Thames Water suffered a major setback in its fight to avoid nationalisation on Tuesday as it said U.S. private equity firm KKR had pulled out of a multi-billion pound rescue plan, Reuters reported. Britain's biggest water supplier has been pushed to the edge by its 18 billion pound ($24.35 billion) debt pile, and was banking on KKR investing about 4 billion pounds in new equity to effectively buy the company. The government has said that it is on standby in case Thames Water fails to recapitalise and needs to be temporarily nationalised in order to keep services running.

Helaba and other German lenders have paid millions of euros in recent weeks to settle claims by the administrator of former real estate tycoon René Benko’s Signa Prime Selection AG, the Luxembourg Times reported. Helaba paid €26 million at the end of May as part of an out-of court settlement, Signa Prime’s insolvency administrator said in a report to creditors dated Monday. Other payments include €3 million received from Deutsche Pfandbriefbank AG and €2.1 million from Bayerische Landesbank.

An escalation of the US trade war would pose a “substantial risk” of losses for Danish banks, which are heavily exposed to export-driven industries, the Nordic country’s central bank warned, Bloomberg News reported. Danish lenders are particularly vulnerable to further trade tensions through their exposure to manufacturing firms as a large share of industrial exports goes to the US either directly or indirectly, Nationalbanken said in a financial stability report released Tuesday.

Euro zone inflation eased below the European Central Bank's target last month on surprisingly benign services costs, underpinning expectations for further policy easing even as global trade tensions fuel longer-term price pressures, Reuters reported. Consumer price inflation in the 20 countries sharing the euro slowed to 1.9% in May from 2.2% a month earlier, below expectations for 2.0% on a fall in energy prices and a sharp decline in services inflation.

Ukraine has incurred a sovereign credit default after electing not to make payments owed Monday to holders of $2.6 billion of its debt securities, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported.

The number of bankruptcies filed in Finland rose for the fourth consecutive year, with 333 filings recorded in April 2025, according to data from Statistics Finland. The figure is 38 higher than in April 2024, the Helsinki Times reported. The construction industry recorded the sharpest rise, with 87 companies filed for bankruptcy. Those firms accounted for 299 full-time equivalent jobs now under threat. The second most affected sector was services, which includes areas such as finance, real estate, education, and entertainment.

The number of bankruptcies in Sweden continues to tick higher as the uncertainty surrounding tariffs weighs on consumers’ willingness to spend, Bloomberg News reported. In May, 906 limited liability companies were declared bankrupt, up 3% from the same month a year ago, according to data compiled by credit reference agency Creditsafe i Sverige AB. The year-to-date figure of 4,616 bankruptcies is on par with last year’s tally. Read more.

Swiss solar panel maker Meyer Burger filed for insolvency for its German subsidiaries, the company said in a statement on Saturday, Reuters reported. Meyer Burger's German subsidiaries, Meyer Burger (Industries) GmbH and Meyer Burger (Germany) GmbH, have initiated insolvency proceedings, the company said. Efforts to keep the German sites open will be continued as part of the proceedings together with a provisional insolvency administrator to be appointed by the court.

Three community centres are to be handed back to a city council after the charity running them announced it was folding, BBC.com reported. The Newcastle Community Asset Trust (NCAT) managed community hubs in Fawdon, Cowgate, and Blakelaw, with the latter also housing a post office which had to temporarily close. The charity blamed rising costs, reduced funding and the long-term impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic for its "painful" decision. Newcastle City Council confirmed all three centres would remain open and "accessible to tenants and residents as normal".

The downturn in euro zone manufacturing eased further in May, coming close to stabilisation as production increased for the third consecutive month and supported by a near-stabilisation in demand, a survey showed on Monday, Reuters reported. The HCOB Eurozone Manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index rose to 49.4 in May from 49.0 in April, marking a 33-month high and in line with a preliminary estimate but remaining below the 50.0 threshold separating growth from contraction.