Switzerland

Swiss steel and coal trader Carbofer General Trading (CGT) was declared bankrupt last month, officials in its home town Lugano said on Friday, shortly after its shipping branch Carbofer Maritime, Reuters reported. CGT, once a large player in the spot coal and steel trade, was declared bankrupt on May 16, the bankruptcy office of Lugano told Reuters, as market conditions worsened and financing froze up. Its Copenhagen-based shipping branch Carbofer Maritime Trading (CMT) was declared bankrupt about a month earlier, the Danish Sea and Maritime court said.

Insolvent Swiss oil refiner Petroplus owes Algerian state energy firm Sonatrach over $250 million in unpaid bills, an Algerian energy sector official told Reuters. Sonatrach has not received payment for several cargoes of crude it delivered to the refiner, the source said, without specifying what action, if any, the Algerian firm planned to take to recover the money. Late last year, Petroplus said lenders had frozen a credit facility which it was using to buy crude for delivery to its refineries. It filed for insolvency protection in January.

Switzerland agreed Thursday to a revised tax deal with Germany under which it would pay billions of dollars on funds hidden in its banks by German tax dodgers, the latest step in an international charm offensive that is meant to salvage at least some of the country’s famous banking secrecy, the International Herald Tribune reported.

The administrator of insolvent refiner Petroplus has applied to a Swiss court for a six-month extension of a debt moratorium for the Cressier refinery, Reuters reported. Switzerland's 68,000 barrel per day Cressier plant, one of just two refineries in the landlocked country, is up for sale and the deadline for offers was Monday. The court had previously given the plant a two months' grace period of protection from its creditors pending offers for its purchase. The administrator, Wenger-Plattner, said in a statement it had made the application for the extension.

Private investor Gary Klesch said on Thursday that his Swiss-based company has submitted the only bid for insolvent refiner Petroplus' French plant Petit-Couronne, Reuters reported. Asked if it was true that his firm had made an offer for the refiner, he said: "It is. We were told by the court there were no other bids ...We are in negotiations on the others." Klesch also confirmed an earlier report that his firm had pledged to invest 160 million euros in the refinery over five years and to retain around 410 of 550 jobs.

The number of insolvencies among Swiss machine makers rose an annual 35% last year, as the strength of the Swiss franc crimped demand in their key euro-region markets, data released Tuesday showed, Dow Jones Daily Bankruptcy Review reported. "With around 80% of Swiss machinery output being exported, and two-thirds of that to the euro zone, the franc's appreciation, particularly versus the euro, had a big impact on the sector," a survey by Credita AG noted.

Swiss trading house Vitol and two other companies are interested in leasing the UK's Coryton refinery from administrators, sources familiar with the discussions said on Thursday, Reuters reported. Administrators PwC have has been looking to find a buyer for Coryton since Petroplus, Europe's largest independent refiner by capacity, went into administration at the end of December. Vitol and PwC declined to comment.

A French prosecutor has launched an investigation into the insolvency filing by the local unit of Swiss-based refiner Petroplus Holdings AG, Dow Jones reported. The prosecutor started an investigation into whether there was irregular money flow, of about EUR100 million, out of the company's bank accounts prior to the filing for insolvency, a spokeswoman said Thursday in a telephone interview. She said the French police's financial brigade is investigating and officers have already carried out searches at some Petroplus sites.

Switzerland-based refiner Petroplus Holdings AG plans to file for insolvency, after talks with its lenders failed to unblock credit lines and the company succumbed to the weak profit margins that have dogged the sector in Europe during the past year, The Wall Street Journal reported.

The search is on for new investment "safe havens" following Switzerland's blocking off of its franc, diverting flows into less traditional assets that may already be too expensive, Reuters reported in an analysis. The Norwegian crown, the Australian dollar and emerging market debt are all in the frame for increased investor attention as one of their favourites has at least temporarily been blocked off. This is in addition to the traditional harbours such as gold and U.S. Treasuries -- which are at or near record prices.