Germany

Former Bundesliga club Arminia Bielefeld stand on the brink of financial ruin after the East Westphalian city rejected a rescue plan, ESPN reported. Bielefeld, who were relegated to the second division last year and failed to make an immediate return to the top flight, had sought a financial injection of almost €5 million from the city, but they failed to win a majority vote in favour of the plan on Thursday. That leaves the club, who earlier this week appointed former Germany international Christian Ziege as their new coach, on the verge of being declared bankrupt.

A decision about the future of insolvent German department store chain Karstadt could take longer than expected due to a lack of suitable offers, the insolvency administration said on Thursday. This makes it less likely that the committee will decide on a buyer on Friday as initially planned because it first has to assess the various offers, which may take longer than Friday. European buyout firm Triton and billionaire Nicolas Berggruen are still in the race to acquire the department store chain, that belonged to retail and tourism group Arcandor until it filed for insolvency last year.

Asset management company Goldsmith Capital Partners has dropped out of the bidding race for German retailer Metro's department store chain Kaufhof, Goldsmith said on Thursday. A spokesman for Metro declined to comment on the asset management company's withdrawal, but said Metro was still in talks with other interested parties, Reuters reported. He did not name names.

European buyout fund Triton plans to present a binding offer to acquire insolvent German retailer Karstadt Friday, a Triton spokesman told Dow Jones Daily Bankruptcy Review on Wednesday. The binding offer is expected amid growing doubts that Triton is still considered a serious contender for Karstadt ahead of a final bidding deadline Friday. Initial talks between Karstadt's labor union and Triton ended unsuccessfully earlier this month amid fears about potential layoffs.

U.S. celebrity fashion house BCBG Max Azria Group is backing the bid led by billionaire Nicolas Berggruen for insolvent German department store chain Karstadt, Reuters reported. A spokesman for Berggruen said on Tuesday Azria was supporting Berggruen's bid, which he launched late on Friday.

A finance consortium that owns most of the property of insolvent German retailer Karstadt will submit a bid for all 120 department stores after reaching a deal with unions over wage concessions, Bild am Sonntag reported. Highstreet, a vehicle led by Goldman Sachs, agreed in exchange to give the 25,000 strong workforce a stake of roughly 15 percent in Karstadt, making it now the frontrunner in the bidding war, according to the German Sunday weekly.

Germany's Parliament on Friday approved the country's contribution of up to €147.6 billion ($184.7 billion) to a massive €750 billion bailout from European Union countries and the International Monetary Fund for euro-zone states on the verge of a default, The Wall Street Journal reported. The Upper House of Parliament signed off on the bill after the Lower House approved it earlier Friday in a heated debate, with criticism from opposition parties. Some lawmakers of Chancellor Angela Merkel's center-right parties didn't back the measures.

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.