The number of companies declared insolvent in England and Wales in the first three months of 2023 was up 18% on a year earlier and remained close to the 13-year high recorded in the final quarter of 2022, government data showed on Friday, Reuters reported. Some 5,747 companies in England and Wales were declared insolvent in the first quarter of this year compared with 5,969 in the final quarter of 2022, which was the highest number since mid 2009, the seasonally adjusted figures showed.

Belgian cryptocurrency lending platform Bit4You has suspended its operations after one of its service providers, CoinLoan, was declared insolvent by a court in Estonia, CoinDesk.com reported. Bit4You learned of CoinLoan's insolvency on April 24, and that it no longer has necessary registration as a digital asset custodian, the lender said in a blog post on Wednesday. There has yet to be any indication that the funds held with CoinLoan will not be recovered, Bit4You added.

Major Romanian electro-IT retailer Altex, which operates physical stores and an online store that hosts third-party sellers, purchased for an unspecified price a EUR 4.6 mln claim held by Banca Transilvania against insolvent online retailer of furniture and home decoration goods Vivre Deco, Wall-street.ro reported. Altex has expanded its activity in recent years to new product categories, including furniture, DIY, automotive products, toys, beverages and sanitary products.

Portugal's government has mandated state holding company Parpublica to pick two independent assessors to value airline TAP ahead of its privatisation, which could be launched in July, the finance minister said on Thursday, Reuters reported. The state owns 100% of TAP, which is currently restructuring under a Brussels-approved 3.2 billion euro ($3.5 billion) rescue plan, and the government is considering an outright or partial sale. "These two independent assessments are mandatory before launching the privatisation.

Scotland’s businesses are still suffering from a “Covid hangover” with new figures showing the number of firms becoming insolvent has reached an 11-year high, the Independent reported. Corporate insolvences rose to 1,132 in 2022-23, with this up by almost a third (32.6%) on the previous year, new figures from the Accountant in Bankruptcy showed. The 2022-23 total is nearly a fifth (19.4%) higher than pre-pandemic, with 948 insolvencies recorded in 2019-20 – with an expert warning a “further wave of insolvencies is inevitable” unless economic circumstances improve “drastically”.

Shares in Itsarm PLC fell Wednesday after the company said that the likelihood it would be able to continue for a period longer than three months before becoming insolvent was low, MarketWatch.com reported. Shares at 1109 GMT were down 0.15 pence, or 32%, at 0.33 pence. The London-listed womenswear fashion brand said the board determined it would be in the best interests of the company and its shareholders to put forward a formal proposal for a members' voluntary liquidation, or MVL.

President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday signed a decree establishing temporary control of the Russian assets of two foreign energy firms, signaling Moscow could take similar action against other companies if need be. The decree - outlining possible retaliation if Russian assets abroad are seized - showed Moscow had already taken action against Uniper SE's Russian division and the assets of Finland's Fortum Oyj. The decree said Russia needed to take urgent measures to respond to unspecified actions from the United States and others it said were "unfriendly and contrary to international law".

Credit Suisse Group earned solid marks for crisis preparedness as recently as last year, underscoring how quickly the plunge in confidence blindsided regulators and investors before the bank’s near collapse, Bloomberg News reported. “It is clear that there are important lessons to be learned from the Credit Suisse crisis for future crisis preparations,” Urban Angehrn, chief executive officer of Swiss financial markets regulator Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (Finma), said in a statement on Wednesday (Apr 26). The regulator will “contribute to this objective”, he said.

The UK received a record level of demand for debt that acts as protection against inflation, with concerns mounting that rising prices aren’t slowing down despite the Bank of England’s interest rate hikes, Bloomberg News reported. The £46 billion ($57 billion) order book for £4.5 billion of so-called inflation-linked notes sold on Wednesday was far bigger than any previous UK sale of similar debt tracked by Bloomberg. Data last week showed consumer prices in Britain accelerated 10.1% from a year ago, driven by the strongest increase in food costs in more than four decades.

Creditors contesting Adler Group SA’s €6 billion ($6.6 billion) debt restructuring were denied permission to appeal, helping the embattled real estate firm move ahead with the plan, Bloomberg News reported. A judge at the High Court in London said Tuesday the tribunal wasn’t convinced by any of the reasons for permission to appeal. The decision follows a ruling at the same court last week allowing Adler to extend maturities of bonds due next year and borrow around €900 million, despite opposition from some of its creditors including DWS Group and Strategic Value Partners.