Headlines

German retailer Tengelmann expects to exit its holding in Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea (A&P) when the U.S. grocery store chain emerges from bankruptcy protection, Reuters reported. "We hope that A&P can be led out of its insolvency. But we do not believe that we will be significant shareholders after the process ends," Tengelmann Chief Executive Karl-Erivan Haub told reporters on Thursday. Tengelmann, which owns about 38 percent of A&P, said last year it expected the company to be combined with another retailer in the long term.

Oil-sands developer OPTI Canada Inc. on Wednesday sought creditor protection in Canada after its senior bondholders agreed to a debt-for-equity swap, as the company struggles to speed up its Long Lake development project, Dow Jones Daily Bankruptcy Review reported. OPTI, which would have had to pay $71 million in interest by Friday to avoid default on two bonds, said in a Wednesday release that holders of both its 8.25% and 7.875% second-lien bonds have agreed to convert all those bonds into equity in a reorganized OPTI.

Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou said the euro zone and International Monetary Fund must quickly approve a second bailout for his country to avoid its economic reform plans collapsing, a German newspaper reported. "The current mood doesn't help us to get through this crisis," Papandreou told the Financial Times Deutschland, in a brief preview of an interview to be published in the paper's Thursday's edition, Reuters reported. "This uncertainty scares investors.

Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's drive to cut public spending is turning the spotlight on some of Italy's most profligate spenders—its political class, The Wall Street Journal reported. Despite many belt-tightening measures imposed on Italians over the past few years, the paychecks and benefits of Parliament members have been left largely untouched. Rome's lawmakers are among Europe's highest-paid: In 2010, members of the lower house earned an average gross salary of more than €140,000 ($196,000), nearly double U.K. lawmakers' annual salary.

Deutsche Bank has expressed an interest in purchasing the €457 million loans held by developer David Daly and his children with Allied Irish Banks, which were called in last month by the National Asset Management Agency, the High Court heard yesterday, the Irish Times reported. Moving the loans to Deutsche Bank would be “hugely” in the interest of the Dalys who, despite having initiated the talks with Deutsche Bank, are being excluded from the current negotiations by Nama, Michael Cush SC said.

Helaba, a German public sector bank, is pulling out from the EU’s bank stress test to avoid a public failure, heightening concerns over the credibility of this week’s results. The bank said on Wednesday that the European Banking Authority, which is running the tests, had rebuffed its attempts to shore up its capital and that Helaba was expected to publish its own results separately, the Financial Times reported. The withdrawal reduces the number of participating banks to 90.

The recent bear raid on Italian bank stocks and government bonds makes plain that fixing Greek finances won't halt the contagion that Brussels and Frankfurt fear so much. If Europe wants to save the euro, it is going to need to act more boldly, The Wall Street Journal reported in a commentary. Nobody outside the European Central Bank believes any longer that Greece can avoid restructuring its debt, and hefty haircuts for bondholders are likely to be part of that if a restructuring is going to do any good.

Dutch bancassurer ING asked a European court on Tuesday to revoke certain terms imposed as part of its state rescue, a move which could postpone asset sales and cut the cost of repayment, Reuters reported. A ruling in ING's favour could give the financial group more time to spin off its insurance operations in two separate initial public offerings (IPOs) and to sell WestlandUtrecht, a small local bank -- divestments which ING must carry out as a condition of its rescue during the credit crisis.

The Italian parliament is working on approving a €40 billion ($57.05 billion) austerity plan by Sunday, officials said, a fast timetable aimed at keeping Europe's debt crisis from infecting the continent's third-largest economy, The Wall Street Journal reported. Silvio Berlusconi's conservative governing coalition two weeks ago unveiled the austerity measures, which include public-sector wage freezes, higher fees for doctor visits and fewer transfers of funds from the central state to local administrations.

Moody's on Tuesday night cut Ireland's credit rating to junk, the Irish Times reported. The ratings agency said it was downgrading the country's bond ratings by one notch to Ba1 from Baa3 with a negative outlook. Ireland joins Portugal and Greece in becoming the third euro zone country to have its ratings cut to junk. Portugal's rating was cut four levels to Ba2 just over a week ago.