Headlines

Consumer goods giant Unilever is now offering smaller packages to keep pace with the thinner wallets of its European customers. The company says the strategy comes from the developing economies in Asia and is vital now that "poverty is returning to Europe," as one manager says, Spiegel Online reported. For all the negativity in Europe these days, the terms used in the euro-crisis debate have been surprisingly optimistic.

As Europe's leaders struggle with a five-year-old economic crunch that has saddled Spain with the industrialized world's highest jobless rate, young Spaniards are increasingly embracing bottom-up self-help initiatives to cope, The Wall Street Journal reported. The diverse measures—some commonly associated with rural or disaster-zone economies—supplement a public safety net that is fraying under government austerity programs.

Switzerland-based trader Gunvor said on Monday that operations had resumed at its German Ingolstadt refinery, acquired from insolvent refiner Petroplus earlier this year, Reuters reported. Gunvor, which is co-owned by a Russian tycoon and chief executive Torbjorn Tornqvist, bought the 100,000 barrels per day plant in May from the insolvent Petroplus to build on its presence in Europe. "We intend to build upon the good and enduring customer relationships, and enlarge our trading activities in Germany and the Alpine region," said Tornqvist in an emailed statement.

As China Cosco Holdings Co. prepares yet another earnings report awash in red, voices inside and outside are pushing China's champion of the world's shipping lanes to shore up its finances, The Wall Street Journal reported. Cosco is in little danger of collapse. More than half its stock is controlled by the Chinese government, which sees the shipping company as a major part of a national effort to gain greater sway over vital global supply chains.

Brazil's privately held deposit guarantee fund ruled out improving terms of a bond repurchase for Banco Cruzeiro do Sul, which runs the risk of bankruptcy, O Estado de S. Paulo newspaper reported on Monday. The central bank seized the bank June. Bondholders of consumer lender Cruzeiro do Sul, who stand to lose half of their investment under a repurchase program, have questioned the plan, in an indication that they will press for a sweeter offer. The plan requires the approval of 90 percent of bondholders.

Hanwha Group’s bid to buy the insolvent German manufacturer Q-Cells SE drew a competing approach from a Spanish power-plant builder that also wants to own what was once the biggest solar-cell maker, Bloomberg Businessweek reported. Isofoton SA was approved to bid for Q-Cells after Chief Executive Officer Angel Luis Serrano met with the German company’s insolvency administrator Henning Schorisch today, according to an e-mailed statement from Isofoton. Serrano will present the bid, to be made with a U.S. investor it didn’t identify, to Q-Cells’ creditors at an Aug. 29 meeting, it said.

Gerova Financial Group Ltd., a Bermuda-based financial-services company, sought U.S. bankruptcy court protection listing debt of as much as $500 million, Bloomberg reported. The Hamilton-based firm, formerly known as Asia Special Situations Acquisition Corp., filed a Chapter 15 petition in Manhattan today to protect its U.S. assets from creditors. Assets were valued at more than $50 million, Gerova said. Gerova began liquidation proceedings July 20 in Bermuda. Chapter 15 shields foreign companies from U.S. lawsuits and creditor claims while a company continues the process abroad.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel warned her coalition partners advocating a Greek exit from the euro to “weigh their words,” as she signaled a renewed determination to keep the single currency intact, Bloomberg reported. Asked about comments by a leader of her Bavarian Christian Social Union governing partner calling for Greece to depart, Merkel told ARD television that such remarks were damaging as crisis fighting has reached a “decisive phase.” Alexander Dobrindt, the CSU’s general secretary, told Sunday's Bild newspaper that Greece wouldn’t be part of the 17-nation euro area next year.

Mouchel, the motorway maintenance company, has sold its assets to a new company owned by banks and management, ensuring the survival of the 120-year-old business, the Financial Times reported. KPMG, the administrator, said on Saturday that the assets had been sold to a newly incorporated company, MBRL Ltd, whose lenders include Barclays, Royal Bank of Scotland and Lloyds Banking Group. The banks will wipe out £83m of debt in exchange for an 80 per cent stake in the new, delisted company, while the existing management will own the remaining 20 per cent.

The past few months have been good for Belgium. Like France, the country has benefitted from being part of the euro zone’s so-called “soft core,” becoming a sort of second-best safe haven for investors keen to escape the risky states such as Spain or Italy, but unwilling to accept the super-low interest rates offered by the likes of Germany, The Wall Street Journal Real Time Brussels blog reported.