Spain has taken an important step toward completing the cleanup of its banking sector by selling the state-owned Catalunya Banc to BBVA for 1.19 billion euros, or $1.6 billion, the International New York Times DealBook blog reported. The sale, announced on Monday night by the state banking restructuring fund, comes after a difficult and delayed auction process for Catalunya. Spain had to inject more public money into the lender than initially expected to attract bidders.

Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria SA won an auction to buy nationalized bank Catalunya Banc SA, Spain's bank-rescue fund said Monday, The Wall Street Journal reported. Spain's second-largest bank by market capitalization offered to pay €1.2 billion ($1.62 billion) for the lender, the bank-rescue fund said. In a surprise move, BBVA beat out rivals Banco Santander SA and Caixabank SA, which submitted binding offers to the rescue fund on Friday, according to people familiar with the sales process.

Creditors of a bankrupt Spanish motorway business delayed a meeting to decide whether to liquidate it on Friday, two sources close to the talks said, giving the government more time to find a way to prevent billions in debt going on to its books, Reuters reported. After more than a year of negotiations between ministries, banks and construction companies, the government has yet to find a way of saving nine bankrupt motorways, without debt of more than 4 billion euros ($5.4 billion) hitting its deficit.

Creditors of a bankrupt Spanish motorway business will meet on Friday to decide whether to liquidate it, piling pressure on the government to come up with a way to avoid billions of debt from nine failed toll road companies ending up on its books, Reuters reported. After more than a year of negotiations between ministries, banks and construction companies, the government has yet to find a way of saving the motorway businesses without debt of over 4 billion euros ($5.4 billion) hitting its finances.

Espírito Santo International SA's main unit, Rioforte Investments, is preparing to file for creditor protection in Luxembourg because of mounting pressure to repay debt with funds it doesn't have, The Wall Street Journal reported. In the latest sign of stress, Rioforte is unlikely to repay €897 million ($1.22 billion) in debt held by Portuguese telecom giant Portugal Telecom SGPS SA, according to a person familiar with the situation. The deadline for the majority of the debt is by midnight Tuesday.

Spanish wireless networks provider Gowex filed for bankruptcy on Monday, a week after an accounting fraud at the firm was revealed, while the High Court said its founder could face a jail sentence of more than 10 years. Law firm Velez & Urbina said Gowex had decided to file for bankruptcy because it was in a state of "imminent insolvency" and faced a "financial standstill" after a high number of contracts were ended and new projects were canceled.

Spanish wireless networks provider Gowex, at the heart of an accounting scandal that has hit Spain's reputation among investors, started insolvency proceedings on Thursday, giving it four months to reach a deal with creditors or face bankruptcy. Spain's High Court also said it had charged the company's founder and former chief executive Jenaro Garcia Martin with three financial crimes: false accounting, distortion of economic and financial information, and insider trading. He was called to testify next Monday, when he is also due to hand over his computer and his phone.

Spanish wireless networks provider Gowex said on Sunday it would file for bankruptcy and its CEO and founder Jenaro Garcia Martin had resigned having acknowledged reporting false accounts for at least the last four years, Reuters reported. The move came just hours after the company said it had hired PricewaterhouseCoopers to carry out a forensic audit of its accounts in a response to a report from a firm called Gotham City Research that had questioned its revenue reporting.

Turning its back on fiscal austerity, the Spanish government presented a broad package of income and corporate tax cuts on Friday that are scheduled to begin before next year’s general election, the International New York Times reported. The cuts roll back some of the tax increases that Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy began putting into effect shortly after his conservative Popular Party swept to power in 2011 by winning a parliamentary majority. The next election is scheduled to take place by November 2015.

Spain is looking at extending a law enacted in March which helps struggling companies cut debt and avoid bankruptcy to firms already in the liquidation process, Economy Minister Luis de Guindos said on Tuesday, Reuters reported. The rules were designed to ease loan refinancings by making it harder for small creditors to veto deals between companies and their lenders and create a mechanism for creditors to write off part of the debt. The amendment would be passed in the next few weeks, de Guindos said.