Ukraine’s state energy giant on Sept. 24 offered bondholders to swap its $500 million Eurobonds maturing next week for fresh sovereign-guaranteed bonds with a 9.5 per cent coupon and five-year maturity, the Kyiv Post reported. European officials and bankers are closely watching the talks, which are also seen as key to Naftogaz Ukraine's bigger plans – rolling over a total of $1.6 billion in external debts. The cash-strapped company plays a critical role in supplying Europe with Russian gas.

Dutch securities trader Van der Moolen Holding NV said Tuesday the Court in Amsterdam has declared the last three entities of the company bankrupt, Dow Jones reported. This affects Van der Moolen Effectenspecialist BV, Curvalue II BV and Curvalue III. Van der Moolen said Sept. 17 it completed the transfer of its European securities position to Securities and Derivatives Trading B.V., a company which is owned by former employees of Van der Moolen and third-party investors. The court Sept. 9 approved Van der Moolen's request to be deemed insolvent, clearing the way for its liquidation.

The president of a leading European business group has condemned Germany's plan to sweeten the sale of Opel, General Motors' European arm, to a Canadian-led consortium with an offer of billions of euros in subsidies, the Financial Times reported. "We would have been much better off if we had had a structured insolvency. That would have left Opel in Europe in a much stronger position," said Jürgen Thumann, head of BusinessEurope, a pan-European employers' federation.

Iceland's finance minister said British and Dutch objections to proposals for repaying debts of more than $5 billion were only an initial response and all three countries wanted to resolve the issue quickly, according to media reports on Saturday. Iceland owes the two countries the money after they reimbursed savers who had lost money in Icelandic bank accounts during its financial meltdown last year. After an initial agreement to repay the funds, Iceland's parliament attached amendments stipulating limits on the amount that can be repaid and setting a June 2024 expiry date for the agreement.

Britain and the Netherlands oppose a deadline in Iceland's plans to repay savers who lost money held in the island nation's banks when they collapsed, a government official said on Thursday, Reuters reported. A member of Iceland's budgetary committee, who declined to be named, said the two countries would not accept a clause that meant that the repayment guarantee ran out in June, 2024. Iceland's three main banks and its currency collapsed late last year in the global financial crisis. More than $5 billion was lost in Icelandic deposit accounts.

Chinese carmakers are seeking to step into the gaps left by U.S. companies in Europe — but while acquisitions may give them access to badly-needed technical know-how, global brands and exposure to new markets, the question is whether they have learnt from past failures, a Reuters commentary found. With China now the world’s largest car market, it’s no surprise that Chinese carmakers — which have few if any really solid brands within their home market — want to start making more of a mark. In theory, foreign acquisitions offer a quick way to do so.

Ireland's government proposed buying property loans with a book value of €77 billion ($113 billion) from five struggling Irish banks Wednesday, but the country's finance minister said some may still need additional capital, The Wall Street Journal reported. The plan, aimed at restarting stalled lending, faced fierce opposition when it was unveiled by Finance Minister Brian Lenihan in a rowdy session of parliament Wednesday. It is likely to face weeks of debate.

Independent News & Media has issued a fiercely worded attack on its rebel shareholder Denis O'Brien, warning that his "personal antagonism" could scupper rescue talks with its lenders at a critical stage, The Guardian reported. In a combative statement issued to the London and Dublin stock markets late today in response to O'Brien's demand yesterday for a shareholder vote on INM's financial restructuring plan, the board effectively told him to put up or shut up.

Unless government programs for the unemployed are refined, there is a danger that high jobless rates will persist beyond 2010 in advanced economies, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development warned on Wednesday. The international organization said that unemployment among its 30 member nations would rise to nearly 10 percent by the end of 2010, above its previous post-1970 peak of 7.5 percent during the second quarter of 1993, The New York Times reported.

The World Bank yesterday issued its clearest warning to date that development efforts in poorer nations will be derailed without a huge increase in funding for climate change mitigation and adaptation efforts, The Guardian reported. The Bank's annual World Development Report warns that even if the G8 group of industrialised nations achieves its target of limiting global warming to two degrees above pre-industrial levels, the increase in global average temperatures will still result in shrinking levels of GDP for many African and Asian countries.