Spain

A Spanish court has accepted a filing for bankruptcy from two investment firms that own 31 percent of French property company Gecina, Reuters reported. Alteco and MAG Import filed for bankruptcy on Oct. 3 after a bank refused to refinance a 1.6 billion euro ($2 billion) loan, leaving nearly a dozen lenders exposed. Alteco and MAG Import met conditions for voluntary bankruptcy, two Spanish mercantile courts said in documents released on Tuesday. French bank Natixis has the most exposure to the loan, at 266 million euros.

Spain's Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy Thursday came under increased pressure to ask for a European Union bailout after Standard & Poor's Ratings Services slashed the country's credit rating to leave it teetering just above speculative-grade, or "junk" status, The Wall Street Journal reported.

Spain’s debt rating was cut to one level above junk by Standard & Poor’s, which cited mounting economic and political risks as the government considers a second bailout, Bloomberg reported. The negative outlook on the long-term rating reflects our view of the significant risks to Spain’s economic growth and budgetary performance, and the lack of a clear direction in euro-zone policy,” S&P said.

Two Spanish investment firms that own 31 percent of French property company Gecina have filed one of the biggest bankruptcy actions in Spanish history after a bank refused to refinance a 1.6 billion euro ($2.1 billion) loan, Reuters reported. The potential bankruptcy is the latest chapter in Spain's debt saga since its 2008 real estate crash, which forced banks to write billions of euros off property investments.

Senior executives from Spain’s second-biggest bank, BBVA, met National Asset Management Agency officials yesterday as the Spanish authorities announced further details of a “bad bank” to purge toxic loans from its lenders, the Irish Times reported. Spanish bankers and government officials have been studying the Irish “bad bank” model as Madrid sets up a vehicle to acquire toxic real-estate loans and repossessed properties from the banks.

Spanish unemployment rose 1.7% in September from August, the country's labor ministry said Tuesday, evidence that unemployment in the euro zone's fourth-largest economy has yet to peak as Spain struggles to emerge from a deep contraction, The Wall Street Journal reported. More Spaniards have give up and are looking for work elsewhere.

Spain is ready to request a euro zone bailout for its public finances as early as next weekend but Germany has signaled that it should hold off, European officials said on Monday. The latest twist in the euro zone's three-year-old sovereign debt crisis comes as financial markets and some other European partners are pressuring Madrid to seek a rescue program that would trigger European Central Bank buying of its bonds, Reuters reported. "The Spanish were a bit hesitant but now they are ready to request aid," a senior European source said.

Spanish discount supermarket chain Dia is to acquire the Spanish and Portuguese arms of insolvent German drugstore chain Schlecker, it said on Friday, to diversify its product range and expand its presence in the two countries, Reuters reported. Dia has agreed to pay 70.5 million euros ($90.6 million) for Schlecker's 1,127 stores and three distribution centres in Spain and 41 stores and one distribution centre in Portugal. Schlecker filed for insolvency in January. The German company reported net sales of 318 million euros on the Iberian peninsula in 2011.

The Spanish government presented €13 billion ($16.7 billion) of spending cuts and tax increases for 2013 and said it will place new limits on early retirements as political turmoil heightens investor concerns over Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy's ability to slash a towering budget deficit and stabilize one of Europe's largest ailing economies, The Wall Street Journal reported. The government's budget plan for next year includes a share of the spending cuts and tax increases it presented in July designed to cut the deficit by €65 billion through the year 2014.

Spain's borrowing costs rose and its stock market fell sharply on the eve of Madrid's announcement of new austerity measures, putting the shaky economy again at the center of Europe's race to preserve its currency union, The Wall Street Journal reported. The government's 10-year borrowing costs rose nearly one-third of a percentage point, to above 6%, placing renewed pressure on Madrid to find a way out of its debt crisis and appearing to crimp its prospects for avoiding a bailout from its euro-zone partners.