The Karstadt supervisory board announced Tuesday that it had postponed a meeting scheduled for August 21, where executives would have discussed plans for the floundering department store chain's restructuring, Deutsche Welle reported. Chairman Stephan Fanderl said the meeting had not been rescheduled because the board wanted to wait for a decision by German anti-trust regulators on the recent takeover of the 133-year-old retailer by Austria's Signa Group. "We are still determined to start restructuring Karstadt thoroughly and as soon as possible," Fanderl said.

Government investigators in China have found the Mercedes-Benz unit of Daimler, the German automaker, in violation of antitrust price rules, the Chinese state news media reported on Monday. The announcement was the latest in a spate of inquiries over pricing and sales policies that have raised pressure on foreign corporations across China, the International New York Times reported.

In 2012, after years of discussion, Germany introduced new insolvency reforms. Bringing in more control for both debtors and creditors during insolvency proceedings, the reforms helped to improve the legal framework of corporate restructuring in Germany, Economia reported. Two years on, the dust has settled and there are two crucial areas where the benefits have become obvious: Creditors now have the ability to be heard by the courts and can even nominate the insolvency administrator, and debtors are also seeking help more quickly, before serious financial problems arise.

Germany's Strauss Innovation, a chain of small department stores, on Friday said it had found a new owner after having sought court protection from creditors earlier this year to rescue its business, Reuters reported. A creditor committee approved a sale of the company to German investor Muehleck Family Office (MFO), which will provide capital for investment and further growth, Strauss said in a statement. Muehleck will own 100 percent of Strauss and plans considerable investments to modernise the stores, said Jens Bender, an adviser and spokesman for MFO told Reuters.

An important reading on the health of the eurozone economy is expected to show this week that growth stagnated in the most recent quarter as German output faltered, confirming the assessment of many analysts that a lasting recovery remains out of reach for the region, the International New York Times reported. Economists are expecting that in the 18-nation currency bloc, gross domestic product expanded 0.1 percent in the second quarter compared with the first quarter, equivalent to an annual rate of growth of 0.4 percent.

Economic growth is likely to remain weak in Germany over coming months, according to leading indicators released today by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, the Wall Street Journal reported. The Paris-based research body's gauge of future economic activity suggests growth in most developed economies will remain around current rates, with large developing economies making a smaller contribution to global economic growth than they did in the years following the onset of the financial crisis of 2008.

Insolvent project developer Solarstrom has sold the last three projects in its German portfolio with a total capacity of 5MW, PV-Tech.com reported today. The company also confirmed that it is in talks with investors from Asia, Europe and North America about its long-term future. The collapse of equipment suppliers and delays to project sales created a cashflow problem that forced the company into insolvency. With impending project sales in Italy, the firm is optimistic that it will meet its obligations and secure an investor.

Germany’s borrowing costs have fallen to their lowest level on record as Europe’s weak economic recovery persuades the region’s central bank to keep interest rates vanishingly low, the Financial Times reported. The yield on Germany’s 10-year Bunds dropped 2.6 basis points to 1.12 per cent on Tuesday morning. Aside from distortions during the years of hyperinflation in the 1920s, this is Germany’s lowest borrowing rate since the early 1800s. Across Europe, low interest rates have pushed government bond yields down to historic levels.

Germany’s Zweibrücken Airport has announced insolvency, but will continue operations because agreements have been reached with airlines, clients and suppliers, according to several media reports, Air Transport World reported. Insolvency administrator Jan Markus Plathner has been quoted by several German media outlets as saying the collapse of the airport had been avoided, but the search for a potential investor is urgent. Talks with possible investors have already begun. Earlier this year, Germany’s regional Lübeck Airport filed for insolvency.

A group of euro-skeptics that has opposed Germany’s participation in the currency said on Monday that it had filed a lawsuit to block a plan at the heart of efforts to prevent banking crises in Europe, the International New York Times reported. But the suit at the country’s Constitutional Court was given even less chance of success than previous attempts, which created a stir last year by challenging policies intended to prevent disintegration of the eurozone.