Officials from cash-strapped Italian flagship carrier Alitalia SpA. will travel to Moscow next week to sound out Aeroflot's about an alliance, a person close to Alitalia said on Saturday, The Wall Street Journal reported. The person, who spoke on condition of anonymity, confirmed local news reports about the visit but didn't elaborate. Aeroflot wasn't immediately available for comment. Alitalia is looking for partners and Italian Transport Minister Maurizio Lupi said the government will consider others apart from Air France-KLM, AF.FR -3.80% which has a 25% stake in the carrier.

A German court started insolvency proceedings for the co-owner of London's landmark Gherkin tower, German property group IVG Immobilien, which will continue to reorganise under its own administration, Reuters reported. IVG plans to submit a plan for its reorganisation to the court prior to Christmas and schedule a vote for its creditor committee in January, the company said on Friday. Should both agree to the plan, which would likely involve a debt-for-equity swap, it could exit the insolvency proceedings in the first half of next year as planned.

Portuguese lawmakers on Friday approved an unpopular austerity package for next year, as the country seeks to regain investor confidence to exit its €78 billion ($105 billion) international bailout in June, The Wall Street Journal reported. Outside parliament, several thousand people protested against what will be another year of sharp spending cuts and high taxes. But there are signs of fatigue among protesters, and demonstrations have been small in recent weeks.

Against expectations, the number of company liquidations in England and Wales has fallen by 2.6% over the past three months, the latest statistics from the Insolvency Service reveal, Economia reported. There were 3,875 compulsory liquidations and creditor’s voluntary liquidations during Q3 2013, which is also down by 2% when compared to the same quarter in 2012. Individual insolvencies were also down by 7.3% on the same period last year but up slightly when compared to Q2. The numbers rose from 25,717 to 26,030 in Q3.

Royal Bank of Scotland is expected to confirm on Friday that it is to create a “bad bank” with more than £30bn of assets following a review of its operations ordered by the Treasury, The Telegraph reported. The taxpayer-backed lender is set to say that a new internal, but separately managed, bad bank is being established to deal with the legacy of its toxic assets - the least disruptive of three break-up options being looked at for the bailed-out bank.

Insolvent German home improvement retailer Praktiker has attracted a second offer for its stores, this time for more of the shops, two people familiar with the situation said, Reuters reported. The bid comes as talks over the acquisition of Praktiker's upmarket unit Max Bahr by rival Hellweg are already approaching a final stage. The new bid comes from Praktiker's own management with the backing of a group of funds and would see 175 Praktiker and Max Bahr stores being taken over, the sources said.

The economic recovery in the euro zone is feeble. Employment continues to suffer. And the patient is likely to be getting around on crutches for months if not years to come. That was essentially the prognosis from two key economic indicators published Thursday and from economists assessing the latest conditions, The International New York Times reported. The number of people out of work in the countries using the euro currency rose slightly in September, while inflation fell more than expected — both signs of a weak economy.

Air France-KLM, the French-Dutch airline, said Thursday that it had written off the entire value of its 25 percent holding in its partner Alitalia, raising doubts that it will take part in a plan to inject 300 million euros into the struggling Italian flag carrier, The International New York Times reported.

The Dutch financial services group ING said on Wednesday that it would pay 1.13 billion euros ($1.55 billion) to the Dutch government in November as it moves closer to repaying the state aid it received during the financial crisis, The New York Times DealBook blog reported. As of its next payment on Nov. 6, ING will have repaid €8.5 billion in principal of the €10 billion it received from the Dutch government in 2008, plus an additional €2.8 billion in interest and premiums.

Czech wagon manufacturer Legios filed for insolvency on October 28, owing around CKr 220m ($US 11.7m) the VUB bank and more than CKr 300m to other creditors, IRJ reported. The company suspended payments of obligations in June 2013, but has reportedly been in financial difficulty since 2010, when police launched a criminal investigation into allegations of tax evasion. It is claimed that Legios made a false purchase of wagon components worth CKr 588m in order to claim a VAT rebate of CKr 111m from the state.