Italy

A federal appeals court in Chicago said auditor Grant Thornton LLP must again face a lawsuit over its alleged role in the collapse of Italian dairy company Parmalat SpA, while lamenting that its decision puts the nearly 10-year-old case on the brink of starting anew, Reuters reported. Wednesday's decision by the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals overturned an April 2013 dismissal of the case by U.S. District Judge John Darrah in Chicago. The appeals court ordered that the case be moved to a state court in Cook County, which includes Chicago, where Grant Thornton is based.

Europe’s centre-left leaders, led by Italy’s Matteo Renzi, are pushing for a loosening of the EU’s tough budget rules as the price for their support of Jean-Claude Juncker to be the next European Commission president, a drive that risks reopening the debate over eurozone austerity ahead of a summit next week, the Financial Times reported. The move threatens to become particularly contentious in Germany, where the government’s deputy chancellor, Sigmar Gabriel, leader of the junior coalition partner Social Democrats, unexpectedly backed Mr Renzi’s drive this week.

France and Italy, still struggling to meet the euro zone’s tough budget targets, may be gaining support for an effort to relax the rules, the International New York Times reported. The effort, backed by Socialists in the newly elected European Parliament, could color discussions in Luxembourg on Thursday and Friday, when the bloc’s finance ministers gather for their monthly meetings. The European Union is finally emerging from a six-year economic crisis that threatened to destroy the euro currency.

The Italian government has asked ArcelorMittal SA to consider investing in or buying troubled Italian steel producer Ilva, the chief executive officer of the world's largest steelmaker said on Tuesday, Reuters reported. "We have been invited by the Italian government to look at it. That does not mean that we are going to acquire it," CEO Lakshmi Mittal said on the sidelines of the Steel Success Strategies conference in New York.

Facing the prospect of bankruptcy for the second time in five years, the board of Italy’s troubled flagship airline, Alitalia, agreed on Friday to a strategic partnership that would give a stake of up to 49 percent to the state-owned Abu Dhabi carrier Etihad Airways, the International New York Times reported. With no other viable alternative, and the company’s cash reserves dwindling, Alitalia’s chief executive, Gabriele Del Torchio, told reporters in Rome that the board had voted in favor of Etihad’s offer.

Prime Minister Matteo Renzi’s government can’t impose a cap aimed at reining in state salaries on Bank of Italy officials’ pay as that would compromise the independence of the institution, European Central Bank President Mario Draghi said, Bloomberg News reported. “Member states may not seek to influence the members of the national central banks’ decision-making bodies by amending national legislation affecting their remuneration,” said a May 26 opinion of the ECB Governing Council signed by Draghi, a fomer Bank of Italy governor.

Italian carrier Alitalia is in for some "painful and arduous" restructuring but should see a deal with Etihad Airways in a matter of weeks, the airline's chief executive officer said Monday, Gazzetta del Sud reported. Gabriele Del Torchio said that changes were necessary to attract essential investment from Abu Dhabi-based Etihad, which he said is prepared to invest 560 million euros in the cash-strapped Alitalia.

The UAE-based Etihad Airways has said that it is pressing ahead with a plan for an equity investment in the struggling Italian carrier Alitalia, The Economic Times reported. Etihad Airways, which has been in negotiations for almost a year, said it will forward a letter detailing the conditions precedent and the criteria for a proposed equity investment in the Italian airline which had to turn to shareholders for a 250 million pound cash injection for its bail-out in January.

European Union authorities on Monday told Italy to adopt more austerity policies, despite pleas from Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi for breathing space from EU requirements to cut its large debt burden, The Wall Street Journal reported. The move comes as part of annual directives sent by the European Commission, the EU's executive arm, to its member states covering everything from the budget deficit to labor-market rules.

American investment firms have found numerous opportunities to capitalize on the turmoil in Europe’s banking sector by buying distressed assets. But one major private equity firm, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts, is taking a novel approach, the International New York Times DealBook blog reported.