Britain’s Sports Direct Plc has pulled its offer to buy Patisserie Holdings Plc after just two days, the Financial Times reported. In a letter on Sunday, Sports Direct wrote to cafe chain Patisserie Valerie’s administrators, KPMG, complaining it lacked the information required to continue bidding for the group, the FT said.

Interserve has struck a rescue deal that will see lenders take control of the company by swapping millions of pounds worth of debt for new shares, giving the troubled outsourcing group a chance of survival, Reuters reported. Racing to avert a collapse like that of peer Carillion, Interserve said on Wednesday it would cut debt by more than half to about 275 million pounds after creditors wrote off loans in return for new equity worth 97.5 percent of the share capital. Existing shareholders, who saw the company lose 90 percent of its value in 2018, will largely be wiped out.

A Scottish shopping centre sold at auction for £310,000 on Tuesday after being placed on sale with a reserve price of £1, as a tough retail climate cuts into property values, the Financial Times reported. The Postings shopping centre in Kirkcaldy was sold by the asset manager Columbia Threadneedle, which set the low reserve price because the centre — which has several vacant units — currently costs more to run than it earns in rent. The centre, built in the 1980s, most recently changed hands for £10.3m in 2003, according to Estates Gazette.

Last-ditch talks to save Interserve, one of the UK’s biggest government contractors, have narrowed in on a debt-for-equity swap, with hopes rising that a restructuring will be announced this week, the Financial Times reported. The group’s board met on Tuesday after weeks of fraught negotiations with lenders and the Cabinet Office over rescuing a company that employs 45,000 people across services such as schools and hospitals. “Everyone is running ragged trying to find a settlement,” said one person involved in the talks. “It’s a bit like Brexit.

Sunrise Records, a Canadian chain of record stores, agreed to buy most of HMV Group Plc in an auction overseen by the embattled music retailer’s administrators, fending off a rival bid by retail magnate Mike Ashley, Bloomberg News reported. Douglas Putnam, who runs Sunrise and bought HMV’s Canadian unit in 2017, will gain control of 100 stores across the U.K., KPMG LLP said Tuesday. The remaining 27 shops will be shut down, putting 455 employees out of work.

Barclays is being sued by seven local English councils over controversial bank loans sold before the financial crisis, the Financial Times reported. The bank entered into lender-option, borrower-option (Lobo) loan agreements with the seven local authorities between 2006 and 2008 which had interest rates linked to Libor, an interest-rate benchmark. Barclays is among a number of banks that have been fined over Libor since the 2008 banking crisis.

Last year corporate deaths rose to levels not seen in five years. On almost every level, personal and company insolvencies are rising, and fast, according to the Insolvency Service, the Financial Times reported in a commentary. It is bleak news in a bleak midwinter. Maybe that is not a surprise. HMV and House of Fraser were just two of the high street names that collapsed last year. Then there was Conviviality and more recently Patisserie Valerie, the Luke Johnson-led cake chain. And of course, Carillion, the outsourcer that went spectacularly bust a year ago.

Debenhams is pushing to restructure its property portfolio ahead of a quarterly rent date in March, as it struggles with a sharp deterioration in its finances, the Financial Times reported. The 200-year-old department store chain is in refinancing negotiations with its lenders, but is also drawing up documents for a company voluntary arrangement — an insolvency deal that includes restructuring leases — which could take place in the next few weeks, said three people familiar with the plans.

British airline Flybe, which is being bought by a consortium of Virgin Atlantic, Stobart Group and Cyrus Capital, said on Sunday it had been approached by Stobart’s ex CEO Andrew Tinkler about a possible alternative financing proposal, Reuters reported. However, the airline said the consortium’s offer remained the best option. Tinkler’s approach to Flybe, which was made on Friday, was first reported on Sunday by City AM and the Financial Times.

British private equity firm Actis plans to instigate an investor vote from next week on its proposed takeover of one of Abraaj’s biggest funds, seeking indemnity from potential legal claims against the Dubai buyout group, said a source close to Actis. Abraaj was the largest buyout fund in the Middle East and North Africa until it collapsed last year after fallout from a row with investors, including the Gates Foundation, over the use of their money in a $1 billion healthcare fund, Reuters reported.