Hartley Pensions Limited, which provides retirement products to UK consumers, is preparing to file for insolvency, Bloomberg News reported. The firm has approached insolvency practitioners in recent weeks to assess options including administration, the people said, asking not to be named as the information is not yet public. The company is preparing to appoint administrators from UHY Hacker Young, and could file as soon as today.

In central England, birthplace of the industrial revolution, factories are buzzing anew, hammering out parts for cars, planes and medical machines that used to be made in Asia, Reuters reported. After two years of global supply-chain disruption, and with dark clouds on the horizon, manufacturers around Britain's second city of Birmingham say they are inundated with orders, helped by new and old domestic clients bringing some production back home. For decades, supplier decisions were based largely on price.

Ukraine is fighting for its survival and is desperate for cash, but that isn’t deterring London hedge-fund manager Richard Deitz from demanding money back from an ill-fated investment there, the Wall Street Journal reported. Mr. Deitz’s VR Capital has a long history of making money in countries going through upheaval. His fund paid $123 million in 2019 to buy distressed loans issued by state-owned Ukrainian Railways, hoping they could work out a repayment and get a double-digit return.

Germany’s economy hasn’t grown for nearly five years. Its recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic has been weaker than any major advanced economy. Its ability to fill its energy needs is in question. And now the country once known as the economic engine of Europe is teetering on the brink of a recession, the Wall Street Journal reported. It’s a sharp turn of fortunes for Germany’s large manufacturing sector, which flourished over the past two decades just as other Western nations saw industrial jobs migrate to Asia.

Ukraine’s state-run energy company NJSC Naftogaz Ukrainy said it is still trying to negotiate a deal with holders of around $1.4 billion of its bonds after the government forced it to miss a deadline on Tuesday, Bloomberg News reported. The company will “urgently” present a new plan for bondholders, it said in an emailed statement. Naftogaz on Tuesday said it’s on track to default as a grace period to redeem $335 million of bonds due last week expired.

European energy extended a scorching rally as Russia tightened its grip on the region’s supply, further threatening the economy and key markets, Bloomberg News reported. Natural gas increased as much as 14%, and prices are more than 10 times higher than the usual level for this time of the year, as supplies through a key pipeline slumped. The surge is crippling Europe’s industrial output, driving up household bills and pushing inflation to the highest in decades. It’s also fed through to the power market with German futures rising to unprecedented levels, before easing on Wednesday.

Britain’s biggest mortgage lender expects the housing market to slow in the coming year, as rising interest rates make loans more expensive for borrowers and property prices finally begin to fall, Bloomberg News reported. Charlie Nunn, chief executive officer of Lloyds Banking Group Plc, said the bank’s open mortgage book rose just 1% in the three months through June and now stands at £296.6 billion.

Germany's state Economic Stabilisation Fund (ESF) has cut its stake in Deutsche Lufthansa to less than 10%, the Federal Finance Agency said on Wednesday, citing stabler conditions at the group, Reuters reported. The ESF took a 20% holding in Lufthansa as part of a government bailout to keep the airline afloat through the COVID-19 pandemic, and had previously reduced the share to 14.1%. The further reduction came "against the backdrop of Lufthansa's stable corporate development", the agency said.

An Irish developer has had €7.7 million of debts written off under a court-approved personal insolvency arrangement (PIA), the Irish Times reported. Mr. Justice Alexander Owens approved the application made on behalf of Co Roscommon-based Ronan Meeley and an interlocking PIA for his wife, Niamh Meeley. Mr. Meeley (52), who is now employed as a hotel maintenance worker, had debts totalling €8.2 million arising from his construction and development businesses that entered receivership during the recession.

Irish developer Michael O’Flynn has been blocked by the High Court from raising any objections to the personal insolvency agreement of a neighbour John O’Driscoll over a guarantee on a €2.2 million loan, the Irish Times reported. The developer who contended that Mr. O’Driscoll from Ovens, County Cork, was allegedly not insolvent, failed in his bid to overturn a Circuit Court ruling that he had no right to be heard on the matter. In the High Court, Mr. Justice Alexander Owens upheld the Circuit Court ruling that because Mr. O’Flynn who had been invited by Mr.