Germany

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.

Germany saw a 10.7% increase in insolvencies in August compared to a year earlier, the federal statistics office reported on Wednesday, adding to data that show persistent difficulties for companies in Europe's largest economy, Reuters reported. The growth rate in insolvencies has been in double-digit territory since June 2023, with the exception of June 2024, when the year-on-year increase eased briefly to 6.3%, the office said. In the first half of 2024, German courts reported 10,702 corporate insolvencies, up 24.9% year on year, according to final data.

Germany hammered out a deal that offers a potential lifeline for struggling shipbuilder Meyer Werft GmbH, the privately-held company that recently won a follow-on contract to supply vessels for Disney Cruise Line’s fleet, Bloomberg News reported. The federal government will acquire a 40% stake in Meyer Werft along with “a stake of the same amount by the state of Lower Saxony,” according to Economy Ministry officials. The financing for the federal government amounts to around €200 million.

The long slide in German factory output continued in July, increasing the risk that the eurozone’s largest economy is falling into a second straight quarter of contraction, the Wall Street Journal reported. German factories have been faltering since 2018, but suffered a fresh blow when energy costs surged in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in early 2022. Despite some hopeful signs at the start of this year, they have yet to embark on a sustained recovery.

German PV project developer Fellensiek Projektmanagement GmbH & Co. KG (FPM Projektmanagement) has filed for bankruptcy due to liquidity problems, PV-Magazine.com reported. The Wilhelmshaven District Court in northern Germany has ordered provisional insolvency administration for Fellensiek, appointing Christian Kaufmann from Pluta Rechtsanwalts GmbH as the provisional insolvency administrator on Sept. 3. Kaufmann said that business operations will continue with the 20 employees, and their salaries will be secured for three months.

Germany plans to sell a significant part of its stake in Commerzbank AG as it seeks to draw a line under the lender’s bailout more than a decade ago, Bloomberg News reported. Berlin, which owns 16.5% of Commerzbank, will initially target a disposal of 3% to 5% in the Frankfurt-based firm. That could happen as early as this month, with more sales possible at a later date. The German government joins other European administrations including Italy, the Netherlands, the UK and Greece in selling down bank stakes they acquired through various bailouts during the financial crisis.

Deutsche Bank AG bolstered the size of a significant risk transfer by $1 billion after strong investor demand, Bloomberg News reported. SRTs, also known as synthetic risk transfers, allow banks to insure their loans against default by selling notes to investors such as pension, sovereign wealth and hedge funds. For banks, the benefit is that they are able to tie up less of their own capital to meet regulatory requirements. Some of the SRTs have been priced at a yield in the low double digits.