Creditors of Brazilian oil platforms and rigs maker Sete Brasil have approved the sale of four oil exploration rigs to British company Magni Partners, two sources familiar with the deal told Reuters on Friday, Reuters reported. The rigs sold are named Urca, Frade, Arpoador and Guarapari. The four rigs have a 10-year leasing contract with Petrobras , which will pay $299,000 per day for each rig when operational, one of the sources said. The sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity, had no information regarding total value of the deal.

Thomas Cook was forced to pay fees worth tens of millions of pounds to more than 30 advisers in its dying days as it struggled to secure a rescue deal, with the vast payouts adding to an already severe cash burn at the collapsed travel group, the Financial Times reported. Dozens of City advisers — working on behalf of the company, bondholders, shareholders, industry insurance schemes such as Atol and the pension fund — were involved in talks to restructure the debt-laden business in the run-up to its demise.

Shares in Ted Baker shed more than a third of their value on Thursday, after the British fashion retailer’s second profit warning in four months on the back of what new boss Lindsay Page called the worst business conditions in decades, Reuters reported. The warning underlines the challenges facing Page, who became chief executive officer in April, after misconduct allegations against Ted Baker founder and top shareholder Ray Kelvin. The company also tapped a new finance chief last week.

Italy is in talks with the European Commission over a plan to rid state-owned Monte dei Paschi di Siena of around two thirds of its soured loans to pave the way for a sale of the bank, a source with direct knowledge of the situation said, Reuters reported. Hurt by a pile of problem debts and a derivatives scandal, Monte dei Paschi was for years at the forefront of Italy’s banking crisis until a bailout in 2017, which handed the state a 68% stake in the world’s oldest lender.

Business activity in Germany’s services industry worsened more than expected last month, as the woes in the manufacturing sector bled into the greater economy, magnifying fears of a looming recession, the Financial Times reported. The composite purchasing managers’ index for the eurozone’s biggest economy showed a contraction for the first time in six years. The index, a weighted average of manufacturing and services figures, fell below the 50-point level for the first time since April 2013, according to a closely watched poll, and at the swiftest pace of contraction in seven years.

The UK’s economic outlook is darkening, according to a set of surveys released this week suggesting that activity slowed sharply in September while a growing proportion of employers cut staff, the Financial Times reported. The index of service sector activity, compiled by research group IHS Markit, fell from 50.6 in August to 49.5 last month, well below analysts’ expectations. Any reading below 50 means that a majority of companies reported falls in activity.

Irish lender AIB Group Plc added its name to a growing list of borrowers shunning English law for their riskiest bank bonds in preparation for life after Brexit, Bloomberg News reported. The state-owned bank used Irish law for a sale of contingent convertible bonds on Wednesday that are set to replace its existing English-law governed notes. The move reflects a wider trend among European banks. Only 14% of euro-denominated CoCo paper sold by European lenders this year is governed by English law, down from more than 40% before 2019, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Four Seasons, Britain’s second biggest care home operator, failed to pay millions of pounds of rent this month with no warning to landlords, raising concerns over the care of thousands of elderly residents, the Financial Times reported. The non-payment comes amid a shortage of residential places and as the Conservative party conference this week discusses the crisis in elderly care. Four Seasons, which runs 320 homes housing 16,000 residents, has been fighting for survival since 2017 after its owner — Guy Hands’ private equity firm Terra Firma — defaulted on an interest payment.

Revenue has succeeded in its High Court application to have a provisional liquidator appointed to a Co Meath-based bus company, The Irish Times reported. Mr Justice Richard Humphreys on Wednesday appointed insolvency practitioner Aidan Murphy, of Crowe Ireland, as provisional liquidator to Enfield Coaches Ltd, of Rathcore, Enfield, Co Meath. The court heard that the company provides coach and related transport services. At the High Court, Arthur Cunningham, for the Collector General of the Revenue Commissioners, said his client was owed €39,000 as unpaid PAYE, PRSI and interest.

Germany’s leading economic research institutes have urged the government to abandon its commitment to balanced budgets, also known as the “black zero” policy, as they slashed their growth forecasts and warned that the country’s crucial industrial sector was already in recession, the Financial Times reported. “Sticking with the black zero as an end in itself would be fundamentally wrong.