Germany

The German real estate company IVG Immobilien AG has entered insolvency, but will be allowed to draw up its own refinancing plan in accordance with German law, IP Real Estate reported. In a surprise statement issued to investors and the public on Wednesday, IVG had announced its creditors had not agreed to a refinancing plan after all – contrary to statements from earlier in the month. The parent company of the IVG group, IVG Immobilien AG, has filed for a so-called Schutzschirmverfahren - or protective shield proceedings – introduced by Germany's Bundestag last year.

IVG Immobilien AG (IVG), the German property company that’s lost most of its market value, said it will file for court protection to reorganize 3.2 billion euros ($4.3 billion) of debt after talks with creditors failed, Bloomberg reported. IVG will apply today with the Bonn District Court to initiate a proceeding similar to U.S. bankruptcy reorganization, the company, based in the same city, said in a statement. The procedure protects companies from claims while they try to reach a court-approved agreement.

German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble said Greece will need a third bailout, in the bluntest admission by a top German official that the €246 billion ($328 billion) of international aid loans pledged so far won't be enough to save Greece from bankruptcy, The Wall Street Journal reported. "There will have to be another program in Greece," Mr. Schäuble told an election rally of his Christian Democratic Union party near Hamburg, news agencies reported.

Wiesmann GmbH, a German maker of retro-style luxury sports cars, has filed for insolvency at a local court and said it’s seeking strategic partners and investors, Bloomberg reported. Rolf Haferkamp remains chief executive officer and plans to restructure the company, Wiesmann said in a statement yesterday. Operations will continue at the headquarters and plant in Duelmen. Engines are supplied by Bayerische Motoren Werke AG (BMW), the world’s biggest maker of luxury vehicles.

Solarworld AG Chief Executive Officer Frank Asbeck expects business to improve in the second half as last week’s deal to restructure Germany’s biggest solar-panel maker boosts customers’ confidence, Bloomberg reported. The agreement will see shareholders lose 95 percent of their holdings and bring in a 35 million-euro ($46 million) investment from Qatar Solar S.P.C., Asbeck said today in a letter to shareholders. The restructuring will be completed by the end of this year or early next year, he said. While the solar market remains challenging, the deal “sent out a positive signal,” he said.

German postproduction outfit CinePostproduction has filed for bankruptcy protection, the latest in a long line of VFX houses to go bust as the entire industry struggles to find a workable business model, The Hollywood Reporter reported. The Munich-based company, a subsidiary of the CineMedia group, is one of Germany's largest postproduction firms, with offices in Munich, Berlin, Hamburg, Cologne and Halle.

IVG Immobilien AG, the German property company seeking to restructure 3.2 billion euros ($4.3 billion) of debt, said creditors submitted a proposal that would wipe out most of its share capital. The shares fell as much as 26 percent, Bloomberg reported. Under the proposal, new shares would be issued in a debt-for-equity swap, the Bonn-based company said in a statement on Saturday evening. That would cut its share capital to 0.5 percent of the current value, IVG said.

While the country’s economy is often held up as a model, German banks are among Europe’s most troubled. They required a bailout bigger than the one American banks received, and many are still struggling to recover, the International Herald Tribune reported. But there is remarkably little discussion about fundamentally changing the structure of the German banking system.

Germany's Commerzbank saw its second-quarter profit slide as it continued to take losses on bad real estate and shipping loans - but the company's shares jumped after it said was making progress with its strategy of getting rid of costly non-core assets, the Associated Press reported. It said Thursday that it made a net profit of 43 million euros ($57 million) during the quarter, down 84 percent on the 270 million euros it made in the same period a year earlier.

Insolvent home improvement store chain Praktiker has secured financing to pay suppliers and keep shelves stocked as it seeks an investor, Reuters reported. Praktiker filed for insolvency last month after talks with creditors failed, triggering fears of heavy job losses. Administrators have kept the business running while reviewing options for the chain, a household name in Germany. "We reached an agreement on financing for the supply of goods following intensive negotiations with credit insurers, banks and suppliers," insolvency administrator Christopher Seagon said in a statement on Tuesday.