Dubai developer Damac is in pole position to buy troubled Italian fashion group Roberto Cavalli, a source close to the matter said on Wednesday, Reuters reported. Two other binding offers for the whole group have been submitted by Italy’s Diesel-owner OTB and U.S. brand management company Bluestar Alliance, the source said. Last Friday Cavalli said it had received five offers for the brand. The company and its private equity owner Clessidra both declined to comment.

Iceberg Research, the short seller that targeted commodities trader Noble Group Ltd., has another trading house in its sights: Trafigura Group Ltd. Trafigura is overstating the value of debt securities related to its 49.5% stake in Porto Sudeste, an iron ore export terminal in Brazil, Iceberg, headed by Arnaud Vagner, said Wednesday in a report on its website, Bloomberg News reported. Iceberg estimates those securities may be worth only a 10th of the $490 million carrying value that Trafigura attributes to them.

The percentage of families living in poverty in Italy rose to a record high last year as a prolonged economic stagnation and persistent high unemployment continued to take their toll on the country, the Financial Times reported. About 7 per cent of Italy’s families lived in “absolute poverty” last year, according to data from the national statistics office ISTAT released on Tuesday. This is the highest level since comparable data were made available in 2005 and is double the rate from the pre-crisis period.

European Central Bank policymakers were divided on Tuesday, with some feeling powerless, after President Mario Draghi hinted at new stimulus measures that had yet to be discussed by the ECB's Governing Council, the International New York Times reported on a Reuters story. Draghi told an ECB conference the central bank would ease policy again if inflation fails to accelerate, saying that fresh bond purchases, rate cuts or changes to the ECB’s policy guidance had all been “raised and discussed” at a meeting of the Council less than two weeks ago.

A key gauge of expectations for the German economy plummeted in June, as trade fears, geopolitical tensions and Brexit all weighed on financial executives, the Financial Times reported. The Zew indicator of economic sentiment fell to minus 21.1 this month, dropping 19 points from May and well below expectations of minus 5.9 in a Reuters poll.

In the years after the financial crisis, many of the world’s biggest lenders set up vast “bad banks” to cleanse trillions of dollars in toxic assets from their balance sheets, the Financial Times reported. Until now, very few of them have needed a second bite at the cherry. However, six years after creating its first non-core unit, Deutsche Bank is repeating the trick. The Financial Times reported on Monday that Deutsche is seeking to divest a further €50bn of assets adjusted for riskiness on its balance sheet.

The Central Bank will be able to fine and disqualify senior bankers for failings under their watch without first proving wrongdoing by their employers under planned new laws being drawn up in the wake of the tracker-mortgage scandal, The Irish Times reported. More than a decade after the financial crash and three years after Britain introduced a senior manager regime, Minister for Finance Paschal Donohoe received the go-ahead from Cabinet on Tuesday to push through similar measures in the Republic. It is expected to come into force from next year.

Bosnia’s aluminium smelter Aluminij Mostar is seeking a strategic partner to avoid bankruptcy and a consortium led by London-listed miner and commodity trader Glencore has shown interest, its general manager said on Monday, Reuters reported. Aluminij, based in Bosnia’s southern town of Mostar and one of the Balkan country’s biggest exporters, has been in trouble for years over heavy debt accumulated because of high alumina and electricity prices.

An Italian parliamentary committee is set to approve later on Monday a tax measure to spur mergers among banks based in the country’s poorer south, a lawmaker of the ruling League party said, warning of lenders in the region at risk of default, Reuters reported. “We’re tackling an urgent issue,” Giulio Centemero, a member of the lower Chamber of Deputies, told Reuters. “Banks are key for the Italian economy and ...

An Italian parliamentary committee is set to approve later on Monday a tax measure to spur mergers among banks based in the country’s poorer south, a lawmaker of the ruling League party said, warning of lenders in the region at risk of default, Reuters reported. “We’re tackling an urgent issue,” Giulio Centemero, a member of the lower Chamber of Deputies, told Reuters. “Banks are key for the Italian economy and ...