One day after agreeing to a $115.5 billion rescue package, Portugal was forced to offer higher interest rates on its debt, spurring fears that, as in Greece and Ireland after their aid deals, financing costs in the country will continue to escalate, the International Herald Tribune reported. While all three countries will benefit in the short term from the loans coming from the European Union and the International Monetary Fund, their ability to continue to raise affordable short-term funds from international investors is considered crucial.

New statistics released by InsolvencyJournal.ie reveal that April evidenced no respite in the number of corporate insolvencies, with 162 appointments recorded during the month. The total number of corporate insolvencies for the first four months was 558, an increase on the same period last year of 3%. April saw a marked increase in both Creditor’s Voluntary Liquidations (21% increase on March) and Receivership appointments (55% increase on March), a trend which is expected to continue.

The Bundesbank’s new hawkish president Jens Weidmann said private investors should help cover costs of the euro zone crisis, the Irish Times reported. Mr Weidmann promised a continued “stability culture” at the German central bank after taking over yesterday from outgoing president Axel Weber. “To put the currency union back on a solid footing, the rules have to be formulated so that national finance (players) and private investors are, in principle, prepared to answer for the consequences of their decision,” said Dr Weidmann, an economist and former student of Prof Weber.

Lloyds Banking Group PLC Tuesday said it has put a package of distressed commercial real-estate loans on the market, stepping up its asset-disposal program to boost its balance sheet in line with other U.K. banks, Dow Jones Daily Bankruptcy Review reported. The portfolio, code-named Flagstaff, comprises some 38 assets including office, retail, leisure and industrial space, all of which were in receivership. It is the first time a package of individual assets in receivership has been aggregated.

The US Justice Department sued German giant Deutsche Bank Tuesday for more than $1 billion for mortgage fraud, saying the bank illegally obtained government insurance for substandard mortgages during the US housing boom, Agence France-Presse reported. Deutsche Bank and its subsidiary MortgageIT "repeatedly lied to be included in a government program to select mortgages for insurance by the government," the Justice Department complaint said.

Portugal has reached agreement with the European Union and International Monetary Fund on a three-year bailout loan of 78 billion euros or about $116 billion, the caretaker Prime Minister Jose Socrates said on Tuesday, the International Herald Tribune reported on a Reuters story. Portugal’s government collapsed last month, sparking a sharp rise in borrowing costs that forced Lisbon to become the third euro zone country to seek a bailout after Greece and Ireland. Mr.

Britons with billions of pounds hidden in Switzerland will pay tax at 50 per cent under a groundbreaking deal that will legitimise their undeclared assets, according to a source familiar with negotiations between the Swiss and British governments, the Financial Times reported. The agreement, which is expected to be announced this month, marks a shift in emphasis in the international crackdown on tax havens. Over the past two years, the focus has been on lifting bank secrecy and exposing evaders.

Developers Ray and Danny Grehan have until the close of business tomorrow to repay debts of €650 million owed by their Glenkerrin Group or Nama will place the group back into receivership, the Irish Times reported. At midnight on Friday, the State assets agency stood down the statutory receivers that had been appointed to Glenkerrin earlier in the week. Control of the properties was returned to Glenkerrin on Saturday morning. A spokesman for Nama said the agency had acceded to a request from Glenkerrin for additional time to respond to Wednesday’s developments.

Saab Automobile AB said Monday it has agreed to a strategic partnership with China's Hawtai Motor Group, just hours after Saab owner Spyker Cars NV secured EUR30 million ($44.6 million) in short-term funding that will enable the Swedish company to restart production, Dow Jones Daily Bankruptcy Review reported.

Italy's market watchdog Consob is to speed up its examination of the offer prospectus filed by French dairy group Lactalis for Italian rival Parmalat, Consob's head said in an newspaper interview on Sunday, Reuters reported. "We will examine it (the prospectus) rapidly, even before the legal timeframe limit," Giuseppe Vegas was quoted as saying in La Stampa. Under Italian law Consob has 15 days to look at a takeover offer but can ask for more time if it needs further information. Lactalis filed documents with Consob on Friday.