Germany

What’s in a word? A lot when it comes to the term “liquidity.” For years, academics, investors and regulators have sparred over the meaning of liquidity, and the degree to which it’s said to have deteriorated in the marketplace, Bloomberg News reported. For many, it’s simply the ability to sell an asset without significantly affecting its price. To others it’s the hallmark of a healthy market, or the symptom of a disease brought on by “easy money” provided by central banks in the years since the financial crisis.

Lufthansa and several other parties had put in bids for parts of Air Berlin by the deadline of Friday set by the administrator of the insolvent airline which employs more than 8,000 people, Reuters reported. Germany’s second-biggest airline after Lufthansa filed for bankruptcy last month after major shareholder Etihad Airways withdrew funding following years of losses. The country’s coalition government led by Chancellor Angela Merkel, who is seeking a fourth term in a federal election on Sept.

Volkswagen will recall 4.86m vehicles sold in China over airbag problems, marking the latest blow for the German carmaker that has suffered numerous quality and distribution issues in the Asian country this year. VW will recall vehicles equipped with airbags manufactured by the now-bankrupt Japanese automotive parts maker Takata, according to a notice posted by China’s consumer inspection bureau, the Financial Times reported. The recall will apply to both imported and Chinese-made vehicles sold as early as 2005 and take effect in March 2018.

A new vehicle linked to Lars Windhorst has raised a €500m bond intended to help the flamboyant German financier settle outstanding lawsuits and repay existing debts, as he tries to keep his heavily indebted business empire afloat, the Financial Times reported. Over the past 18 months Mr Windhorst has been engaged in legal battles involving at least €220m with several investors — including Ukrainian-born billionaire Len Blavatnik — over amounts owed under financing agreements in his complex web of funding vehicles.

German Labour Minister Andrea Nahles said on Wednesday it is “completely unacceptable” for pilots at Air Berlin to put the airline’s fate at risk by calling in sick in unusually high numbers, Reuters reported. Air Berlin, Germany’s second-biggest airline, is set to be carved up, most likely among several buyers, with binding offers due this Friday. “I think Air Berlin is in a decidedly difficult situation at the moment and the pilots, with their behavior, are putting at risk a reasonable handover or sale. That is unacceptable,” Nahles told Reuters in a television interview.

Former motor racing driver Niki Lauda will table an offer for parts of insolvent airline Air Berlin together with Thomas Cook’s German carrier Condor, Lauda told Austrian newspaper Kurier on Wednesday. Lauda holds 51 percent of the consortium which will bid for 21 Airbus A320 and A321 planes of Air Berlin’s subsidiary Niki - formerly owned by Lauda - as well as 17 additional aircraft flying under the Air Berlin banner, according to Kurier’s online edition.

Insolvent German airline Air Berlin has attracted buyer interest from China’s LinkGlobal Logistics, which is likely to join a growing list of suitors, German newspaper Bild said on Wednesday. The paper said LinkGlobal, which operates German regional airport Parchim, expressed its intention of making a bid to the airline’s administrator in a letter dated Aug. 31 from LinkGlobal’s managing director Jonathan Pang, Reuters reported. LinkGlobal pledged to hand in a bid by the Sept. 15 deadline, according to the letter, a copy of which Bild said it had obtained.

A sick-out by Air Berlin Plc pilots is threatening an immediate grounding of the insolvent airline, Bloomberg News reported. “What happened today massively jeopardizes the entire insolvency proceedings,” Frank Kebekus, the airline’s general representative appointed by a court, said in a statement Tuesday. “Unless the situation changes in the short term, we will have to end operations and all efforts to reorganize.” Air Berlin canceled some 100 flights after about 200 of its 1,500 pilots said they were unfit to fly, with many notifying their employer just before their scheduled departures.

German aviation investor Hans Rudolf Woehrl late on Sunday said a company controlled by his INTRO Group had submitted a 500 million euro ($600.70 million) offer to buy insolvent Air Berlin, Reuters reported. Air Berlin, Germany’s second-largest airline, filed for bankruptcy protection in August, spurring interest from several buyers seeking to snap up about 140 leased aircraft and valuable take-off and landing slots in Germany.

Insolvent German airline Air Berlin may drop more long-haul routes next week to cut costs as it races to find investors before it runs out of cash, people familiar with the matter said on Friday. Air Berlin, Germany’s second-largest airline, was forced to file for bankruptcy protection last month after shareholder Etihad Airways withdrew funding following years of losses. Its planes are kept aloft thanks to a 150 million euro ($180.7 million) government bridge loan, which will last only until the middle of November at the latest, Reuters reported.