Germany

Following its bankruptcy filing a few weeks ago, PV specialist Gehrlicher Solar AG could have a new investor, RenewableEnergyFocus.com reported. This is according to preliminary administrator Oliver Schartl of the Munich law firm Müller-Heydenreich Beutler & Kollegen. “I see very good prospects of being soon able to sell Gehrlicher Solar America Corporation to an investor,” said Schartl. Discuussions of the search for an investor supported by a German and US M&A consultancy firm are already at an advanced stage, he reports.

Siemens AG (SIE)’s credit rating was downgraded by Fitch Ratings, which cited an accelerating decline in the company’s margins in the most recent quarter and “insufficient progress” on restructuring measures, Bloomberg reported. The long-term debt of Europe’s largest engineering company was cut to A from A+ with a stable outlook, Fitch said today in a statement. That’s the sixth-highest investment grade. Munich-based Siemens’s appointment of Joe Kaeser as Chief Executive Officer is a “positive development,” it said.

IVG Immobilien AG (IVG) is examining whether it qualifies for a court-supervised restructuring after the debt-laden German real estate company’s creditors failed to offer an alternative by yesterday’s deadline, a person with knowledge of the matter said, Bloomberg reported. IVG hired a law firm that will determine whether the Bonn-based company meets the criteria for a “Schutzschirmverfahren,” Germany’s equivalent of the U.S. Chapter 11 bankruptcy, said the person, who asked not to be named because the information is private.

The insolvency administrators of German DIY store chain Praktiker have stepped up the search for an investor by appointing Macquarie as advisor, they said on Tuesday, Reuters reported. The administrators hope that by finding an investor they can secure as many jobs and stores as possible at the group, which has around 20,000 full and part-time employees. The group filed for insolvency earlier this month for the Praktiker-branded units, but spared its more successful Max Bahr chain.

As many as 4,000 jobs could be lost at German home improvement retailer Praktiker and its Max Bahr chain following insolvency filings, Bild reported on Saturday, citing the group's deputy board chairman, Reuters reported. "That's a shocking number," the newspaper quoted deputy supervisory board chairman Ulrich Kruse as saying. About a dozen Praktiker stores could shortly be closed, mainly shops that were about to be converted to the Max Bahr brand which traditionally had better profit margins, Wirtschaftswoche reported, without citing the source of the information.

German home improvement retailer Praktiker said on Thursday insolvency proceedings would be filed for its Max Bahr units in Germany after a trade credit insurer stopped providing insurance coverage to suppliers, Reuters reported. A company statement said the application would be made "shortly" with a court in Hamburg on grounds of over-indebtedness and lack of liquidity. It said the Praktiker group's international operations remain unaffected by the insolvency proceedings. Read more.

Loewe, the last major manufacturer of high-end television sets in Germany, is fighting for survival in a sector increasingly dominated in recent years by Asian rivals, The Sun Daily reported. Ironically, it is also hoping that its saviour would hail from Asia, the very region which is at the root of many of its current woes. Asked by the weekly magazine Der Spiegel whether Loewe will still exist in 12 months' time, the group's chairman Matthias Harsch replied: "That's the question I ask myself every morning.

Chinese state-controlled firm AVIC is to buy the commercial business of German aircraft engine maker Thielert, banking on a surge in demand for diesel plane engines in China and other emerging markets, Reuters reported. AVIC and Thielert, which filed for insolvency more than five years ago, did not provide financial details of the deal announced on Tuesday.

Deutsche Bank AG is accelerating plans to reduce the size of its balance sheet amid persistent concerns among regulators and investors on both sides of the Atlantic that the bank is carrying too much risk, the Wall Street Journal reported today. Deutsche Bank plans to increase its so-called leverage ratio, which measures the capital base against total assets, to 3 percent by 2015, by shedding assets and retaining earnings. The bank is required to meet the target by 2018. Most analysts put Deutsche Bank's current leverage ratio at around 2 percent, one of the lowest among major banks.

U.S. private-equity firm Kawa Capital Management Inc. agreed to take over Conergy AG, once Germany’s biggest solar company, two weeks after the Hamburg-based company filed for bankruptcy, Bloomberg News reported on Friday. The transaction, due to be completed in the second half of August, will focus on Conergy’s main brand and most global sales and service activities, Conergy said. Conergy and its domestic counterparts are under pressure as subsidies for renewable energy fall at home and competition from China depresses margins and panel prices.