The High Court has ordered the winding up of developer John McCabe’s main trading company in the Republic following a petition from a creditor that has been pursuing the business for eight months, the Irish Times reported. Following a petition from MCR Personnel, the court ordered that McCabe Builders Ltd be wound up and appointed Kieran Wallace of KPMG as liquidator. Last autumn, the National Asset Management Agency appointed Jim Hamilton and David O’Connor of BDO as receivers over the company’s properties, in effect giving them control over it.

Greece's crisis-ravaged economy is beginning to turn the corner in its sixth year of recession, while the country's efforts to mend its public finances could allow it to return to financial markets as early as next year, the country's finance minister said. In weekend newspaper interviews, Yannis Stournaras said "The worst is over" for Greece, The Wall Street Journal reported. He added that the country has pushed through two-thirds of the overhaul measures needed to narrow chronic gaps in the government budget.

Brussels is increasing efforts to clamp down on tax avoidance by wealthy investors, including private equity partners and hedge funds, by forcing all 27 EU members to share confidential information on individuals’ investment income and capital gains for the first time, the Financial Times reported.

Liquidators for Scottish Coal, KPMG, said on Friday they were in talks regarding the possible sale of parts of the business, Reuters reported. The company ran out of cash last month, putting 600 jobs at risk and closing mines that are major suppliers to Britain's power stations. "Over the last few days we have been in discussion with a variety of parties who have expressed an interest in the business or more precisely certain parts of it," accountancy firm KPMG said. No names were disclosed.

Ireland has resolved a standoff with international lenders over the timing of so-called "stress tests" of its bailed-out banks that threatened to cloud its exit from an EU-IMF rescue deal at the end of the year, four sources close to the matter said, the Irish Times reported. The government has agreed the tests - aimed at gauging banks' resilience to economic shocks - could take place ahead of a Europe-wide exercise, in line with the European Union and International Monetary Fund's desire for the banks to be checked before the end of Ireland's sovereign bailout deal in December.

Portugal plans to avoid the threat of needing another bailout by making another 4.8 billion euros ($6.3 billion) in cuts over the next three years, with measures including raising the retirement age by one year to 66 and laying off around 30,000 government workers, the prime minister said Friday, the Associated Press reported. Pedro Passos Coelho announced the proposals in a prime-time televised address to the nation. Portugal received a 78 billion euro rescue in 2011 after overspending, heavy debts and weak growth left it close to bankruptcy amid the eurozone's financial crisis.

Italy is likely to join the elite club of euro-zone countries not subject to fiscal sanctions, but Rome has no room to loosen its purse strings to boost economic growth, international officials said on Thursday, The Wall Street Journal reported. Italy brought its budget deficit to 3% of gross domestic product last year, which makes it likely that Rome will exit the European Union's strictures on its policy as long as it can show how the achievement is sustainable, European Commission President José Manuel Barroso said in Brussels after meeting with new Prime Minister Enrico Letta.

A Lithuanian court began bankruptcy proceedings against Ukio Bankas AB at the request of the central bank, which shut the Kaunas-based lender in February because of risky loans to related parties, Bloomberg reported. Kaunas District Court today also issued a decree naming the firm Valnetas UAB as Ukio’s bankruptcy administrator, the court said on its website. The decisions may be appealed within 10 days, according to the statement. Ukio was Lithuania’s fourth-largest bank by deposits when it was closed.

Tax havens such as Bermuda and the Cayman Islands will work more closely with Britain and other European countries to fight tax evasion, British finance minister George Osborne said Thursday, the Irish Times reported. With governments in most advanced economies short of tax revenue after the financial crisis, pressure has been growing on small territories with big banking sectors to lift bank secrecy and do more to combat tax dodging and money laundering.

Throughout Europe's debt crisis, northern European leaders have often said they will not stand for taxpayers having to fork out for other countries' problems, and the notion of "taxpayer-funded bailouts" has taken root, Reuters reported in an analysis. Yet despite three-and-a-half years of debt and banking turmoil, with bailouts totalling more than 400 billion euros, northern euro zone taxpayers have not actually lost a cent.