Germany

Germany's finance minister has conveyed to Italy's Treasury his concerns about any takeover of Commerzbank by Italian lender UniCredit, two people familiar with the matter said, as Berlin looks to halt a hostile deal, Reuters reported. Christian Lindner outlined his position to the Treasury — Italy's economy and finance ministry, led by Giancarlo Giorgetti — in tandem with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz's public criticism this week of UniCredit's move to become the biggest investor in its German rival.

Germany’s economy is likely to gather pace as several of the causes behind its recent weakness prove short-lived, according to Bundesbank President Joachim Nagel, Bloomberg News reported. Some of the factors holding back growth — which include elevated inflation, reluctant consumers and high interest rates — will probably only be “temporary,” Nagel said Tuesday in a speech, while acknowledging some longer-term structural problems that must be addressed.

Germany's leading economic institutes have downgraded their forecast for 2024 and now see Europe's largest economy shrinking by 0.1%, people familiar with the figures from the autumn joint economic forecast told Reuters on Tuesday. Germany's economy was the weakest among its large euro zone peers last year with a 0.3% contraction. Inflation was expected to fall to 2.2% this year, from 5.9% last year, the sources said. It would be around the 2% mark targeted by the European Central Bank in the two following years, according to the sources.

Germany’s government took a first step toward privatizing Uniper SE, the utility it nationalized at the peak of Europe’s energy crisis in 2022 after Russia curbed gas flows to the region, Bloomberg News reported. The nation’s finance ministry said an initial public offering is its preferred option for selling the company, according to a statement. It’s also considering off-market sale alternatives. The announcement marks a momentous step after the bailout just under two years ago, which was one of the largest in German corporate history.

Embattled German battery-maker Varta AG has adjusted its restructuring plan to help win the support of a key group of lenders, paving the way for its approval, Bloomberg News reported. A “large proportion” of holders of its €250 milllion ($278 million) in promissory notes — also called Schuldschein — have expressed interest in the improved deal, the company said in a statement Tuesday. The Schuldschein lenders had originally resisted the restructuring plan and submitted a rival deal.

Lenders to Berlin-based SellerX canceled a plan to auction off the brand aggregator on Tuesday, opting instead to continue debt negotiations with shareholders of the struggling company, Bloomberg News reported. SellerX confirmed that the auction, initiated by BlackRock Inc. and Victory Park Capital Advisors LLC last month, has been canceled.

H.I.G. Capital is injecting €50 million ($55 million) into Berlin-based property developer Ziegert, according to people familiar with the matter, one of the first such deals in the sector since a slump caused by a sharp rise in construction costs and drop in demand, Bloomberg News reported. Germany’s property market is reeling from the end of the cheap-money era that pushed a slew of developers into insolvency or debt restructuring. While some investors have picked up property assets out of bankruptcy, there have been few investments into healthy firms in the sector.