Germany

Fashion retailer Adler Modemärkte AG is ready to be acquired by Berlin-based logistics company Zeitfracht, which has made a name for itself by acquiring a bankrupt company, Eminetra.com reported. Zeitfracht will provide urgently needed new capital to companies in Haibach near Aschaffenburg. Adlermode explained that the deal could take effect after the bankruptcy proceedings scheduled for early July begin. The Adler fashion chain, which specializes in fashion for people in their 50s and above, filed for bankruptcy in January.

Europcar Mobility Group has rejected a bid from Volkswagen AG valuing the auto-rental firm at about 2.2 billion euros ($2.6 billion), Bloomberg News reported. A consortium led by the German carmaker offered about 44 euro cents per share for Europcar earlier this month. Europcar, which is controlled by a group of hedge funds, views the proposal as too low. Investment firm Attestor Ltd. and Dutch transport conglomerate Pon Holdings BV are among the bidding group, the people said.

German lawmakers presenting a report Tuesday into the collapse of the payment processing company Wirecard accused the country's finance minister and auditors Ernst & Young of numerous oversight failings, the Associated Press reported. Wirecard filed for protection from creditors through insolvency proceedings last year after admitting that 1.9 billion euros ($2.3 billion) supposedly held in trust accounts in the Philippines probably didn’t exist. The company’s former chief executive, Markus Braun, is being investigated on suspicion of criminal fraud.

German Finance Minister Olaf Scholz is targeting 99.7 billion euros ($114 billion) in additional borrowing next year to bolster the country’s recovery from the coronavirus pandemic, Bloomberg News reported. The projected new debt represents a 22% increase from the 81.5 billion euros foreseen in an earlier federal budget plan, according to two senior government officials, who asked not to be identified in line with protocol. The borrowing would take the total for this year and next to more than 340 billion euros. German bonds fell, with 10-year yields rising two basis points to minus 0.18%.

Lufthansa wants to repay state aid it received during the pandemic before Germany's federal election in September if possible, the airline's chief executive said on Friday, Reuters reported. "We were one of the first companies to be rescued by the federal government. We also want to be one of the first companies to pay back the rescue funds - hopefully before the federal election. We are working on that," Chief Executive Carsten Spohr told an aviation conference.

A group of creditors that bought Etihad Airways PJSC-linked bonds are preparing to auction $463 million of claims against insolvent airlines Alitalia and Air Berlin to recover some of their investment, Bloomberg News reported. The trustee of bonds issued by EA Partners I and II -- two special purpose entities set up by the Abu Dhabi-based carrier -- hired Barclays Bank Plc to arrange the sale, according to a statement. Potential buyers will be able to access documentation on June 21 and the auction will take place within two weeks, it said.

The liquidator of a Kildare company linked to a Germany property group which collapsed, resulting in losses of up to €107 million for Irish investors, has criticised delays he is experiencing in getting key information as he investigates the firm’s affairs before it was put into wind-up, the Irish Times reported. Hanover-based German Property Group (GPG), formerly known as Dolphin Trust, collapsed last year after taking €1.5 billion from investors in the Republic, the UK, Asia and elsewhere since it was set up by businessman Charles Smethurst in 2008.

The European Union on Wednesday launched proceedings against Germany over a ruling by the top German court last year on a European Central Bank bond-buying program that broke with a verdict from the EU’s own top court, the Associated Press reported. Brussels says that “constitutes a serious precedent.” Germany’s Federal Constitutional Court in May last year gave the ECB three months to prove that its key bond-buying program was justified and appropriate.

A lack of semiconductors, timber and other intermediate goods drove an unexpected fall in German industrial output in April, a further sign that massive supply bottlenecks are hampering the recovery in Europe's largest economy, Reuters reported. The Federal Statistics Office said industrial output dropped 1.0% on the month after a downwardly revised increase of 2.2% in March. A Reuters poll had pointed to a 0.5% rise in April. The drop in the headline figure was driven by a decrease in consumer goods production of more than 3% and a plunge in construction activity of more than 4%.

The auditor of Greensill Capital’s German bank withdrew its certifications of the failed lender’s 2019 annual accounts after allegations of irregularities, Bloomberg News reported. Ebner Stolz, a Stuttgart, Germany-based auditing firm, informed the bank’s insolvency administrator on April 23 about the step, according to a filing published on Friday in Germany’s Bundesanzeiger, the federal gazette for company disclosures. Greensill Bank was shuttered by German financial regulator BaFin in March as the lender’s parent company, founded by Lex Greensill, collapsed.