Headlines

More than 21,000 people could make use of the new personal insolvency legislation in its first full year of operation, the Dáil has heard. An estimated 15,000 applications are expected for non-court related settlements and insolvency arrangements as well as upwards of 3,000 bankruptcy applications, the Irish Times reported. There were about 30 bankruptcy decisions made last year. A further 3,000-4,000 applications are anticipated for debt-relief notices, Minister for Justice Alan Shatter has said.

Six French companies, led by oilseed group Sofiproteol, submitted a joint offer on Thursday for debt-burdened poultry group Doux, which went into administration in early June, threatening 3,400 workers and 800 farmers in France, Reuters reported. Family-owned Doux, one of the world's biggest poultry exporters, has been weighed down by debts of 340 million euros ($423 million) and administrators had launched a call for bids, with a deadline on Thursday ahead of a commercial court hearing on July 16.

European leaders, who last week set an end-year deadline to create a new policeman to oversee euro-zone banks, have set themselves an ambitious timetable that some officials admit they will struggle to meet, The Wall Street Journal reported. The decision will ignite fierce debates about the role of the new supervisor, set off turf battles over who should hold the new powers and raise questions about whether the European Union's single market in financial services can survive.

France’s socialist government announced a big one-off increase in wealth taxes on Wednesday, by far the biggest single element in a €7.2bn package of new levies aimed at meeting this year’s budget deficit target that also included surcharges on banks and energy companies, the Financial Times reported.

Praktiker AG, the struggling German DIY chain, and its major investors struck a compromise late on Wednesday in a last-ditch attempt to stave off bankruptcy, Reuters reported. Fund manager Isabella de Krassny, whose backers held a majority at Praktiker's annual shareholders' meeting on Wednesday, said she was now backing management's restructuring plan after insisting earlier for approval of her own plan. In return, Praktiker bowed to shareholders' demands to replace two supervisory board members with candidates backed by de Krassny.

Members of the Quinn family cannot be trusted to abide by court orders, the Irish Bank Resolution Corporation (IBRC) said Wednesday, as it revealed it was seeking the urgent appointment of receivers to the worldwide assets of family members, the Irish Times reported. The bank cited the recent finding of contempt of court orders by Ms Justice Elizabeth Dunne against Seán Quinn snr, his son Seán and his nephew Peter Darragh Quinn, and material that emerged in that case.

Sanko Steamship Co., the Japanese operator of 185 ships, asked a court to protect its U.S. assets after the company filed for bankruptcy protection in Japan, Bloomberg reported. Sanko listed assets and debt of more than $500 million in a Chapter 15 petition filed in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Manhattan. Companies use Chapter 15 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code to protect their U.S. assets while they reorganize operations under the jurisdiction of a foreign bankruptcy court. Sanko said yesterday that the Tokyo District Court granted the closely held company permission to keep operating.

Renewable Energy Corp (REC), a Norwegian manufacturer of solar power equipment, has agreed a new bank facility under a restructuring plan as it seeks to survive a global glut of its key products and high raw material costs, Reuters reported. The company, which saw a previous debt restructuring blocked by its bondholders, has raised $218 million in equity and will take up a new 2 billion crown ($335.3 million) bank debt facility, after bondholders failed to approve changes to a bond loan agreement on Tuesday.

Finland and the Netherlands, the euro zone's most hardline creditor states, cast the first doubts on Monday on a European summit deal designed to save Spain and Italy from being engulfed by the currency bloc's debt crisis, Reuters reported. The Finnish government told parliament that Helsinki and its Dutch allies would block the euro zone's permanent bailout fund buying bonds in secondary markets. Euro zone leaders agreed last Friday that rescue funds could be used in a "flexible and efficient manner" to lower government borrowing costs. Their statement gave no further detail.

Could Ireland be the biggest winner from last week’s European summit? If the price of its bonds is any guide, investors seem to think so, the Financial Times reported. The country’s financial markets have enjoyed a sharp turnround since the middle of last year, switching from one of the worst performing markets in the wake of its 2010 bail-out to one of the best. The EU summit agreement, which allows the European Stability Mechanism, the eurozone’s new rescue fund, to invest directly in troubled banks, has provided a further boost.