Codere SA creditors said changes to Spain’s insolvency laws support its offer to restructure 1.1 billion euros ($1.5 billion) of debt that was rejected by the Spanish gaming company, Bloomberg News reported. New bankruptcy rules came into effect on March 7, making it easier for troubled companies to avoid liquidation. The legislation encourages debt-for-equity swaps by threatening to make shareholders liable if they “unreasonably withhold” consent, Codere’s bondholders wrote in a letter to the company’s board of directors today.

Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi unveiled plans to make €10 billion ($13.9 billion) in cuts to payroll taxes and a further €2.4 billion in business-tax cuts, his first effort to deliver on promises to overhaul Italy's sclerotic economy, The Wall Street Journal reported. Mr. Renzi also pledged on Wednesday to pay €68 billion in overdue bills by the state by the summer, a move that has helped lift the economy in other Southern European countries such as Spain. Mr. Renzi, however, didn't immediately provide details on how the arrears payments would be financed.

France is proposing to overhaul bankruptcy rules for the second time in four years to speed up restructuring procedures and give creditors greater powers, Bloomberg Businessweek reported. The measures make it simpler for companies to negotiate with lenders using a court-appointed mediator under a process known as ‘conciliation,’ according to an e-mailed statement from the Ministry of Justice. Under the proposals, businesses will also have to consider alternative restructuring plans put forward by lenders and there will be greater protection for rescue financing offered by investors.

The Nuerburgring, the German race track known as Green Hell for its challenging Formula One course, was bought by an auto-parts maker two years after the former owner and operator filed for bankruptcy protection. The acquisition by Capricorn Group values the 379-hectare (937-acre) property at more than 100 million euros ($139 million), lawyers managing the insolvency of owner Nuerburgring GmbH said yesterday in a statement. That includes 25 million euros that the Dusseldorf-based buyer will spend to further develop the site.

The European Central Bank is poised to probe €3.7tn worth of assets from the biggest lenders in the eurozone as it begins a fresh phase of its asset quality review, the Financial Times reported. The Frankfurt-based regulator is now examining riskier assets across 128 eurozone banks totalling, on average, 58 per cent of their risk-weighted portfolios – above the minimum 50 per cent threshold at each lender the central bank had vowed to select.

The lack of competition in Ireland’s post-crash banking sector may be a key reason why firms are finding it so difficult to access credit, the Irish Times reported. New research by the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) suggests a direct link between bank market competition and access to finance by small- and medium-sized enterprises. The study – entitled Does Bank Market Power Affect SME Financing Constraints? – assessed the financial constraints faced by 118,000 SMEs in 20 European countries between 2005 and 2008.

A liquidator has been appointed to the firm behind Irish Psychics Live, which was founded by former journalist Tom Higgins, the Irish Times reported. A document lodged with the Companies Office confirms that Eamon Leahy of Leahy & Company, Fairview, Dublin has been appointed as liquidator arising from a resolution of the members of Realm Communications Limited. The liquidation of the firm follows eight months after the company, which was behind what was Ireland’s most high profile and controversial premium phone line service, ceased trading.

French retailer Vivarte has made a start to restructure its burdensome debt pile by entering a four-month conciliation process, the company announced in a statement on Monday, Reuters reported. A mandataire ad hoc was previously appointed to mediate talks between Vivarte and its lenders after Vivarte failed to get agreement from two-thirds of its lenders to suspend loan covenant tests by a deadline of January 22. In response, lenders appointed financial advisory firm Houlihan Lokey.

Non-performing loans are likely to have plateaued at Ireland’s two largest banks ahead of the ECB’s comprehensive review, according to Fitch Ratings. The ratings agency said their latest annual results incorporate some of the observations from the Central Bank of Ireland’s recent balance sheet assessment on loan impairment provisions and risk-weighted assets, leaving them better positioned for the ECB review and well placed to return to sustainable profitability.

German banks are to escape scrutiny of their residential mortgage portfolios in a sweeping review of lenders’ balance sheets by the European Central Bank, even as regulators express concerns over a property bubble in the eurozone’s largest economy, the Financial Times reported. Banks in Germany including Deutsche Bank and Commerzbank do not have to hand over details of loans made to homeowners for the ECB’s asset quality review, which aims to shine a light on eurozone banks’ portfolios, according to people familiar with the process.