Ukrainian state energy firm Naftogaz, battered by higher gas import prices and the country's deep recession, said on Monday investors in its $500 million Eurobond had agreed to its restructuring terms, Reuters reported. The company, often at the centre of energy rows with Russia that have previously led to supply cuts to Europe, wants to swap its entire foreign debt -- including the Eurobond -- for a new 5-year issue worth $1.65 billion. Bondholders gathered in London in Monday after weeks of consideration and overwhelmingly approved the new terms.

Attempts to rescue Quelle, the German mail order company founded in 1927, have failed and it now looks set to be liquidated, causing the loss of thousands of jobs, Spiegel Online reported. No investor could be found after parent company Arcandor filed for insolvency in June. The news has shocked the retailer's workforce. Quelle's parent company, Arcandor, filed for insolvency in June after its request for state aid was rejected.

DSB Bank NV's Chief Executive Dirk Scheringa on Monday called for a parliamentary investigation into the role played in its collapse by the Dutch finance ministry and Dutch central bank, Dow Jones reported. Scheringa said he may appeal the Amsterdam court's decision to declare DSB Bank bankrupt following a run on deposits. He claimed that the finance ministry and central bank disregarded a new business model DSB Bank wanted to launch, funded by a one-time government loan of €100 million.

Legal fees on the administration of Lehman Brothers in Europe have hit $112 million (£68.4 million) in the year since the bank's collapse, Legal Week reported. The figure is contained within a progress report from administrator PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), which covers all payments relating to the bank's collapse for the year ending 14 September. The report also shows that the fallen bank's administrators earned $238 million (£145 million ) in fees over the year, and that average hourly rates for advisers have fallen from £329 to £309.

The German government said Monday it is hopeful of overcoming European Union worries about General Motors Co.'s deal to sell its Opel subsidiary to a Canadian-Russian consortium, and argued that there was no need to review the bidding process, The Associated Press reported. EU Competition Commissioner Neelie Kroes last week voiced concern over Germany's plans to provide €4.5 billion ($6.7 billion) to support the takeover of Opel by Canadian auto parts maker Magna International Inc. and Russian lender Sberbank.

Iceland said on Sunday it had agreed to a new deal to repay Britain and the Netherlands billions of dollars of deposits lost when the island's banks collapsed in 2008, paving the way for new aid from international lenders, Reuters reported. Iceland passed a law in August to repay money lost in high-interest "Icesave" accounts, but Britain and the Netherlands balked at the terms, holding up aid from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and other lenders for the island's stricken economy.

The European Commission voiced concern Friday over Germany's planned aid for a consortium led by Canadian-based Magna International to take a majority stake in carmaker Opel and suggested that General Motors Co. be allowed to "reconsider" the deal, The Canadian Press reported. Germany offered aid worth US$6.7 billion to support the deal, and hopes other European countries that have Opel plants will contribute to that financing. Adam Opel GmbH has its headquarters in Ruesselsheim, Germany.

Argentina, hoping to sell bonds on international markets again, is trying to clean up the fallout from its $100 billion debt default in 2001 and 2002, Reuters reported. In 2005, the government asked investors to accept steep losses on Argentine bonds, a proposal rejected by about a quarter of bondholders. Argentina has not been able to issue debt on global markets since the default, partly because of lawsuits from so-called holdouts who rejected the restructuring.

Latvia's halting austerity program and its proposal to modify mortgages are causing "another wave of distrust" to roll over the Baltic nation, the central bank said Wednesday, issuing a warning for the country hit hardest by economic strains across Europe, The Wall Street Journal reported. The criticism came as a government bond auction failed to attract buyers, and worries about the Latvian economy weighed on the currencies of Sweden -- whose banks are Latvia's major lenders -- and other countries.

Iceland, the U.K. and the Netherlands are closer to agreeing to loan terms for Iceland to repay the massive losses by foreign depositors in the collapsed Icesave Internet bank, said Iceland Finance Minister Steingrímur Sigfússon, The Wall Street Journal reported. "I feel there is a real will now to move ahead," said Mr. Sigfússon, after what he described as good meetings on the issue with his British and Dutch counterparts at the International Monetary Fund's annual meeting in Istanbul. He said the situation in the U.K.