Several possible investors have expressed their interest in German insolvent bookseller Weltbild, a spokesman for its insolvency administrator said, Reuters reported. It was not yet clear how many of them would decide to do due diligence of Weltbild, he said on Monday. Weltbild, owned by the Roman Catholic Church, filed for insolvency last month after failing to keep up with competition from internet-based rivals such as Amazon.com and to obtain new financing.

Germany needs to improve regulation and supervision of financial markets in order to protect investors, including those who have been affected by this month's insolvency of the wind park group Prokon, Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble has said. "It remains the goal of the German government to better regulate and supervise the grey zones of the financial market," Schaeuble was quoted as saying in an advance release from an interview being published in Friday's Handelsblatt newspaper.

Strauss Innovation, a German chain of small department stores, said on Thursday it was seeking protection from creditors to try and rescue its business which has 96 shops across the country, Reuters reported. Strauss, owned by U.S. private equity firm Sun Capital Partners, has suffered from a mild winter hurting sales of cold weather clothing, industry sources said. Earlier this week, German department store Karstadt said its sales fell 3 percent in the key Christmas period, while rival Kaufhof said the mild winter weather had dampened sales of clothes.

German wind park group Prokon's assets and profit-participation rights are attracting possible buyers after it declared insolvency earlier this week. Capital Stage, a Hamburg-based operator of wind and solar parks, is interested in buying some of Prokon's wind parks, a company spokesman said on Friday. "The acquisition of existing parks is part of our business," he said, adding that the group would wait until insolvency proceedings were opened to get in touch with the administrator.

Germany's justice minister has promised tougher regulation of niche investment products after the insolvency of Prokon, a wind park group that lured investors with aggressive ad campaigns on prime-time television, in buses and commuter trains, Reuters reported. The company of 1,300, which operates 50 wind parks in Germany and Poland, had raised 1.4 billion euros ($1.9 billion) by touting profit-participation rights and promises of returns of at least 6 percent a year. Consumer groups had long warned that the company, founded in 1995, was not spelling out the risks to investors.

German wind park group Prokon, which had raised 1.4 billion euros ($1.9 billion) mainly from retail investors, has filed for insolvency, a court in the north German town of Itzehoe saidon Wednesday, Reuters reported. An administrator has been appointed for Prokon Regenerative Energien GmbH, the court said in a statement. The company, which operates 50 wind parks in Germany and Poland and employs roughly 1,300 staff, had raised money by selling so-called profit-participation certificates which were marketed to investors through advertising campaigns on German prime-time television.

German wind park operator Prokon said it had to stop interest payments and would not for now redeem the millions of euros worth of so-called profit-sharing certificates sold to mainly retail investors, as too many were demanding their money back, Reuters reported. "In the current situation we are unable to make repayments or interest payouts," the group's managing director Carsten Rodbertus said in a statement on the group's website on Friday, addressing its 75,000 certificate holders.

Prokon Regenerative Energien GmbH, a German clean-power developer, collected 1.4 billion euros ($1.9 billion) from investors seeking to profit from the booming wind industry. It may now have to file for protection from creditors, Bloomberg News reported. Prokon will be forced to file for insolvency this month if it doesn’t get agreement from almost all investors to delay withdrawals from profit-participation certificates, it said in a statement. The company has sold certificates to more than 75,000 investors, promising returns of 6 percent.

The German state of Bavaria may offer insolvent bookseller Weltbild financial backing to try to avert thousands of job losses, a newspaper cited Bavarian state premier Horst Seehofer as saying, Reuters reported. There are a number of options ranging "from debt guarantees to bridge financing", the Sueddeutsche Zeitung quoted Seehofer as saying on Monday. Weltbild, owned by the Roman Catholic Church and which has 6,300 employees, filed for insolvency on Friday after failing to keep up with competition from Internet-savvy rivals such as Amazon.com (AMZN.O) and to obtain new financing.

European banks battered by the downturn in the shipping market face a tough 2014: the European Central Bank has vowed to make the sector a core focus of its upcoming asset quality review and stress tests, the Financial Times reported. Lenders – in particular German banks – are increasingly seeking innovative ways to reduce their shipping portfolios before the regulator takes over direct supervision of about 130 European banks at the end of the year. Yet there is a sticking point: bankers say it is not clear whether the more creative solutions will be approved under the new regime.