Germany's Finance Ministry is weighing the nationalization of Hypo Real Estate Holding AG, the Munich bank whose troubles prompted Germany to bail out its entire banking sector last year, The Wall Street Journal reported. No decision has been made, according to a senior German official. But Finance Minister Peer Steinbrück is considering ways to take control of Hypo as a prelude to radically scaling down its operations, this person said. The government could even confiscate shareholders' stakes in the bank, under one option being considered.

An unplanned bankruptcy has disrupted a plan by Flying J to open a chain of travel plazas across Europe that would be modeled after its outlets in the U.S. and Canada, The Salt Lake Tribune reported. The Ogden, Utah-based company had been mapping out its first expansion outside North America when a steep drop in oil prices and a lack of available financing suddenly brought on a liquidity crisis that forced it into bankruptcy last month.

As part of her efforts to combat the economic crisis, German Chancellor Angela Merkel is increasing the state's influence in the market, buying holdings in banks and bailing out individual industries and companies, Spiegel Online reported. Is Germany turning into a planned economy? Read more.

Talks between stricken Hypo Real Estate and the German bank aid fund heated up on Friday with sources saying a rescue would inject more than €10 billion ($13.3 billion) of fresh capital. Earlier in the week, sources close to the talks told Reuters that the German government is set to take a stake in Hypo, a move that would mark the second part-nationalisation of a German bank this year.

Russia's gas price dispute with Ukraine escalated Tuesday, disrupting deliveries to the European Union in the midst of a bitter cold spell, with a number of countries reporting that gas supplies had been suspended or reduced, and Germany predicting a possible shortage, the International Herald Tribune reported. Bulgaria, Romania, Croatia, Macedonia, Turkey, Greece, the Czech Republic and Austria reported that gas supplies had been suspended or reduced after Gazprom, the Russian gas monopoly, reduced gas shipments through Ukraine.

Austrian automotive warp and weft knit fabric producer Eybl International AG announced that it was filing for administrative receivership after recent talks about a takeover by the Slovenian Prevent Group failed to lead to a positive conclusion, the trade journal Knitting Industry reported. Eybl International, which specialises in textile production, fabrication and components for automotive interiors, operates eight production sites in Austria, Hungary, Romania, Germany and Slovakia as well as four distribution sites in Germany, France, Spain and Britain.

A German bank has struck a deal with bankrupt Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. regarding the exercise and liquidation of currency options contracts nominally worth €139 million, Bankruptcy Law360 reported. According to Judge James M. Peck's order Monday in the the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York, if Deutsche Zentral-Genossenschaftsbank AG exercises a currency option, the transaction will be deemed liquidated at the current market value.

German brake pads maker TMD Friction, which has filed for insolvency for four German plants, has attracted the interest of possible buyers, a spokesman for the company's insolvency administrator said. Among the possible buyers are both industry-related companies and financial investors, Reuters reported. A spokesman said the company aims to keep the group intact in a possible sale. The Leverkusen-based group employs around 4,500 staff in 11 countries and generated 2007 sales of 690 million euros ($892.4 million). It has 2,000 staff in Germany alone.

German biodiesel producer Campa GmbH has declared insolvency for a second time this year and a commercial court in Wurzburg appointed a new administrator, a court official said on Tuesday. Campa first declared insolvency in May but resumed production in early June after being bought by a consortium of about 2,000 farmers in the southern state of Bavaria, Reuters reported. It operates a 150,000 tonne annual capacity plant producing biodiesel from rapeseed oil. Campa's oil mill was purchased by U.S. agribusiness group Archer Daniels Midland in August.

Swiss Life Holding AG Wednesday said it would cut 200 jobs in Switzerland, citing ongoing restructuring efforts across the group, making it one of the first Swiss insurers to reduce staff in the current credit crisis, Dow Jones Newswires reported. The measures should help the life insurer reduce costs by around 90 million Swiss francs ($75.6 million) up to 2012, with half of the savings due in 2009. Restructuring costs amount to around CHF40 million, 80% of which will be charged to the 2008 financial year.