Germany

K1 Group hedge fund founder Helmut Kiener’s personal assets were placed under the control of a court-appointed administrator less than two weeks after he was charged with running an international fraud scheme, Bloomberg reported. A court in Aschaffenburg, Germany, opened preliminary insolvency proceedings on Nov. 25 after a creditor request, according to a filing in Germany’s online insolvency registry. The creditor was a health insurer, insolvency judge Juergen Roth said in an interview today.

Germany beat back bids for more expansive approaches to Europe's rescue of its fiscally troubled countries, leaving the euro zone to muddle through in the near term as markets warily watch Portugal and Spain, The Wall Street Journal reported. The European Union's chief economic power said that for now, it wouldn't support an enlarged rescue facility, nor the issuance of joint bonds that would let weaker nations ride the coattails of its sterling credit, though it didn't rule them out in the future.

The German Bank Restructuring Act, which takes effect next year, could be a template for a European Union-wide law, Moody's Investors Service Inc. said Monday, Dow Jones Daily Bankruptcy Review reported. The new German bank restructuring regime "is an important step in forming the post-crisis European regulatory landscape," the rating agency said. Moody's expects the European Commission "to scrutinize the legislation and to consider it as a blueprint for its own legislative proposal" due next spring.

German chipmaker Infineon said it would defend itself vigorously against legal action by the insolvency administrator of Qimonda, its former memory chip unit, seeking an unspecified payment, Reuters reported. "We are firmly convinced that we have done nothing wrong," an Infineon spokesman said, adding that the company would defend itself against this action and pursue all avenues of legal proceedings. Qimonda collapsed in 2009 as chip prices plunged and then filed for insolvency after failing to hammer out details of a rescue package in time.

Germany's insistence that Ireland, Greece and the euro zone's other fiscally feeble members adopt punishing austerity regimes has fueled concern across Europe that the bloc's biggest member is souring on the euro. But Sunday's agreement among euro-zone leaders to establish a permanent rescue facility for overly indebted members suggests that rather than turning its back on the euro, Germany is doubling its bets, The Wall Street Journal reported. Put simply, Chancellor Angela Merkel and her allies have concluded that the euro is essential for Germany's continued prosperity.

Germany's upper house of parliament Friday approved the country's bank restructuring law, which includes a bank levy to generate funds for troubled banks, Dow Jones reported. The upper house voted against the recommendations of its finance and economic committees, which were in favor of having the conciliation committee of both houses of parliament deal with the law, as the proposed levy would also affect savings and cooperative banks. The legislation sets up a restructuring procedure for banks, allowing for early intervention to tackle problems before insolvency.

The European Union will give state-controlled German lender WestLB AG more time to create a new restructuring plan as it continues to investigate the bank's use of state aid, the EU's competition chief said Monday. German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble told journalists that Berlin is prepared to make difficult decisions regarding WestLB. "We are ready to do it and use the next three months to find solutions," he said.

WestLB is at growing risk of being wound down, Europe’s top competition watchdog warned on Friday after it accused the troubled German bank of offloading toxic assets at an inflated value and so benefiting from billions of euros in additional state aid, the Financial Times reported. Joaquín Almunia, EU competition commissioner, said the bank would have to take additional restructuring steps to compensate or the aid – put at €3.4bn ($4.77bn) – would have to be recovered. That could cast a new shadow over WestLB’s ultimate survival.

Germany's stronger-then-expected recovery will not be enough to prevent some 35,000 bankruptcies this year, an insolvency administrators' group said on Thursday. The VID trade association said automotive suppliers, engineering, shipping, and retailers would be especially hard hit. Siegfried Beck, head of the association, told Reuters many firms have left the economic crisis with drastically reduced core capital levels, leaving them weakened and needy for cash.

European Union governments put up hundreds of billions of euros earlier this year to keep financially troubled members like Greece or Ireland from defaulting on their debts. Now Germany is pushing to let hopelessly indebted governments do exactly that - admit they can't pay and hit bond investors with the costs instead of taxpayers, the Associated Press reported. But Berlin may have a hard time winning approval for a crisis resolution mechanism when EU officials meet in Brussels on Thursday and Friday.