Several parties have shown interest in German solar company Q-Cells since it filed for insolvency earlier this month, including domestic and foreign investors, an administrator said on Monday, Reuters reported. "Our goal is to save most of the company and as many jobs as possible," preliminary insolvency administrator Henning Schorisch said in a statement, noting financial and strategic investors were among the parties but not giving further details. "The coming weeks will now show how big interest is," he said.

Private equity firm Penta Investments has made an offer for German insolvent drug store chain Schlecker, less than a month after buying a 40 percent stake in Polish retailer EM&F, Reuters reported. "We made a non-binding offer on Friday last week," a spokesman for Penta told Reuters on Friday, confirming a report in German weekly magazine Der Spiegel. He declined to provide details of the offer. Unlisted Schlecker, which competes with privately held peers Rossmann and dm, filed for insolvency in January after struggling to secure funds against a gloomy economic backdrop.

Switzerland agreed Thursday to a revised tax deal with Germany under which it would pay billions of dollars on funds hidden in its banks by German tax dodgers, the latest step in an international charm offensive that is meant to salvage at least some of the country’s famous banking secrecy, the International Herald Tribune reported.

It wasn't so long ago that people viewed Q-Cells as an energy company of the future. At one point, it was the world's largest manufacturer of solar cells and quarter after quarter, it topped analysts' expectations. The company proved to be a money-making machine even during the financial crisis, with some believing it might one day grow to become part of Germany's DAX index of benchmark companies on the stock exchange. But Q-Cells' insolvency comes as a great shock to the Germany's solar industry, Spiegel Online reported.

Q-Cells SE, once the world’s largest solar-cell maker, fell to a record low in Frankfurt trading before the German company said it will file for insolvency as soon as tomorrow, Bloomberg Businessweek reported. Q-Cells tumbled 41 percent to 13 euro cents as of the close of trading in Frankfurt. The manufacturer held its initial public offering in October 2005, when the shares sold at 38 euros apiece. The stock has plunged 77 percent this year as Q-Cells worked to reorganize debt while Germany’s government reduces solar subsidies and the industry fights overcapacity.

A widespread strike by services workers in Germany that has already closed kindergartens, halted buses and left trash uncollected expanded to the county's largest airports on Tuesday, disrupting air travel across the country and stranding tens of thousands of passengers, The Wall Street Journal reported. Fraport AG, the operator of the Frankfurt hub, canceled around 455 flights as members of the Ver.di union walked out ahead of wage talks due Wednesday.

The European Union took a big step on Monday toward building a financial firewall strong enough to prevent the spread of fiscal contagion to major economies like Spain after Germany dropped its opposition to bringing the Continent’s total bailout capacity to more than 690 billion euros, or $916 billion, the International Herald Tribune reported. Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, said on Monday at a news conference in Berlin that her government remained determined that a permanent European rescue fund should be capped at 500 billion euros.

Germany's 16 states are discussing ways to help the staff of insolvent drugstore chain Schlecker who face redundancy as the retailer is due to close more than 2,000 stores, Reuters reported. Unlisted Schlecker, which competes with privately-held peers Rossmann and dm, filed for insolvency in January after struggling to secure funds against a gloomy economic backdrop.

Germany appears to have accepted defeat in its efforts to convince other European countries to impose a kind of sales tax on financial transactions in the European Union or in the smaller euro zone, possibly putting up an obstacle to ratifying the permanent euro-zone bailout fund in Parliament, The Wall Street Journal reported. "The probability of imposing an EU-wide financial-transaction tax is very slim," German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble told a gathering of conservative lawmakers on Tuesday, according to a person in the meeting.

German solar project developer solarhybrid AG said on Tuesday it will open insolvency proceedings with a German court, Reuters reported. It said it was filing for insolvency "due to illiquidity" with the court in Arnsberg. No other details were given in a statement issued late on Tuesday. In December, Solar Millennium AG filed for insolvency after running out of cash before it was able to finalize deals to sell large projects in the United States and Spain. German solar module marker Solon SE also filed for insolvency in December.