Germany

Insolvent German home improvement store chain Max Bahr is to enter liquidation after talks to sell the retailer to rival Hellweg failed, its administrator said on Friday. Max Bahr's parent Praktiker is already being liquidated after the administrator failed to find a buyer for the whole group. The Max Bahr negotiations were at an advanced stage but collapsed over demands from Royal Bank of Scotland, owner of 66 of the chain's 73 buildings, the administrator said. He added that 3,600 jobs are now at risk.

Germany challenged a central plank of plans to forge a banking union in the euro zone on Thursday, arguing against the use of the currency bloc's funds to help lenders exposed as dangerously weak by health checks next year, Reuters reported. As finance ministers gathered in Brussels to outline plans to deal with banks still in difficulty, Germany's finance minister hardened his stance on the use of the bloc's emergency fund, according to people close to the talks.

Germany's status as Europe’s industrial powerhouse could be damaging the single-currency bloc, the European Commission has said, as it launched a probe into whether the country’s large trade surplus was hindering Europe’s recovery, The Telegraph reported. Europe’s biggest economy was one of three countries singled out for an “in-depth review” by the EC’s Alert Mechanism Report on Wednesday. The Commission said Germany’s large current account surplus, which accounts for most of the eurozone’s positive balance, “may put pressure on the euro to appreciate vis-à-vis other currencies.

Germany's insolvent Hess said on Wednesday auditors found the street light maker's financial accounts for 2007 through 2012 overstated pretax profit by a total of nearly 45 million euros ($60.5 million), Reuters reported. Hess filed for insolvency in February, only months after making its stock market debut, saying a fraud investigation had scuppered its chances of raising urgently-needed funds. It said damages would now have paid to investors, who bought shares in the company based on false accounts.

Distressed debt investor Centerbridge has bought hundreds of millions of euros of Apcoa Parking's leveraged loans in a bid to gain control of Europe's biggest parking management firm, banking sources said on Tuesday, Reuters reported. Lazard and Rothschild are advising Apcoa on a debt restructuring which has to take place before the company's 650 million euros ($875.85 million) of buyout loans mature in April 2014.

A German court started insolvency proceedings for the co-owner of London's landmark Gherkin tower, German property group IVG Immobilien, which will continue to reorganise under its own administration, Reuters reported. IVG plans to submit a plan for its reorganisation to the court prior to Christmas and schedule a vote for its creditor committee in January, the company said on Friday. Should both agree to the plan, which would likely involve a debt-for-equity swap, it could exit the insolvency proceedings in the first half of next year as planned.

Insolvent German home improvement retailer Praktiker has attracted a second offer for its stores, this time for more of the shops, two people familiar with the situation said, Reuters reported. The bid comes as talks over the acquisition of Praktiker's upmarket unit Max Bahr by rival Hellweg are already approaching a final stage. The new bid comes from Praktiker's own management with the backing of a group of funds and would see 175 Praktiker and Max Bahr stores being taken over, the sources said.

Germany’s central bank, the Deutsche Bundesbank, sounded an alarm Monday, warning that urban real estate in the country could in some cases be significantly overvalued, against a backdrop of low interest rates, The Wall Street Journal Real Time Economics blog reported. In a report issued Monday, the Bundesbank said that prices in urban housing markets could be as much as 10% higher than the level suggested by fundamentals, such as demographic and economic factors.

Struggling PV systems supplier, CENTROSOLAR, is seeking creditor protection via the Local Court of Hamburg, PV Tech reported. CENTROSOLAR AG and CENTROSOLAR Sonnenstromfabrik GmbH are seeking to restructure debts under the court's ‘protective shield proceedings’ process and will continue operations during the three-month period allocated under the system. The company said in a statement that Renusol GmbH, CENTROSOLAR America Inc. and CENTROPLAN GmbH were not part of the insolvency proceedings as these subsidiaries were fully financed and were operating profitably or near profitability.

Insolvent German home improvement store chain Praktiker group on Thursday said exclusive talks were under way to sell its upmarket brand Max Bahr stores to rival Hellweg. Praktiker, a household name in Europe's biggest economy, is being sold off piecemeal after the administrator failed to find a buyer for the whole group. "The creditor committee today decided to conduct final negotiations about a takeover with the Hellweg bidder consortium," Praktiker said in a statement that cited Max Bahr's insolvency administrator.