Cash-strapped Egoli Tossell Film, the German producer of Golden Globe winner "Carlos," has embarked on financial restructuring to bring in a new shareholder and secure its future, Variety reported. It is in negotiations with an unnamed Frankfurt-based investor, which will take a significant equity stake in the company. As part of this reorganization, ETF filed last week for the German equivalent of Chapter 11. It expects to emerge within three to four months with its new shareholder and a clean balance sheet.

A Munich court ruled on Thursday a squeeze-out of minority shareholders was appropriate in a nationalisation of German mortgage bank Hypo Real Estate, Reuters reported. Presiding judge Helmut Krenek said the move to nationalise the Munich-based property lender had been proportionate and, given the circumstances, was not an act of expropriation. A group of 38 shareholders, including U.S. investor J.C. Flowers, had sought to block the transfer of their shares.

Industrial parts maker NN Inc. said Thursday that it is halting operations at its German manufacturing plant, which has filed for local bankruptcy protection, Bloomberg reported. NN said the global recession and rising cost of operating in Germany forced it to close the Kugelfertigung Eltmann factory, which makes precision steel balls for industrial and aerospace customers. "Unfortunately, we cannot forecast an improvement in the operations of Eltmann to reverse this condition for the foreseeable future," said Chairman and CEO Roderick Baty said in a statement.

European finance ministers debated Monday how to beef up their giant rescue fund for troubled euro-zone countries but ended the first day of a two-day meeting without reaching a firm resolution on how to do it, amid German reluctance to open the doors to more and bigger bailouts, The Wall Street Journal reported. Germany's disinclination to speed ahead dovetails with what European diplomats describe as a momentary air of calm that has descended on the bloc's sovereign debt crisis.

Germany is backing proposals to give new powers and lending capacity to the €440bn ($577bn) eurozone rescue fund, even if that means increasing its financial guarantees, according to people familiar with the issue in Berlin and Brussels, the Financial Times reported. Such a move would be part of a package of measures, including greater co-ordination of economic policymaking between the 17 eurozone members, that could be agreed by European Union heads of government at their next summit in February.

Harles and Jentzsch, a manufacturer accused of supplying dioxin-laced fat to the animal-feed industry in Germany, filed in court for insolvency on Wednesday, Monsters and Critics reported. The company, based in Uetersen, north-west of Hamburg, is under investigation by prosecutors and may also potentially face vast civil claims from 5,000 German farms that were idled during the dioxin scare that blew up last week. A spokeswoman for the state court in Itzehoe, Julia Gaertner, said the company had filed for protection from its creditors.

The four main creditors in German cable provider Primacom have agreed to cancel 250 million euros ($328.6 million) worth of loans in return for equity, two sources familiar with the restructuring told Reuters on Thursday, sending Primacom's share price soaring. The shares leapt more than ninefold to 1.99 euros at 1545 GMT after the sources revealed that creditors Alcentra, Tennenbaum Capital, Avenue Capital and the Dutch bank ING finalised the deal that would give them full control of Primacom.

German lingerie group Schiesser has emerged from insolvency proceedings as it prepares to float on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange in the second quarter of 2011, according to a company statement issued on Tuesday, Reuters reported. The family-founded company filed for insolvency almost two years ago and first voiced plans to float in 2010. Schiesser said insolvency administrator Volker Grub would join the supervisory board and hand over the running of the company to the new executive board, which includes Rudolf Buendgen, Karl-Achim Klein and Johannes Molzberger.

Deutsche Bank agreed to pay $553 million and admit to criminal wrongdoing yesterday, settling a long-running investigation into tax shelter fraud that prosecutors say generated billions of dollars in bogus tax benefits, the New York Times reported today. In an agreement with the United States Attorney’s Office in Manhattan, Deutsche Bank will avoid prosecution for helping 2,100 customers evade taxes through 2,300 financial transactions.

Creditors of Conergy have agreed to a debt restructuring of the German solar company, which would likely hand over control to hedge funds Sothic Capital and York through a debt-for-equity swap, Reuters reported yesterday. The company said on Friday that it plans to reduce its capital stock by 88 percent, virtually wiping out existing shareholders, in order to then raise fresh equity amounting to as much as 188 million euros ($250.2 million). By taking a stake of nearly 70 percent in exchange, Conergy's credit burden would be reduced from a current 323 million euros to just 135 million euros.