For Northvolt AB, the Swedish startup that became a poster child for Europe’s electric-driving future, the route to collapse started in June when BMW AG canceled a multi-billion-dollar order, Bloomberg News reported. Back then, few saw the significance of the move, which effectively started a countdown that would culminate in a Chapter 11 filing less than six months later. Northvolt scrambled to keep the financing flowing, but as Germany’s car industry fell deeper into its own crisis, it became clear orders would dry up.

The French government offered to buy Atos SE’s advanced computing assets for as much as €625 million ($653 million) after an earlier offer from the state expired, Bloomberg News reported. The non-binding bid gives the business an enterprise value of €500 million and may include additional payments based on future earnings, the company said in a statement on Monday. The offer, which expires in May, includes Atos’s artificial intelligence business as well as its supercomputers, which are used by researchers, the nuclear power industry and the military.

The sports equipment manufacturer Le Coq Sportif has been placed under judicial restructuring proceedings by the Paris Commercial Court, FashionUnited.uk reported. "Le Coq Sportif is relying on this procedure to respond to the challenges facing the brand while protecting its 330 employees and hundreds of indirect jobs," parent company Airesis said on Friday. The troubled company said in October that it was looking for "financing solutions".

Business confidence in Germany slipped this month, amid mounting pressures on the country’s industrial base, alongside concerns raised by the fracture of its governing coalition and the threat of U.S. trade tariffs, the Wall Street Journal reported. The Ifo Institute said Monday that its business-climate index fell to 85.7 in November from 86.5 last month, the fifth fall in six months. The reading also lagged economists’ expectations of 86.1, from a poll compiled by The Wall Street Journal.

Northvolt's CEO and co-founder Peter Carlsson stepped down on Friday, a day after Europe's biggest hope for an electric vehicle battery champion filed for U.S. chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, Reuters reported. The Swedish maker of battery cells went in a matter of months this year from being Europe's best shot in a vital industry for the energy transition to racing to stay afloat, hobbled by production problems and dwindling funds. Its collapse deals a big blow to Europe's hopes of reducing its auto industry's reliance on Chinese battery suppliers such as CATL and BYD.

Eurozone business activity declined this month as the threat of higher duties on exports to the U.S. exacerbate political uncertainties at home, according to surveys released Friday, the Wall Street Journal reported. With businesses cutting payrolls for a fourth straight month, the European Central Bank is likely to extend its series of rate cuts and may accelerate their pace. The euro fell to a near two-year low against the U.S. dollar following the release of the surveys, a sign that investors see an increased likelihood of faster rate cuts.

The Biden administration told Congress it plans to cancel $4.65 billion in debt owed by Ukraine, according to a letter obtained by Bloomberg News, the latest in a series of moves meant to bolster support for Kyiv before President-elect Donald Trump takes office, Bloomberg News reported. The White House will cancel half of a $9 billion loan delivered to Ukraine as part of a $60 billion supplemental package approved in April.

European Central Bank monetary policy must remain restrictive given lingering inflation risks, according to Governing Council member Robert Holzmann, Bloomberg News reported. With wage gains in parts of the region still too strong and geopolitics posing threats to price stability, a return of inflation to the 2% target isn’t fully assured, the Austrian official said Thursday in an interview in Vienna. Similarly, while an interest-rate cut in December is the most likely outcome, it isn’t certain, he said.

The Republic of Estonia-owned Nordic Aviation Group AS (Nordica) and Regional Jet OÜ (Xfly) will cease operations after it was announced the companies will be filed for bankruptcy, Aerotime reported. It had been hoped that Lars Thuesen, the owner of Jettime, could potentially take the companies private but on November 18, 2024, Nordic Aviation Group, which runs Nordica and Xfly, were informed that he would not be investing. “Nordic Aviation Group and Xfly have gone through a challenging path over the past 15 months since the airline began its turnaround process in August 2023.

Sweden’s Northvolt AB hired restructuring expert Paul O’Donnell to oversee its main factory unit, as time runs short for the struggling battery maker to mend its finances outside of bankruptcy court, Bloomberg News reported. O’Donnell, who has helped Thames Water engage with creditors, will become chairman of Northvolt Ett AB, the subsidiary that contains the flagship cell-manufacturing plant in northern Sweden. Northvolt has struggled to raise $300 million in emergency funding, with Bloomberg News reporting on Friday that talks on the package were on the verge of collapse.