Russian President Vladimir Putin has authorised Armenian investment fund Balchug Capital to buy shares in nine major companies owned by Goldman Sachs' Russian subsidiary, a decree published on Wednesday showed, Reuters reported. Balchug Capital was given the green light to purchase Goldman Sachs' subsidiary in Russia in January, according to a separate decree, paving the way for the U.S. bank to withdraw from the Russian market and extract some capital stranded there.

U.K. retailer Select Fashion has reportedly collapsed after closing 35 stores last month and left staff without redundancy pay or owed wages, PA Media reported. It is understood that insolvency firm Moorfields has launched a wind down of the womenswear chain after a creditors’ meeting was held last Friday to approve a voluntary liquidation. The group had already shut 35 shops in mid-March having quietly trimmed down its estate since the start of the year.

The annual rate of inflation in the eurozone edged closer to the European Central Bank’s target last month as the currency area’s unemployment rate fell to a fresh record low, the Wall Street Journal reported. Consumer prices were 2.2% higher in March than in the same month last year, an inflation rate that was down from 2.3% in February, the European Union’s statistics body said Tuesday. Services inflation fell markedly to 3.4% over the month, from 3.7% in February, pointing to cooling in an area where prices had previously continued to rise rapidly.

Hydrogen-powered truck manufacturer Quantron has relaunched following insolvency, after a period of “critical reflection, process optimisation and strategic realignment,” H-2View.com reported. Last October, the German OEM filed for insolvency, due to growing debts and delays in paying employee wages. Workers feared that the company was headed for bankruptcy. During insolvency, Quantron maintained core operations with a reduced team of 40, ensured wage payments through pre-financing, and launched a structured sales process to attract investors and secure long-term stability.

Thames Water, the financially stricken utility which has been teetering on the edge of insolvency, is set to be taken over by KKR, the American private equity group, The Times reported. KKR has been selected as a preferred bidder by the Thames Water board for its offer to take control of the shares of the utility in return for what was an original offer of a £4 billion cash injection. The offer envisages creditors taking significant writedowns in their exposure to Thames near-£20 billion of gross debt.

Bankrupt battery maker Northvolt AB will continue to operate in Sweden with a staff of 1,700 while its remaining employees will be laid off, Bloomberg News reported. “Despite significant reductions, it is positive that the business can continue to some extent, which is likely crucial to enabling a full or partial sale of the business,” Northvolt’s bankruptcy trustee, Mikael Kubu, said in an emailed statement.

Germany's Finance Minister Joerg Kukies warned on Friday that U.S. tariffs would hit both the German and the U.S. economies and that Berlin was working to prevent an escalating trade war, Reuters reported. Kukies made the statement to Reuters after meeting his U.S. counterpart, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, and other members of the Trump administration in Washington.

Language translation and AI tech business TransPerfect has acquired the France-based studios of The Mill and MPC, two global VFX brands that were owned by parent Technicolor, which abruptly shut down in February amid financial difficulties, Variety reported. According to TransPerfect, it retains the estimated 120 employees from these operations. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Swansea University’s Bay Campus on the outskirts of the Welsh city was expected to attract a wave of new fee-paying students to boost revenue after the government squeezed funding to the sector. These days, it’s more of a millstone after overseas enrollments failed to grow as much as expected, a symbol of the wider financial problems facing universities across the U.K., Bloomberg News reported. It takes 30 minutes by bus from the city center to reach the campus, which looked bleak last Friday with almost empty bike racks and fenced-off construction machinery.

Germany's labor market showed new signs of stress as unemployment rose sharply in March, marking the steepest monthly increase since October 2024, DW.com reported. The number of jobless individuals rose by 26,000 in seasonally adjusted terms, bringing the total to 2.92 million, the Federal Labor Office reported on Friday. The figure more than doubled analysts' forecasts of an increase of 10,000. The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate climbed to 6.3%, up from 6.2% the previous month — also slightly above market predictions.