Headlines

President François Hollande offered an olive branch to France's restive business community on Monday with measures aimed at encouraging investment in startups, in a country desperate for economic growth, The Wall Street Journal reported. Mr. Hollande's proposals—including breaks on capital-gains taxes as well as visas for foreign entrepreneurs—are part of a broader effort to build bridges to corporate leaders angry over sharp tax increases, and to alter the perception many foreign investors have of France as unfriendly to business. Indeed, Mr.

Irish entertainment rental and retail firm Xtra-vision has fallen into receivership after being "unable to meet its debts", MCVUK.com reported. The chain has 152 stores and 1,023 employees, according to Retail Week. It is unknown how many jobs will be lost. Xtra-vision cited steep declines in the movie rental business for its entry into receivership. Troubles in this market also caused UK rental chain Blockbuster to enter administration back in January. While Blockbuster was bought by the Gordon Brothers last month, Ernst & Young has been appointed as the retailer's receiver.

Promotora de Informaciones SA, the publisher of El Pais newspaper, wants to reorganize the terms of about 2.9 billion euros ($3.8 billion) of debt, according to a person familiar with the matter, Bloomberg reported. Prisa, as Spain’s biggest media company is known, plans to propose terms of the restructuring to lenders as soon as next month, the person said, asking not to be identified because the deliberations are private. The unprofitable media company is reopening talks as about 1.28 billion euros of loans near an initial maturity date in March 2014, according to its latest annual report.

Asia’s emerging economies have lapped the developed world in recent years, posting strong economic growth that has lifted millions of people out of poverty and created burgeoning middle classes that are fueling local consumption. But is emerging Asia – defined by the International Monetary Fund as China, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam – in danger of falling into the “middle-income” trap?

The new Insolvency Service of Ireland, which will administer debt arrangements for people in financial trouble, has received almost 100 calls a day in its first week, RTÉ News reported. Its director Lorcan O'Connor said it had also received requests for more information booklets from some libraries and MABS offices that had run out of them. The new body will start accepting applications for debt arrangements by the end of June. Figures obtained from ISI show it has processed around 200 emails and there have been 15,000 visits to its website.

Greek lawmakers on Sunday approved a reform law to unlock about 8.8 billion euros ($8.9 billion) of rescue loans from the European Union and the International Monetary Fund, Reuters reported. The law, which was a condition for further aid installments, passed easily with the solid backing of the three parties comprising Greece's ruling coalition, by 168 to 123 votes. Following parliament's approval, senior euro zone officials will meet on Monday to approve overdue payment of 2.8 billion euros ($3.65 billion) in rescue loans, finance minister Yannis Stournaras said.

Europe may accelerate a shift away from its austerity-first agenda this week as the new Italian government changes course and a German-Spanish investment pact underscores a renewed focus on combating record unemployment, Bloomberg reported. Yesterday’s swearing in of Italian Prime Minister Enrico Letta ends a political deadlock nine weeks after voters rejected the country’s budget-cutting course. German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble, a champion of austerity, will travel to Spain Monday to unveil a plan aimed at spurring investment in Spanish companies.

A modest 10-floor office block on the eastern edge of Amsterdam houses the headquarters of Energyco, Agro Trade International, Banzai Venture Investments and about 2000 other companies. Fully 1942 of those companies list their address as Postbox 990, which one might think would be stuffed with letters. But just one company is responsible for all of them – Intertrust, a trust firm that creates and manages subsidiaries for multinationals, even if some of them have little or no real business activities in the Netherlands.

Voters in Iceland have ousted the center-left government that restored the country to solvency after the 2008 financial crisis, paving the way for the return to power of the center-right parties that many people blamed for causing the crisis, the International Herald Tribune reported.

Lisbon is to take court action against JPMorgan and Spain’s Banco Santander over what it says were “toxic” derivatives sold to public sector companies, the Financial Times reported. The move is part of a government effort to stem potential losses of up to €3bn from complex hedging products. The allegations in Portugal are similar to cases in Italy, where a court convicted banks of mis-selling derivatives, and the UK, where the “big four” banks have been ordered to review their selling of interest-rate swap contracts.