Buyout activity is picking up pace in Europe, but a number of banks are taking a cautious approach to new risk, looking for higher pricing, more flex protection and in some instances fuller fees on junk-rated debt underwrites against a backdrop of heightened volatility, inflation and rising rates, Bloomberg News reported. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine felled a positive start to the year by all but shutting Europe’s high-yield bond and leveraged-loan market, leaving banks sitting on $37 billion of existing underwrites they have so far been unable to sell down.

Rome expects to return Monte dei Paschi di Siena into private hands only after the bailed-out lender completes restructuring steps it is currently discussing with European Union authorities, Italy's economy minister said on Monday, Reuters reported. Under new CEO Luigi Lovaglio, Monte dei Paschi (MPS) is revising a 2022-2026 strategic plan readied by previous management which needs approval by European authorities. Economy Minister Daniele Franco told a parliamentary hearing the bank would know once the plan is ready how much money it needs to raise.

All Irish lessors terminated their Russian airline leases by Monday's European Union sanctions deadline and have so far had limited success in recovering their aircraft, the representative body for the sector in Ireland said, Reuters reported. Aircraft Leasing Ireland (ALI), members of which include SMBC Aviation Capital, Avolon, Aircastle and AerCap Holdings , which is the world's biggest aircraft leasing company, said that all of its members have complied fully with the sanctions.

Germany released a report on Friday showing that the country was cutting its dependence on Russian energy sooner than many thought possible, the New York Times reported. Robert Habeck, the vice chancellor and economic minister, said Germany expected to cut its imports of Russian oil in half by the midsummer and nearly end the imports by end of this year. The need for Russian coal could be halved in “the coming weeks,” he said. And he estimated that Germany could be free of Russian gas by the middle of 2024, if all goes well.

Authorities in three European countries have frozen more than $130 million in assets linked to an investigation into money laundering in Lebanon, a European Union agency said Monday, the Associated Press reported. The measures taken by officials in France, Germany and Luxembourg come as Lebanon grapples with a devastating economic crisis and coincide with domestic and European investigations of its longtime central bank governor, Riad Salameh.

Irish retail sales rose in February as Covid-19 restrictions were lifted and consumers spent more in bars, and on hardware and electrical goods, the Irish Times reported. Central Statistics Office (CSO) figures show retail volumes were up 0.9 per cent month on month. The sectors with the largest monthly increases were bars (13.9 per cent); hardware, paints and glass (7 per cent); and electrical goods (4.8 per cent). Sales volumes, however, in department stores declined by 5.4 per cent.

Tennis great Boris Becker, who is on trial in London accused of failing to hand over his assets after he was declared bankrupt, has told a jury about his struggles with money including payments for an “expensive divorce” and debts when he lost large chunks of his income after retirement, the Associated Press reported. Becker said Monday that he wasn’t able to earn enough to pay his debts because of bad publicity when his reputation declined. He said that he had “expensive lifestyle commitments” including a house in Wimbledon that cost 22,000 pounds ($28,800) in rent each month.

Justin Trudeau, the prime minister of Canada, and Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission, will host an online fund-raising event for Ukrainian refugees on April 9, the New York Times reported.

Some holders of a $3 billion Russia bond received an overdue interest payment, signaling that the heavily sanctioned nation will once again sidestep a default, Bloomberg News reported. The $66 million interest payment started showing up in accounts on Thursday, according to two international bondholders, who asked not to be identified because they weren’t authorized to speak publicly. The payment was in dollars, one of the people said. A third bondholder reached Thursday said they had yet to see the payment.

German business morale plummeted in March as companies worried about rising energy prices, driver shortages and the stability of supply chains in the wake of the war in Ukraine, pointing to a possible future recession, a survey showed on Friday, Reuters reported. The Ifo institute said its business climate index dropped to 90.8 in March from a downwardly revised 98.5 in February. A Reuters poll of analysts had pointed to a March reading of 94.2.