It was a reality check that many in Spain always knew was coming. For more than two weeks, the country woke up almost daily to brightening economic news: first came the widely-hailed return to economic growth, then a flurry of data showing that the labour market is stabilising, the Financial Times reported. Even Microsoft founder Bill Gates seemed keen to buy into the Spanish comeback, snapping up a 6 per cent stake in one of the country’s biggest construction groups.

Spanish appliance maker Fagor Electrodomésticos on Wednesday edged toward a possible bankruptcy filing after its French unit said it was seeking protection from creditors, The Wall Street Journal reported. Fagor, Europe's fifth-largest maker of household appliances such as washing machines and stoves, was hit hard by the region's economic crisis and has been scrambling to secure financing to continue operations. The white-goods maker is the flagship industrial member of the Mondragón network of self-managed cooperatives—the largest of its type in the world.

Indebted Spanish printing company Service Point Solutions SA has applied for creditor protection, it said on Thursday, after talks with its lenders failed, Reuters reported. The company said earlier on Thursday it was talking to creditors after banks rejected its proposals to buy back debt and that it had not ruled out applying for protection from creditors.

Hedge funds are circling Spanish banks, hoping to mop up bad corporate debt cheaply when the lenders finally face up to billions of euros in losses on loans to firms in trouble, Reuters reported. Spanish companies are among the most indebted in Europe, and investors say that only when this burden has eased will equity buyouts recover following the country's long recession. While Spanish banks have already been forced to grasp the nettle on property loans, they still need to tackle their distressed corporate lending.

Fomento de Construcciones & Contratas SA is in talks with creditor banks to convert part of the Spanish infrastructure company’s loans into payment-in-kind debt, according to two people familiar with the matter, Bloomberg reported. The higher-yielding PIKs, which allow borrowers to roll up interest so that it's paid when the debt comes due, will total about 1.5 billion euros ($2.1 billion), said the people, who asked not to be identified because the negotiations are private. The Barcelona-based company is currently seeking to refinance about 5 billion euros of loans, they said.

Spanish loss-making consumer appliance company Fagor filed for protection from creditors while it tries to refinance its debt, the company said on Wednesday, after suffering a prolonged period of falling sales. Fagor said in a statement it had begun "negotiations with creditors to reach a refinancing agreement to guarantee its financial stability." Under Spanish bankruptcy rules it has four months to reach a deal. Its total debt has risen to 1.1 billion euros ($1.5 billion) according to Thomson Reuters data.

A rented office overlooking a dusty rail track near Madrid’s airport was until recently the workplace of what would appear to be the most productive worker in all of Spain. From here a single employee presided over a company that from 2009 to 2011 made €9.9bn of net profits, all while earning an annual salary of only €55,000, the Financial Times reported.

Spain emerged from two years of recession late this summer, but it faces a long period of more austerity and painful adjustments before it can regain its footing and put most of its six million unemployed back to work, Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy said on Monday, The Wall Street Journal reported. "Spain is out of recession but not out of the crisis," Mr. Rajoy said in an interview with The Wall Street Journal, cautiously touting the effects of budgetary and structural overhauls that have been among the deepest in the euro zone.

Insolvent Spanish fishing firm Pescanova will ask its bank creditors to accept losses of between 70 percent and 75 percent on loans they made the company, a source with knowledge of the matter said on Wednesday, Reuters reported. Pescanova's new chairman Juan Manuel Urgoiti is due to meet with banks on Wednesday to discuss a plan to re-float the firm, which an audit by KPMG showed had debt of 3.6 billion euros ($4.81 billion), making it one of Spain's biggest bankruptcies. Pescanova's creditor banks include Sabadell, Popular, Caixabank and nationalised lender NovaGalicia.

Shareholders in Spain's Pescanova chose Juan Manuel Urgoiti as chairman of the insolvent fishing firm on Thursday, after the company's former head stepped down earlier this year amid charges of insider trading and falsifying information, Reuters reported. Manuel Fernandez de Sousa was removed in April from the helm of the company he had run for more than three decades. He has denied any wrongdoing. Urgoiti sits on the board of directors of retailer Inditex and is a former chairman of Banco Gallego.