy. A Bradford Council spokesperson said officers were pleased he would "support us at this financially challenging time". They said Mr Mair had "extensive experience of dealing with successful financial and change management projects across several local authorities".

Swedish electric motorcycle company Cake has filed for bankruptcy, Tech.eu reported. Founded in 2017, the company designs and manufactures high-performance electric on and off-road motorcycles. It has released five adult motorcycles and one child’s bicycle, with a wide variety of users and applications, including commercial use for last-mile delivery and other short-haul urban transportation. It has sold about 6000 bikes. It opened a 2800-square-metre factory in Sweden in 2020 and planned an additional factory in the US.

Some of the banks backing KKR & Co.’s purchase of Telecom Italia SpA’s land line network with a €10 billion ($10.7 billion) infrastructure financing are looking to syndicate the deal this month, Bloomberg News reported. The financing was underwritten at the end of last year by 10 or more banks including BNP Paribas SA, Credit Agricole SA and JPMorgan Chase & Co., according to people familiar with the matter, who spoke to Bloomberg on condition of anonymity. Some of the banks are now set to sell on the debt to buyers including infrastructure funds, the people said.