European aluminum maker Almatis Holdings BV said it has emerged from U.S. bankruptcy proceedings on Thursday, earlier than initially planned, Reuters reported. "Today after just five months, we conclude chapter 11 proceedings and can focus fully on the growth and further development of our business again," Chief Executive Remco de Jong said in a statement. Almatis had said Sept 20 that it expected to exit bankruptcy by the middle of October. At the time, it received court approval for its reorganization under the control of Dubai International Capital LLC, or DIC.

Greece’s parliament has pushed through legislation that in effect grants a tax amnesty to millions of citizens, in a move at odds with organisations overseeing the country’s bail-out, the Financial Times reported. The law will allow the government to collect about €2bn ($3bn) over the next two years, far short of an estimated backlog of unpaid taxes over the last decade of about €35bn.

Talks with Karstadt's one remaining creditor that filed a complaint against the company's insolvency plan are ongoing, administrator Klaus Hubert Goerg said in a letter to Karstadt staff, holding up Karstadt's sale to billionaire investor Nicholas Berggruen, Dow Jones Daily Bankruptcy Review reported. Originally, Karstadt was to be handed over to Berggruen at the end of September, but the complaint is preventing court approval for the insolvency plan needed to finalize the sale. The talks with the U.K.

The heads of Germany’s largely state-owned Landesbanken have agreed to the need for a radical overhaul and consolidation of their institutions, after talks with finance ministry officials in Berlin, The Irish Times reported. A week after two of the largest Landesbanken, WestLB and BayernLB, agreed to merge and create Germany’s third-largest bank, representatives of the other banks appear open to further mergers before the end of 2011.

The government’s borrowing costs hit a record high again yesterday after two credit rating agencies warned that Irish State debt faces further downgrades, The Irish Times reported. The cost of State borrowing jumped as the yield or interest rate on 10-year Government bonds jumped by a quarter of a percentage point to 6.72 per cent. The bond yields are now trading at levels similar to Greece at the start of April – only a month before the Athens government sought international support.

Ireland's finance minister has warned the failure of Anglo Irish Bank would "bring down" the country, as regulators prepared to reveal Thursday the cost of bailing out the stricken lender, Agence France-Presse reported. Brian Lenihan also pledged to stand behind the bank which will reportedly cost the state some 30 billion euros (41 billion dollars) to rescue, in comments to the Financial Times newspaper. "Any Anglo failure would bring down the sovereign," the finance minister was quoted as saying in the FT.

Tensions over Europe's austerity drive bubbled to the surface across the Continent as protesters hit the streets from Brussels to Madrid and a visiting U.S. official urged Europeans to tread carefully on fiscal belt-tightening, The Wall Street Journal reported. A general strike left much of Spain paralyzed as unions challenged the government's draconian budget cuts and labor-market overhaul. Demonstrations disrupted other European capitals including Brussels, Lisbon, Athens and Dublin.

Dutch life insurance and pension giant Aegon said Tuesday it will have restructured its U.K. operations by the end of 2011 by closing two businesses and cutting senior management jobs, as it seeks to sharply cut costs at the struggling business, Dow Jones reported. Aegon reiterated that it intends to cut costs by 25%, detailing that it will do so by closing its third-party pension administration and employee benefits software businesses and scrapping "a number" of senior management position by the end of next year.

UK-based biogas company Renewable Zukunft folded in the summer, administrators Leonard Curtis confirmed on Tuesday, a collapse key investors Climate Change Capital blamed on confusion over green incentives, Reuters reported. Renewable Zukunft was a manufacturer of anaerobic digesters which generate electricity from burning methane, or biogas, trapped in vats of farm waste including manure, grass and maize. The British government says it favours such technology as a way to manage waste and cut carbon emissions compared with coal and gas-fired power.

A credit union has had to be given access to €4.3m from a bailout fund after a spike in bad debt provisions, it has been confirmed, The Irish Independent reported. Charleville Credit Union in Co Cork has been provided with the guarantee, with the money to be given to it if some of its loans are not recovered within two years. A deficit of €5.5m was recorded after the union was forced to put aside extra provisions for bad debts, due to the severe drop in the value of properties which loans were secured against.