Spain's government is studying measures to help struggling companies restructure their debts, which could include transferring banks' exposures to such firms to a newly-created external fund, a banking source familiar with the talks said. Spanish investment bank N+1 has produced a study, seen by Reuters, on the potential creation of a vehicle that would aid debt-for-equity swaps by allowing banks to exchange loans for stakes and transfer those stakes to an externally-managed fund.

Codere SA (CDR) formally rejected a final restructuring proposal from bondholders less than three months before the Spanish gaming company’s deadline to agree to a restructuring or request full creditor protection, Bloomberg News reported. The plan bondholders submitted Feb. 2 doesn’t treat shareholders equally by allowing minority shareholders to have 3.2 percent of Codere and the founding Martinez Sampedro family 14.3 percent, the company said in a statement. The proposed debt structure is not the best solution for the company, which needs to lower its interest payments, Codere said.

When José Ignacio Goirigolzarri came out of retirement to take the helm of Spain's biggest distressed lender, more than his own reputation as a first-rate banker was at stake. So was the reputation of Spain's financial system, whose woes had undermined faith in Europe's common currency, The Wall Street Journal reported. After nearly two years as executive chairman of Bankia SA, Mr. Goirigolzarri is making measurable progress in overhauling the bank that in 2012 registered the biggest loss in Spanish corporate history.

At least a dozen large international investors are lining up to look at a large Spanish property-loan portfolio sale that will take the temperature of one of Europe's most distressed real-estate markets, The Wall Street Journal reported. Commerzbank AG recently began shopping around the portfolio—code named Project Octopus—that includes loans with a face value of €4.4 billion ($6 billion) that are backed by shopping centers, hotels and offices.

Commerzbank has sold some of its property loans in Spain, as it continues to rid itself of the assets held in its so-called “bad bank”, the Financial Times reported. The German lender said it had sold non-performing loans worth €710m from its Spanish commercial property portfolio to undisclosed “international investors”. The sale follows reports in recent days that Commerzbank is in talks with private equity companies Apollo and Cerberus to offload its entire Spanish property portfolio, which is now worth a little more than €4bn, according to one person familiar with the situation.

Spanish gaming group Codere failed to reach an agreement with bondholders over a major debt restructuring on Thursday, increasing pressure on the company as it battles to avoid insolvency, Reuters reported. The bingo hall and casino owner is struggling to keep up with debt payments because of higher tax bills and other costs and is one of many Spanish companies grappling with high debt levels even as the country emerges from recession.

Christie's has withdrawn 85 artworks by Spanish surrealist Joan Miró from its auctions in London this week, after an uproar in Portugal over the government's move to sell the works in an attempt to cut its debt, The Wall Street Journal reported. The decision, announced on Tuesday just hours before the Impressionist, Modern and Surrealist evening sale, represents a blow to Portugal's coffers—as well as an embarrassment for one of the world's largest auction houses during the most important time of year for the London art market.

Spain is preparing to start selling down its stake in Bankia SA, the bailed-out lender said yesterday, marking another milestone in the recovery from financial crisis of both the bank and the country, the Irish Times reported. Bankia, which returned to profit in 2013, said it had already held informal talks over the disposal of the government’s stake and its shares were attracting strong interest from foreign investors.

Less than two years ago, Bankia looked like a Spanish version of Lehman Brothers: a big, troubled institution whose collapse threatened to take down a country’s financial system, The International New York Times reported. Only after a government takeover of Bankia, at the time one of Spain’s biggest mortgage lenders, and an international bailout of the Spanish banking system did the crisis subside.

Codere SA, the Spanish gaming company in talks to restructure 1.1 billion euros ($1.5 billion) of debt, won’t make an interest payment on its bonds, according to a filing, BloombergBusinessweek reported. The company had 30 days grace period to make a 31 million-euro interest payment on its 8.25 percent bonds initially due Dec. 15. A default on the 760 million euros of bonds may give holders the right to demand immediate repayment. Codere continues negotiations with bondholders to restructure its debt, the Madrid-based company said in the statement.