Germany

German fish processor and distributor Hagenah has entered the preliminary stage of an insolvency process, after failing to recover from a fire at the end of 2012, undercurrent news reported. The company, which has 145 employees and is the largest of its type in Hamburg, had been profitable for many years, said Tjark Thies, partner of the law firm Reimer Rechtsanwalte, appointed as the provisional insolvency administrator.

To reunite Germany, the West German government would set in motion the beginnings of a massive transfusion of financial and social subsidies and within a year make whole a country divided for some 40 years, The Wall Street Journal reported. It required restructuring Europe’s postwar political order to allow for the annexation of a bankrupt state and a collapsing economy, an audacious undertaking that left economists wondering if it could even be done.

German exports tumbled 5.8 per cent in August compared with July – the biggest drop since the peak of the global financial crisis in January 2009. The economy now risks slipping into recession in the third quarter, and the government has already lowered its growth forecasts for 2014 and 2015, the Financial Times reported. Those developments are unsettling a Germany corporate sector that has been a robust counterweight to the gloom in much of Europe ever since it staged a rapid recovery from the 2009 crisis, thanks to booming emerging market demand for machinery, chemicals and autos.

The European Central Bank’s investigation of the eurozone’s largest lenders is raising further concerns over the future of German publicly owned Landesbank HSH Nordbank, as its bloated shipping portfolio comes under intense scrutiny, the Financial Times reported. Germany’s largest shipping lenders, including HSH Nordbank, NordLB and Commerzbank, will see their shipping assets written down by between 10-20 per cent in the ECB’s stress tests, according to bankers familiar with the investigations.

Pilots of German carrier Deutsche Lufthansa AG will go on strike again Monday and Tuesday in their continuing dispute over retirement benefits, The Wall Street Journal reported. The pilots union, Vereinigung Cockpit, said in a statement the strike will start at 11:00 GMT on Monday and would end at 21:59 GMT on Tuesday, and would affect Lufthansa’s Airbus 320 family, Boeing 737 and Embraer planes. Lufthansa said about 1,450 flights will be canceled on Monday and Tuesday because of the strikes. More than 200,000 customers will be affected by the walkout, the company added.

eeply subordinated debt issued by German Landesbanken lost as much as six points in the past week as investors factored in the possibility that debt issued by banks that fail Europe's coming stress tests will suffer painful haircuts, Reuters reported. HSH Nordbank, Munich Hypo and Nord/LB are just some of the banks investors are nervously watching as they prepare for the worst when the European Central Bank (ECB) releases the results of its bank health check later this month.

Germany and France have tapped a prominent economist from each country for policy advice to counter “the risk of a lost decade in Europe” in an attempt to bridge the growing divide between the two countries over how to revive flagging economic growth in Europe. German Economics Minister Sigmar Gabriel and French Economy and Industry Minister Emmanuel Macron recently solicited help from French economist Jean Pisani-Ferry and Henrik Enderlein, lecturers at the Berlin-based Hertie School of Governance, in separate letters seen by The Wall Street Journal.

A drop in German exports added to a string of ugly data for Europe’s biggest economy, suggesting Germany’s growth has faltered and the country might even be in a shallow recession, The Wall Street Journal reported. German exports in August fell 5.8% from the previous month, data released on Thursday showed, the biggest monthly decline since the 2009 recession. The slide in exports came after poor readings for German manufacturing orders and factory output, and added to the gloom surrounding Europe’s economic outlook.

German property company IVG Immobilien has started looking for a buyer for its office and hotel building The Squaire as it seeks to offload legacy assets after emerging from insolvency last month, its chief executive said. IVG became insolvent after being weighed down by debt and cost overruns. The Squaire, which sits perched on top of the train station at Frankfurt airport, has been one of its most problematic assets. "We are taking The Squaire to the market. We have been in talks with potential investors since September," Ralf Jung told Reuters in an interview published on Thursday.

Factories in Britain and Germany suffered a sharp slowdown in September, raising fears that economic recovery is losing momentum against a backdrop of global political turmoil and the flagging eurozone economy, The Guardian reported. In the UK growth in manufacturing activity was the slowest in 17 months as demand for British goods waned at home and abroad. In Germany, long the powerhouse of the eurozone, the sector shrank for the first time in 15 months, hit by Russian sanctions over the Ukraine crisis and general malaise across the economies of the currency bloc.