Germany's biggest cable network provider Kabel Deutschland Holding AG said Tuesday it is interested in buying assets from peer PrimaCom AG, which may face insolvency. PrimaCom has 700,000 to 800,000 customers in the area where Kabel Deutschland operates, a Kabel Deutschland spokeswoman told Dow Jones Newswires. Germany's three major cable network companies, Kabel Deutschland, Unitymedia--a unit of Liberty Global inc.

Caught between a populace resistant to more austerity measures and investors demanding budget cuts and more flexible labor markets, the Spanish government is finding it increasingly difficult to keep a grip on power, The New York Times reported. Last week, the government of José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero narrowly won approval for an extra 15 billion euros, or $18.4 billion, in spending cuts — in an effort to bring the budget deficit down to 6 percent of the national economic output by 2011, from 11 percent last year. With labor unions and business leaders at loggerheads, Mr.

A restructuring deal at General Motors' loss-making European carmaker Opel was signed into effect on Monday, aimed at saving 265 million euros ($325 million) in annual wage costs through 2014, labour leader Klaus Franz said. After drafting a master agreement on May 21, European union and workforce representatives from countries hosting Opel's major manufacturing plants also signed the deal with Opel Chief Executive Nick Reilly, Reuters reported.

Switzerland suffered the highest rise in bankruptcy proceedings in ten years in 2009, according to the Federal Statistics Office, swissinfo.ch reported. The number of proceedings opened against businesses or individuals rose to around 11,600, up eight per cent on 2008 - a “marked increase”, the office said on Monday. In addition, 2.5 million formal notices to pay were issued, just over two per cent more than in the previous year. All regions saw a rise in bankruptcies, but Italian-speaking Ticino, financial centre Zurich and central Switzerland suffered the largest increases.

In the latest indication that European banks are in ill health, the European Central Bank warned late Monday that euro-zone banks face €195 billion ($239.26 billion) in write-downs this year and the next due to an economic outlook that remained "clouded by uncertainty,” The Wall Street Journal reported. The ECB news, part of its semiannual financial-stability report, comes on the heels of a campaign by governments and central banks to ease sovereign-debt problems in southern Europe. The efforts have failed to calm worries that a banking crisis may be forming on the Continent.

A German court on Monday postponed its ruling on the insolvency plan of German department store chain Karstadt to next week as the search for a new investor is taking longer than expected, Reuters reported. The district court in Essen had initially planned to rule on Monday whether Karstadt's insolvency plan was viable, but postponed its decision to June 10 after a committee of Karstadt's creditors said it needed more time to assess bids. The committee originally wanted to pick an investor on Friday, but then moved the date to June 9.

Former Bundesliga club Arminia Bielefeld stand on the brink of financial ruin after the East Westphalian city rejected a rescue plan, ESPN reported. Bielefeld, who were relegated to the second division last year and failed to make an immediate return to the top flight, had sought a financial injection of almost €5 million from the city, but they failed to win a majority vote in favour of the plan on Thursday. That leaves the club, who earlier this week appointed former Germany international Christian Ziege as their new coach, on the verge of being declared bankrupt.

There is one word that must not be uttered in this town: Restructuring, The Wall Street Journal’s Brussels Beat blog reported. When it comes to the €110 billion they've pledged to Greece, officials of the European Union and the International Monetary Fund insist that a debt default by the bedraggled country is beyond contemplation. "Let's be very concrete and precise," EU President Herman Van Rompuy said last week. The Greek package "does not include any provisions for debt restructuring." But even if Mr. Van Rompuy won't talk about it, private economists sure will.

A decision about the future of insolvent German department store chain Karstadt could take longer than expected due to a lack of suitable offers, the insolvency administration said on Thursday. This makes it less likely that the committee will decide on a buyer on Friday as initially planned because it first has to assess the various offers, which may take longer than Friday. European buyout firm Triton and billionaire Nicolas Berggruen are still in the race to acquire the department store chain, that belonged to retail and tourism group Arcandor until it filed for insolvency last year.

Mortgage arrears at Irish banks rose 13 per cent in the first three months of the year, the Financial Regulator said today. At the end of March, 32,321 residential mortgages with a value of €6.1 billion were more than 90 days behind in payments, The Irish Times reported. This equates to more than 4 per cent of the total of 791,000 property loans in the State, which are worth a total of €118 billion. Some 2.8 per cent of mortgages, or €4.1 billion, were more than 180 days behind.