Germany

Computer chip maker Qimonda North America Corp. is suing its German parent in Delaware bankruptcy court over the parent's bid to recoup more than $1.5 billion in intercompany debts from its North American affiliates, Dow Jones Daily Bankruptcy Review reported. In a lawsuit filed Wednesday, Qimonda North America said that its corporate parent, Qimonda AG, stripped its North American unit of cash and assets in exchange of "near worthless" notes while loading up its struggling Virginia-based subsidiary with hundreds of millions of dollars in loans it knew it wouldn't repay.

Asset management company Goldsmith Capital Partners is interested in Metro's department store chain Kaufhof, which the German retailer is trying to sell. A spokesman for Goldsmith said on Friday that the company had been interested in Kaufhof for quite some time, Reuters reported. He declined to confirm a report by German newspaper Lebensmittelzeitung that Goldsmith had already made an offer for Kaufhof. Metro said it would neither confirm nor deny names of interested investors. Goldsmith Capital Partners, founded in 2007 by investor Clemens Vedder, started the hedge fund Blacksmith.

Germany will live up to its responsibility for Europe and will help to prevent damage to the euro zone in future, Chancellor Angela Merkel said Wednesday, Dow Jones reported. Defending the government's Greek bailout bill, which foresees up to €22.4 billion in state-backed loans from Germany, Merkel said "Europe is looking at us today. Without us, against us, there won't be any decision. With us, with Germany, there can and will be a decision which lives up to the political, historical situation," Merkel said. She said she is "determined" that Germany will fulfill its responsibility.

Frankfurt-based aluminum company Almatis Group Friday put its operations in the U.S., Germany and the Netherlands in Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection to restructure the company's $1 billion debt load, Dow Jones Daily Bankruptcy Review reported. In court papers filed Friday with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Manhattan, Almatis said the proposed restructuring would slash its debt by more than $600 million to $414.6 million. The company has already filed a reorganization plan, which has the support of more than two-thirds of the holders of Almatis's first-lien debt.

Dubai International Capital Wednesday sent a letter to senior lenders of German aluminum company Almatis, urging them to vote against a restructuring plan from distressed-debt investor Oaktree Capital, Dow Jones Daily Bankruptcy Review reported. The letter comes on the eve of Almatis' management filing to place the company in U.S. Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings as part of Oaktree's restructuring plan to more than halve Almatis' $1 billion debt to around $422 million.

Europe's hopes of containing Greece's credit crisis dimmed as the country's debt woes spread to Portugal, sparking a selloff in markets across the globe and testing the European Union's ability to protect its common currency, The Wall Street Journal reported. The euro tumbled to its lowest point in a year against the dollar after Standard & Poor's Ratings Services cut Portugal's credit rating two notches and downgraded Greece's debt to "junk" territory, a first for a euro-zone member. The move is bound to worsen Greece's already dire fiscal situation and hamper a recovery.

European buyout firm Triton offered to acquire insolvent German department store chain Karstadt in its entirety, submitting the one and only bid to the court-appointed administrator by the Friday deadline, Reuters reported. Triton said it presented a strategic concept to continue operating the chain as a going concern, but warned it would need Karstadt's lessors and its staff to make more sacrifices before the acquisition plans could proceed.

Goldman Sachs is considering a takeover of the remains of insolvent German department store chain Karstadt if no other investor emerges, two sources familiar with the situation told Reuters. Goldman Sachs as well as Deutsche Bank are part of the Highstreet consortium, which owns about two-thirds of Karstadt's store space. "Is increasingly looking like Highstreet is keeping this option open as a last resort," one of the sources said on Wednesday. Goldman would look for a co-investor if it decided to bid for Karstadt, another source said.

Leighton Holdings Ltd. said Monday it and Deutsche Bank were no longer in the bidding for Sydney's troubled Lane Cove Tunnel, Dow Jones reported. "I can confirm we have withdrawn from Lane Cove," a Leighton spokesman said, declining to give reasons for the decision. Leighton Contractors and Deutsche Bank were among the bidders for the 3.6-kilometer, twin-tunnel highway in Sydney's northern suburbs, which was put up for sale earlier this year after the company that owned it was pushed into receivership due to heavy debts and its unpopularity with motorists.

European Union finance ministers meet in Madrid today to discuss how to curb swelling budget deficits as Greece moved closer to asking for emergency aid to finance the region’s biggest shortfall, Bloomberg reported. Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou yesterday asked for a meeting with the EU, the International Monetary Fund and the European Central Bank, which agreed last week to back a 45 billion-euro ($61 billion) rescue package for the cash-strapped nation. Talks will begin in Athens on April 19.