Germany

In a related story, Bloomberg News reported that Ryanair Holdings Plc said it’s “genuinely interested” in bidding for insolvent Air Berlin Plc and called on the German company to involve it in the sale process. Ryanair could buy all or part of Air Berlin but has so far been ignored by the ailing carrier, according to Chief Executive Officer Michael O’Leary, who said Wednesday he’s concerned the company will be handed to Deutsche Lufthansa AG in an anti-competitive, all-German deal.

Everybody is good at something. Air Berlin has shown skill at losing money, doing so at the operating level for eight of the past nine years. Last week, Germany’s second-largest airline filed for insolvency after its largest shareholder Etihad, the UAE-based carrier, halted financial support, the Financial Times reported. National champion Lufthansa looks to have the inside track on buying up Air Berlin. Already the former has bought planes from Air Berlin, leasing them back, thereby making the flag carrier a creditor.

Lufthansa has received more German government support in its bid to take over substantial assets of insolvent rival Air Berlin, with German Economy Minister Brigitte Zypries saying she would welcome such a move, Reuters reported. "Lufthansa is already an aviation champion - its position can be strengthened further though," she was quoted saying by German daily Handelsblatt on Monday. However, a spokesman for the ministry later attempted to play down the remarks, saying it had no preferred bidder. Industry rivals have voiced concerns at the way the insolvency process is being handled.

Air Berlin has spoken with more than 10 parties interested in parts of the insolvent carrier and expects its assets will be divided up amongst two or three buyers, its chief executive told a German paper, Reuters reported. Talks began on Friday on carving up Air Berlin, which said on Tuesday it was filing for insolvency. German flag carrier Lufthansa was first in the queue for meetings, ahead of other potential bidders.

A first round of formal talks for the sale of insolvent German airline Air Berlin's assets will be held with its bigger local rival Lufthansa on Friday, ahead of other prospective bidders, a senior labour union official said. "Only Lufthansa will initially be part of the talks ... As far as I know, the other bidders will be invited for talks afterward and then an overall package will be put together," said Lufthansa's deputy chair Christine Behle, who represents labour union Verdi on the company's supervisory board.

Solarworld, a former stock market darling that became one of the biggest casualties of Germany’s ill-fated solar boom, has been resurrected from insolvency with the help of investors from Qatar, the Financial Times reported. The company has agreed to sell its key assets — including its two manufacturing plants in Germany — for about €100m to a Qatari-German joint venture set up by Frank Asbeck, the founder of Solarworld, and Qatar Solar Technologies. The new company, Solarworld Industries, was formally unveiled in Berlin on Thursday.

Air Berlin's chief executive blamed long delays in the opening of a new Berlin airport for the German airline's insolvency in an interview published by Germany's Die Zeit, Reuters reported. "Air Berlin is also a victim of the constant postponements of the new airport," the weekly newspaper on Wednesday quoted Thomas Winkelmann as saying. Winkelmann's comments came a day after Air Berlin, Germany's second-largest airline, filed for bankruptcy protection after key shareholder Etihad Airways withdrew funding following years of losses.

Air Berlin Plc filed for insolvency after leading shareholder Etihad Airways PJSC withdrew its financial support, marking the second failure of a major European airline in four months after the Persian Gulf carrier pulled the plug on funding Italy’s Alitalia SpA in May, Bloomberg News reported. While Air Berlin, which has 8,600 staff, will continue flying with the help of a government loan likely to last it until mid-November, Tuesday’s filing puts German jobs at risk weeks before German Chancellor Angela Merkel stands for re-election.

Almost one in five German companies has had their bank trying to charge negative interest rates — meaning they would have to pay the lender for the privilege of keeping their money on deposit, the Financial Times reported. The findings of a survey by Ifo, the Munich-based think-tank, shows the widespread effect of the European Central Bank’s ultra-low interest rate policy on the corporate sector in Germany, the eurozone’s economic powerhouse.

Industrial output in Germany contracted by 1.1 per cent in June compared to May – its biggest drop of the year and defying expectations of growth in a weak end to the quarter for a sector which accounts for nearly a third of the country’s economy. Official figures from Destatis show factory output also fell back on a year on year measure from 5 per cent to 2.4 per cent growth in June, the Financial Times reported. An average forecast from analysts pointed to a 3.7 per cent climb.