Russia’s Sukhoi Civil Aircraft company – the maker of the Sukhoi Superjet (SSJ) – has accumulated $2 bn in debt and failed to meet its credit obligations. The problem needs to be settled by the year end, otherwise the company will default, RT.com reported. Sukhoi Civil Aircraft is now more than $600 million in debt to the State Corporation Bank for Development and Foreign Economic Affairs (Vnesheconombank), with an additional $300 million unsettled to related parties, Kommersant daily reports.

Praktiker AG, the German home-improvement chain formerly owned by Metro AG, filed for insolvency after the sale of a division collapsed, and said it will focus on restructuring the business, Bloomberg reported. Units that own the Praktiker and Extra-Bau+Hobby stores and online outlets applied at Hamburg’s local court for protection from creditors, the Kirkel-based retailer said today in a statement. The Max Bahr chain won’t be affected by the insolvency move, it said.

Europe’s long-running economic troubles have been, for the most part, confined to the feeble countries of Europe: Greece, Spain, Portugal and Italy. But more and more they are coming home to roost in France, raising questions about whether one of the Continent’s biggest economies may become the next sick man of Europe, the International Herald Tribune reported. By many measures, France is already moored in malaise.

Portugal’s government almost disintegrated last week but has now managed to shore up its support, bringing some calm to the country’s bond market. But the political chaos could still have far-reaching implications, the Financial Times reported. Its chances of regaining full market access now look much slimmer. That means the country will need more money from its troika of international lenders. But that could lead to a debt restructuring – potentially upsetting the tentative peace that the European Central Bank has brought to the continent’s bond markets.

The debts of Spanish fishing firm Pescanova were more than double what it stated when it entered insolvency proceedings in April, the company said on Wednesday citing a KPMG audit, making it one of Spain's biggest ever bankruptcies, Reuters reported. Pescanova's debt was 3.3 billion euros ($4.2 billion) at the end of December, the company said. This compares with the 1.5 billion euro debt mentioned in the company's insolvency filing. The former management of Pescanova acted to conceal the company's true debt position for many years, the audit said.

Cash-strapped Seat Pagine Gialle (SPG) said on Wednesday an Italian court had admitted the Italian yellow pages publisher to a "composition with creditors" procedure, which is similar to Chapter 11 bankruptcy, Retuers reported. A meeting of creditors to give their final green light to the company's debt restructuring proposals is scheduled for Jan. 30, 2014, the company said in a statement. The board of SPG approved at the end of June a debt restructuring proposal intended to reduce its consolidated debt by about 1 billion euros ($1.3 billion).

Germany swiftly rejected the European Commission's proposal for a single authority to wind down failing euro-zone banks Wednesday, signaling a rift between the European Union's executive and its biggest economy over the next step in exiting the region's debt crisis, The Wall Street Journal reported. The proposal on bank resolution—the so-called "single resolution mechanism"—announced Wednesday was to form the second pillar in the euro-zone's banking union project which aims to sever the toxic link between troubled euro-zone banks and their sovereigns.

Praktiker AG (PRA), a German home-improvement retailer, said it’s considering insolvency for itself and units after some of its creditors didn’t approve more financing. Excessive debt and lack of liquidity are reasons for declaring insolvency, the company said in a statement today. Alternative financing became necessary after the company failed to sell a stake in Luxembourg-based unit Batiself SA because the buyer’s board didn’t approve a deal, Praktiker said. Proceeds from a sale had been “firmly included” in the retailer’s financing plan from last year, it said.

Sean Dunne’s biggest creditors were blocked from questioning the bankrupt developer at a meeting in the US following a new legal complaint filed against him by the National Asset Management Agency, the Irish Times reported. Mr Dunne appeared at a second creditors’ meeting in Connecticut Wednesday but avoided questions from Nama and Ulster Bank as his lawyers said that a legal complaint filed by the State loans agency prevented him from answering them.

In Seoul's upscale Gangnam neighborhood, made famous by pop star Psy's viral music video, government curbs on real-estate lending froze a market in which home prices had been rising as fast as 25% a year, The Wall Street Journal reported. In Toronto, housing prices reversed their rapid rise and fell for five months after the government changed rules to effectively increase monthly payments on new loans.