Windreich AG, Germany's largest developer of offshore wind farms, has filed for insolvency and its chief executive has stepped down after financing talks for a 400 megawatt (MW) project stalled. The company made its filing with a German court late last week and now its CEO Willi Balz, who also owns the group, has resigned effective immediately, Windreich said in a statement late on Monday. "In talks with our investors it became clear that a change in management was a prerequisite for the successful continuation of talks," Windreich's new chief Werner Heer said.

Cyprus is having its worst economic downturn since the 1970s and that's bad news not only for Cypriots but also for Germans and other eurozone members, United Press International reported. Fears over what German taxpayers may have to do next to bail out Greece are already an election issue as German Chancellor Angela Merkel seeks a third term in Berlin's Bundestag parliament elections Sept. 22. Greek and Cypriot economies are so interlinked that Greek economic troubles are seen behind the crisis that forced Cyprus to seek EU help in return for a crushing austerity program.

Insolvent German home improvement store chain Praktiker, a household name in Europe's biggest economy, will be dismantled and sold off piecemeal after its administrator failed to find a buyer for its remaining 130 outlets, Reuters reported. The stores, which have about 5,330 employees, will start a clearance sale in the coming weeks so their empty shells can be sold off individually, Praktiker's insolvency administrator Christopher Seagon said in a statement on Wednesday.

Dublin-based Depfa Bank is to be sold off by its Munich-based parent, Hypo Real Estate, five years after both were rescued from collapse by a German state-backed guarantee. Depfa, based in the IFSC, plays no active role in the HRE group under the terms of a 2008 rescue plan that resulted in the property group’s nationalisation in 2009. A well-placed source confirmed to the Irish Times that a plan would be announced shortly to hive off the Irish institution in an auction, six years after it was bought by HRE.

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.