Germany

German retailer Tengelmann expects to exit its holding in Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea (A&P) when the U.S. grocery store chain emerges from bankruptcy protection, Reuters reported. "We hope that A&P can be led out of its insolvency. But we do not believe that we will be significant shareholders after the process ends," Tengelmann Chief Executive Karl-Erivan Haub told reporters on Thursday. Tengelmann, which owns about 38 percent of A&P, said last year it expected the company to be combined with another retailer in the long term.

Helaba, a German public sector bank, is pulling out from the EU’s bank stress test to avoid a public failure, heightening concerns over the credibility of this week’s results. The bank said on Wednesday that the European Banking Authority, which is running the tests, had rebuffed its attempts to shore up its capital and that Helaba was expected to publish its own results separately, the Financial Times reported. The withdrawal reduces the number of participating banks to 90.

Germany's upper house of parliament, the Bundesrat, Friday approved government plans to impose an annual levy on banks that would generate funds for the rescue of any stricken institutions deemed too big to fail, Dow Jones Daily Bankruptcy Review reported. The government must now rubber stamp the regulation, which will come into effect in coming weeks, once official approval by the German president has been given.

European governments' plan for private-sector creditors to help Greece's next bailout without triggering a default were thrown into doubt Wednesday, as senior German officials resurrected a once-rejected proposal that would cost investors more, The Wall Street Journal reported. The German proposal—calling for investors to be encouraged to swap Greek government bonds for new bonds—had been ditched a month ago after strong opposition from the European Central Bank and governments including France, because it would lead to Greece being called in default by rating agencies.

Bailouts of Europe's debt-stricken countries face a legal challenge on Tuesday as Germany's top court begins hearing a lawsuit against German contributions to the rescues of Greece, Ireland and Portugal, Reuters reported. The Karlsruhe-based Constitutional Court is not likely to block the German government's participation in bailouts altogether, or force the government to withdraw its commitments to current rescue plans, legal experts say. But most experts, including government sources, say they expect the court to impose conditions making it harder for the government to provide fresh aid.

Dutch investment group Novapars Capital said on Thursday it has agreed to buy the 115 million euro ($163 million) German loan portfolio of DSB Bank, the first sale of the bankrupt Dutch bank's operations, Reuters reported. DSB was declared bankrupt in October 2009 after it was hit by a liquidity crunch when clients withdrew about one-sixth of the group's deposits. The company was later seized by the Dutch central bank, DNB, and its assets are under administration.

State-controlled lender WestLB AG said its owners have agreed on a detailed framework to break up the German bank, paving the way after months of haggling to meet European Union demands that it slim down and find a new owner, The Wall Street Journal reported. The plan will be submitted to the European Commission, the EU's executive arm, for approval on June 30 by the German government, after all the current owners' decision-making bodies—including the lower house of Parliament of the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia—formally approve it next week.

Germany wants Europe to postpone a new bailout deal for Greece to buy time for a compromise on involving private creditors that does not look like a climbdown that would entail political risks for Chancellor Angela Merkel, Reuters reported. Merkel will try to resolve this dilemma in talks on Thursday with the European Central Bank's Mario Draghi and on Friday with French President Nicolas Sarkozy, with the ECB, Paris and European Commission all questioning Berlin's position.

State-backed German lender HSH Nordbank AG has formed a joint venture for managing its EUR3 billion Nordic real-estate loan book with two U.S.-based property finance firms, as the bank moves forward with its restructuring efforts, Dow Jones reported. HSH has teamed with property consultants Situs Cos. and special loan servicer Helios AMC LLC to create the new joint venture, which will initially service the bank's legacy loan book over the next couple of years.

US car giant General Motors appears to be ready to sell its subsiary Opel once again, amid continuing losses at the German firm, SPIEGEL reported. When GM abandoned an effort to sell the firm, the decision caused deep-seated tensions between the American company and the government in Berlin. In 2009, United States car manufacturer General Motors put its German subsidiary Opel up for sale, because GM itself was faced with bankruptcy.