Italy’s far-right government has approved a budget for next year of about 30 billion euros ($33 billion), which officials say will be partly funded by a levy on Italian banks and insurers, the Associated Press reported. Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said late Tuesday that the government expected to raise some 3.5 billion euros from banks and insurance companies to ensure better public services, especially the country's struggling health service, and help the most vulnerable citizens.
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Sweden’s struggling battery maker Northvolt AB said it’s making progress in talks on a rescue package and is ready to meet its payroll obligations later in the month, Bloomberg News reported. The cash-strapped electric-vehicle supplier continues to “work intensely” on securing new financing, a company spokesman said. It’s also prepared to pay salaries in October, a deadline that typically lands around the 25th of the month in Sweden. “As we have done in the past, we plan to pay taxes and salaries in the future,” the spokesman told Bloomberg in an email.

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A local authority will run out of money before the end of the year without government help, its finance chief has said. Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole (BCP) Council will have to make cuts and savings of more than 10% of its budget to avoid bankruptcy, a BBC investigation has found. Although funding for children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) is not included in the day-to-day budget, it is the council's biggest financial concern. Deputy leader Mike Cox told the BBC that without help the authority would "run out of cash".
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Intrum AB is in talks with holdout creditors to persuade them to sign up to its restructuring proposal, Bloomberg News reported. The Swedish debt collector and its advisers are looking to find a compromise on its debt plan with holders of the majority of its 2025 bonds. Intrum has been trying to win over investors to stabilize an unsustainable debt structure that is facing looming maturities. It already has the support of more than 72% of bondholders who signed up to a binding agreement, exceeding the two-thirds threshold required for a chapter 11 process in the U.S.
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Northvolt is in talks with investors and lenders to secure about 200 million euros ($218 million) in short-term funding, as the Swedish maker of batteries for electric vehicles seeks to stabilise its finances, Reuters reported. The talks have been taking place this week, one of the sources said, adding that the company still aims to raise a larger amount of capital for the long-term. On Friday, Northvolt repeated a statement from Sept. 24 that said it had made significant progress in recent weeks in its effort to raise cash.
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777 Partners, the investment firm that had come close to purchasing Everton, has collapsed. The company’s football assets have all been put up for sale, the Liverpool Echo reported. The Miami-based firm, who had agreed a deal with Blues owner Farhad Moshiri to acquire the club in September 2023 but were unable to complete, have been beset by legal and financial issues that have unraveled in recent months, with the firm’s UK operations to be liquidated following a winding-up order in the High Court.
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The French government unveiled a budget for next year that aims to deliver a €60.6 billion ($66.2 billion) remedy for its creaking public finances and rebuild investor confidence even as it risks eviction by a hostile parliament, Bloomberg News reported. Spending cuts will account for just over two thirds of what Finance Minister Antoine Armand called an unheard-of fiscal effort, with the rest coming from higher taxes on businesses, the wealthy and energy.
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Credit stress among European industrial companies rose during the third quarter to the most since the depths of the pandemic as weaker demand and investment pressures weigh on the sector, Bloomberg News reported. Those companies are facing the highest level of distress since September 2020, according to the Weil European Distress Index, which tracks financial market conditions and company performance. Manufacturing powerhouse Germany remained the country experiencing the most distress among the continent’s major economies, the study by law firm Weil, Gotshal & Manges also said.
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A recent study from Intrum indicates that while the number of businesses experiencing payment delays has slightly decreased compared to last year, the wave of bankruptcies is expected to persist through the fall. The accommodation and food service sectors remain among the hardest hit, but public administration, defense, and mining industries have seen the steepest rise in payment delays. Regionally, the highest concentration of businesses facing financial difficulties is in Northern Savonia and North Karelia.
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