Germany

A group of Rickmers Holding AG’s bondholders have raised concerns regarding the German shipping firm’s restructuring, The Wall Street Journal reported. The criticism comes weeks after the Rickmers’s owner agreed to cede control of the shipping company to creditors to stave off an insolvency filing. The restructuring, if approved by creditors, would see HSH Nordbank AG, bondholders and possibly another bank take a 75.1% stake in exchange for debt forgiveness. Rickmers’s current owner, Bertram R.C. Rickmers, would be let with a 24.9% stake.

No debt relief measures are being readied for Greece, Germany's Finance Ministry said on Thursday after the Handelsblatt business daily reported measures were under consideration, the International New York Times reported on a Reuters story. The implementation of reforms that Greece agreed to in return for aid would help ensure the sustainability of the country's debt, the ministry said in a statement e-mailed to Reuters. "No debt relief is being prepared," it added.

The business year 2016 and the first quarter 2017 at airberlin were dominated by the transition to a new business model at the airline, Aviation Tribune reported. Structural issues of the old business model and high restructuring costs have impacted the reporting periods. airberlin CEO Thomas Winkelmann said: “Old airberlin’s indistinct market position, the strongly season-dependent route network and the high operating costs have together led to highly unsatisfactory financial results. The new strategy we launched in autumn 2016 is a major step to turn around the airline’s fortunes.

Air Berlin reported a record net loss of 782 million euros (654.10 million pounds) in 2016 as well as a widening loss in the first quarter of 2017, and said it was seeking new partners as it battles to revive its fortunes, the International New York Times reported on a Reuters story. Air Berlin, 29 percent owned by Abu Dhabi-based Etihad, is already undergoing a restructuring that will see its fleet halve to about 75 aircraft and a focus on network flights rather than the tourist flights to Spain for which it became famous.

The German government believes an interest rate increase by the European Central Bank (ECB) would help to reduce Germany's often-criticised export surplus, the Funke Mediengruppe newspaper chain reported Wednesday. The newspaper cited an eight-page paper prepared by the German finance and economics ministries which Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble plans to present at the spring meeting of the International Monetary Fund later this week, the International New York Times reported on a Reuters story. Schaeuble is a longtime critic of the ECB's current ultra-low interest rate policy.

Private equity firm Blackstone has reached an agreement in principle to hand over control of German outdoor brand Jack Wolfskin to a group of its lenders in a debt for equity swap, sources close to the situation said. Under the terms of a lender-led debt restructuring plan, lenders will write off €80 million and reduce Jack Wolfskin’s debt to €210 million from €330 million (178.44 million pounds) and inject €25 million into the business in return for ownership, one of the sources said.

Aurelius Equity Opportunities shares plunged for a second day after executive rebuttals of Tuesday’s allegations from short seller Gotham City Research failed to soothe wary investors, Bloomberg News reported. Aurelius tumbled a record 35 percent to 35 euros in Frankfurt trading. The plunge follows a 17 percent decline yesterday after Gotham published a 68-page report questioning the company’s accounting. The stock is worth no more than 8.50 euros, the short seller said yesterday.

Aurelius Equity Opportunities shares plunged for a second day after executive rebuttals of Tuesday’s allegations from short seller Gotham City Research failed to soothe wary investors, Bloomberg News reported. Aurelius tumbled a record 35 percent to 35 euros in Frankfurt trading. The plunge follows a 17 percent decline yesterday after Gotham published a 68-page report questioning the company’s accounting. The stock is worth no more than 8.50 euros, the short seller said yesterday.

Deutsche Bank AG has been offering attractive financing terms to help investors and other banks buy soured mortgages, a bid by the German lender to help fulfill terms of its recent $7.2 billion mortgage settlement with the U.S. government, according to people familiar with the matter, The Wall Street Journal reported. The reason: Deutsche can get credit toward the settlement if it helps others buy troubled loans and those parties then provide relief to the borrowers, the people said.

They don’t call it the Schatz for nothing. The term — market parlance for German two-year debt — means ‘darling’ in its native language. Little wonder, then, that this pocket of the eurozone government bond markets has become the centre of an intense love affair. Having fallen as low as minus 0.95 per cent in February, yields on the beloved debt now stand at a still eye-popping minus 0.84 per cent, the Financial Times reported. Buyers are clearly willing to wear a substantial nominal loss on this cherished asset.