Spain

Spain emerged as the best performer of the eurozone’s big four economies last month as the single currency area largely shrugged off the impact of the Greek debt crisis, The Guardian reported. The latest health check conducted by the information services company Markit showed the pace of activity across the eurozone eased only slightly during the weeks when Greek banks were closed for business. But the survey found no signs that the eurozone was about to slide back into recession and, with Spain leading the way, was consistent with growth continuing at about 0.4% per quarter.

Bankia will look to fortify its balance sheet in 2016 through the issuance of subordinated debt instruments including Additional Tier 1, signalling another step forward for the bailed-out Spanish lender, Reuters reported. "There is no urgency and I don't foresee issuing capital this year, but we could issue an Additional Tier 1 and further Tier 2 next year," said Lennart de Jong, funding director at the bank. While Bankia has already tapped the Tier 2 market as part of its comprehensive overhaul, it has not yet sold an AT1 bond - the riskiest type of bank debt.

TP Ferro, the company that runs a high-speed rail link between Spain and France, filed for protection from creditors after failing to reach a debt restructuring agreement, its French co-owner said, Reuters reported. Construction firm Eiffage, which owns an equal share of the business with Spain's ACS, said late on Friday the link would continue to operate as the shareholders sought a quick solution to what it called an "unsustainable and precarious ... business model".

One of Spain’s “ghost airports”—expensive projects that were virtually unused—received just one bid in a bankruptcy auction after costing about €1.1 billion ($1.2 billion) to build, The Wall Street Journal reported. The buyer’s offer: €10,000. Ciudad Real’s Central airport, about 235 kilometers south of Madrid, became a symbol of the country’s wasteful spending during a construction boom that ended with the financial crisis of 2008, the year the airport opened. The operator of the airport went bankrupt in 2012 after it failed to draw enough traffic.

Banco Popular is preparing to sell €451 million euros of real estate assets in Spain as international investors return to the country’s property market, the Irish Times reported. The bank’s portfolio includes 1,753 homes in Madrid, Barcelona, Toledo and the Costa del Sol valued at $300 million , zoned land in 10 regions across Spain valued at €103.4 million and 13 hotels valued at €47.2 million, according to a document sent to investors by N+1, the Madrid-based investment bank advising the seller.

If anyone was going to blink over Greece, one might think it would be Spain or Portugal—the two countries widely considered most at risk if Greece leaves the eurozone. Indeed, both saw a slight rise in their borrowing costs last week at a particularly bleak moment in Greece’s negotiations with other eurozone members. And Goldman Sachs warned in an eye-catching report this week that if Greece does exit the euro, Spain’s borrowing costs could rise to four percentage points above Germany’s, compared with a spread of one percentage point now.

Property developer Martinsa Fadesa said on Thursday a court had begun its liquidation, seven years after it became one of the most notable casualties of Spain's real estate crash and filed for bankruptcy, Reuters reported. The liquidation, after a struggle with creditors over a debt pile of close to 7 billion euros ($7.52 billion), is one of the country's biggest ever bankruptcies.

Spain's bank restructuring fund (FROB) said late on Wednesday it would not bail out the Spanish affiliate of Andorra's Banca Privada d'Andorra (BPA) Banco Madrid, clearing the way for insolvency proceedings at the lender, Reuters reported. FROB, the state-funded vehicle which bailed out several Spanish banks during the height of the financial crisis in 2012, said the lender's problems did not pose a systemic risk which warranted the use of public funds. Banco Madrid began bankruptcy proceedings on Monday after customers rushed to empty accounts in the wake of U.S.

A Spanish court on Tuesday said it was suspending insolvency proceedings at Banco Madrid while it waited for guidance from the country's bank restructuring fund FROB on whether it wanted to wind down or restructure the lender, Reuters reported. FROB is the state vehicle which bailed out several banks during a financial crisis two years ago. The court said in a written ruling that FROB had 14 days to clarify its plans and whether it would rescue the bank.

Banco de Madrid, a small Spanish bank, filed for bankruptcy protection on Monday after a United States government report last week accused its parent company in Andorra of laundering money on behalf of organized crime groups in China and Russia, as well as for government officials in Venezuela, the International New York Times reported. The bankruptcy filing was aimed at stopping the flight of deposits from the bank after the accusations against its parent, Banca Privada d’Andorra, known as BPA.