IVG Immobilien AG, the German company that plans to restructure 4 billion euros ($5 billion) of debt, said its first-quarter loss widened as the value of its properties fell, Bloomberg reported. The net loss swelled to 45.1 million euros from 4.6 million euros a year earlier, the company said in a statement today. The value of IVG’s properties dropped by 42.5 million euros. IVG, once Germany’s largest commercial property company by market value, has shed about 96 percent of its share price since 2008 following a series of writedowns in its property values and difficulties repaying debt.

German companies have joined opposition to the introduction of a tax on financial transactions in Europe, warning of severe damage to businesses in the eurozone’s largest economy, the Financial Times reported. Blue-chip companies, including Bayer and Siemens, said they faced tens of millions of euros in costs from the tax and complained of burdens such as lower returns on the pension schemes they run for employees.

For six months Heinrich Traublinger did not manage to fill a vacancy at his bakery near Munich. For about the same length of time, Daniel Henares was looking for work after being laid off from the tyre factory where he worked near Barcelona. Now Mr Henares has begun a new life as a German baker in what amounts to a small step towards solving one of the continent’s most glaring imbalances.

Throughout Europe's debt crisis, northern European leaders have often said they will not stand for taxpayers having to fork out for other countries' problems, and the notion of "taxpayer-funded bailouts" has taken root, Reuters reported in an analysis. Yet despite three-and-a-half years of debt and banking turmoil, with bailouts totalling more than 400 billion euros, northern euro zone taxpayers have not actually lost a cent.

Debt-laden SolarWorld is close to securing financial backing from a Qatari investor, its chief executive said on Thursday, the second major move in a week in its efforts to get back on its feet. "We will publish the size of the potential stake at the extraordinary general meeting," Frank Asbeck, nicknamed the "sun king" by solar industry media, told Reuters on Thursday, declining to name the investor.

NordLB's, one of the world's top ten ship financiers, expects the shipping industry to have passed its darkest hour, though provisions will remain high this year as the sector's recovery is slow, Reuters reported. "There are signs that we have passed the cyclical low point in shipping markets," Chief Executive Gunter Dunkel said at the state-owned lender's annual press conference on Tuesday, adding that he did not expect the crisis to end in the near term.

Troubled German regional lender HSH said it had cut its exposure to bad shipping loans by persuading struggling debtors to transfer ownership of some vessels to U.S.-listed shipping company Navios, Reuters reported. The deal, unveiled on Monday, may provide a blueprint for the financing of ships that are insolvent and a way for the Hamburg-based lender to cut its 9 billion euro ($11.7 billion) portfolio of bad ship loans, which has already forced it to seek state aid.

NordLB's, one of the world's top ten ship financiers, expects the shipping industry to have passed its darkest hour, though provisions will remain high this year as the sector's recovery is slow, Reuters reported. "There are signs that we have passed the cyclical low point in shipping markets," Chief Executive Gunter Dunkel said at the state-owned lender's annual press conference on Tuesday, adding that he did not expect the crisis to end in the near term.

German lawmakers approved a rescue for Cyprus as Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble warned that refusing aid to a fifth crisis-ravaged state risked triggering a sovereign default and contagion to other euro nations, Bloomberg reported. The lower house, or Bundestag, backed German participation in the 10 billion-euro ($13 billion) financial lifeline by 487 votes to 101 with 13 abstentions in Berlin today, almost three years after the euro-area debt crisis first required lawmakers to act in May 2010. Lawmakers also approved extending aid terms for Ireland and Portugal.

SolarWorld and its creditors are aiming to strike a deal on the restructuring of the ailing Germany-based maker of solar panels within the next 2-3 weeks, two sources familiar with the talks said on Thursday, Reuters reported. "We are looking at a reasonable, sustainable solution that would not require SolarWorld to file for insolvency," one of the people said. Creditors would cancel some debt and swap some loans for equity, the sources said. Shareholders will likely be left with significantly less than 10 percent of the equity, one of the sources said.