A Dutch sludge-processing firm said it was in talks with Deutsche Bank and others about a 270 million euro ($331 million) derivatives deal, in which it effectively guaranteed loans the German bank made to other firms. Slibverwerking Noord-Brabant (SNB), owned by Dutch public water management bodies, is now sitting on a loss on the deal which it agreed in 2007, before the global credit crisis. SNB is talking to Deutsche Bank, its shareholders and other stakeholders about changing the terms of the loan guarantees, Chief Financial Officer Silvester Bombeeck told Reuters.

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.

Oil giant Royal Dutch Shell, fuel distribution firm Greenergy and storage company Vopak are putting together a joint bid to buy the Coryton refinery as a storage terminal, a union official said on Wednesday, Reuters reported. The union said it would fight the move, which would put the vast majority of the 900 workforce out of a job, and will step up protests to encourage the government to support a bid to keep it operational. "We're hearing it's a tripartate agreement," said Russ Ball, regional representative for Unite the Union.

Parts of bankrupt Dutch aluminium producer ZALCO will be bought by a Dutch and a U.S. company, which will continue casting and anode production but smelting operations will cease, the Dutch buyer and an administrator said on Monday, Reuters reported. ZALCO, which had a production capacity of 275,000 tonnes per year of aluminium, filed for bankruptcy in mid-December. Its plant at the port of Vlissingen in the southwest of the Netherlands, which employed 600 people, was shut a few days later due to a lack of funds to pay energy suppliers.

The Netherlands has recently found itself in the unusual position of being a deficit scoldee rather than deficit scolder: The government’s forecasting agency said that worse-than-expected growth boosted the deficit last year and will do so this year and next without more cuts. The ensuing austerity talks prompted the collapse of the Dutch government, but the caretaker government managed to secure a deal on a package of spending cuts and tax hikes that will bring the deficit under 3% of gross domestic product next year, as required by EU rules. So, good news, right? Actually, no.

The Dutch caretaker government secured a parliamentary majority for its austerity package Thursday evening, after clinching the support of a fifth political party, The Wall Street Journal reported. Dutch Finance Minister Jan Kees de Jager had been engaged in talks with three left-leaning opposition parties in an effort to reach agreement on the 2013 budget ahead of a key debate in Parliament later in the day and a European Commission deadline next week.

The Dutch prime minister, Mark Rutte, announced the resignation of his coalition government on Monday after its partners failed to agree on austerity measures, leaving the Netherlands with a messy leadership vacuum at a time of anxiety about the euro, the International Herald Tribune reported. Mr. Rutte has been an ally to Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany on fiscal matters and a strong voice in favor of austerity for other European countries.

Collapsed budget talks in the Netherlands heralded months of political uncertainty ahead of early elections that now appear inevitable, shedding doubt on austerity programs and raising the prospect of a downgrade of the euro-zone country's top sovereign credit rating, Dow Jones reported.

The housing market slump in the Netherlands is causing headaches for the country's banks, which were just on their way to recovering from the financial crisis in 2008 and could now face rising losses and tighter funding conditions, The Wall Street Journal reported. The Dutch government is expected to wrap up negotiations this week on more austerity measures to bring its budget deficit in line with European Union requirements in 2013. In addition to tax increases and spending cuts, it will likely take a first step in addressing the huge mortgage debt in the Netherlands.

The Netherlands' ABN Amro Bank NV said Wednesday it won't participate in Greece's debt restructuring, making it one of the few major creditors to back out of the deal, Dow Jones reported. ABN Amro won't participate because it is still unclear why it was put on a list of banks that had to take part in the debt restructuring, a spokesman said. The deadline to participate in the deal was Wednesday. The bank, which holds EUR1.3 billion of corporate bonds that are backed by the Greek government, has argued that the list was inconsistent because peers that hold similar debt weren't put on the list.