Six French companies, led by oilseed group Sofiproteol, submitted a joint offer on Thursday for debt-burdened poultry group Doux, which went into administration in early June, threatening 3,400 workers and 800 farmers in France, Reuters reported. Family-owned Doux, one of the world's biggest poultry exporters, has been weighed down by debts of 340 million euros ($423 million) and administrators had launched a call for bids, with a deadline on Thursday ahead of a commercial court hearing on July 16.

France’s socialist government announced a big one-off increase in wealth taxes on Wednesday, by far the biggest single element in a €7.2bn package of new levies aimed at meeting this year’s budget deficit target that also included surcharges on banks and energy companies, the Financial Times reported.

The administrators of debt-burdened French group Doux, one of the world's biggest poultry exporters, have extended a deadline for takeover bids by three days to July 5, a Doux spokesman said, as interest increased in buying the company, Reuters reported. The family-owned firm went into administration at the start of June with debt of 340 million euros ($423 million), putting at risk 3,400 staff and about 800 poultry farmers in France.

Credit Agricole said it would make almost 1.9 billion euros ($2.37 billion) available to French local governments with the help of its insurance arm, which will finance most of the loans through investment funds, Reuters reported. The 1.875 billion euros arrangement is the latest sign of how capital-starved banks are looking to do deals with insurers, many of whom are looking for new ways to invest funds after being hit with a massive drop in investment returns since 2008.

Two statements last week following the four-way summit in Rome between the German, French, Italian and Spanish leaders capture the essence of the euro crisis and show why a solution is as far away as ever, The Wall Street Journal reported.

Debt-burdened French poultry group Doux, which collapsed into administration earlier this month, is seeking a buyer to take over the entire business and ensure its survival, one of its administrators said on Friday, Reuters reported. Regis Vaillot said in a statement that the administrators wanted to avoid a breakup of the company and would also remain open to a possible refinancing of the group, which is 80 percent owned by its founder, Charles Doux.

Air France announced more than 5,000 job losses under a cost-cutting plan on Thursday, creating a political headache for new President Francois Hollande, Reuters reported. The cuts at the French flag carrier, part of the loss-making Air France-KLM Group, come as the world's airline industry grapples with limited growth prospects, rising costs and fallout from the euro zone debt crisis. But Hollande's Socialist government, in place since last month, has pledged to counter rising unemployment by making it prohibitively expensive for companies to lay off workers.

France is pressing the EU to adopt a financial stability package to stem the eurozone crisis, believing negative market reaction to the €100bn bailout of Spain’s banks shows the need for more comprehensive action, the Financial Times reported. Ahead of the EU summit due on June 28, Paris is set to propose a package of measures to put the European Central Bank in charge of bank supervision and to use the European Stability Mechanism, the new €500bn eurozone rescue fund due to come into force next month, to recapitalise banks directly.

Crédit Agricole SA is making contingency plans to abandon its Greek bank or merge it with a conglomerate of domestic banks in the event of Greece leaving the euro zone, according to a person with direct knowledge of the plans, The Wall Street Journal reported. The admission offers the starkest evidence yet of international companies preparing for the worst in Greece, just days ahead of elections that could set it on a path to leave the currency union.

France, Belgium and Luxembourg, which own Dexia, the lender that is being broken up, have agreed to boost state guarantees to the ailing bank by €10bn to €55bn, it was disclosed on Wednesday, the Financial Times reported. The decision followed Monday’s meeting between Pierre Moscovici, France’s new finance minister, and his Belgian counterpart, Steven Vanackere, in Brussels. The European commission “temporarily approved” the €10bn increase in guarantees “in order to preserve financial stability”.