EU’s Barnier rejects UK’s post-Brexit banking plan
The European Union’s chief Brexit negotiator Michael Barnier has rejected the UK’s proposal to give London’s financial district access to the European Union as “unacceptable”…
June 2020
UK Govt to sell record £275bn debt for April-August
The UK said on Monday it plans to sell a record £275 billion of government debt between April and August to pay for the massive…
EU budget falls 10% to €167bn as UK leaves
The European Commission has proposed an EU budget of €166.7 billion in commitments for 2021, down 9.7% on 2020. This would be the first budget…
EU approves Germany’s €6bn to recapitalise Lufthansa
The European Commission said on Thursday it has approved German plans to contribute €6 billion to the recapitalisation of Deutsche Lufthansa AG (DLH), the parent…
Wirecard files for insolvency; shares fall 80%
Troubled German payments firm Wirecard filed for insolvency at a Munich court on Thursday, becoming the first sitting member of Germany’s leading share index DAX…
Bayer pays up to $10.9bn to settle cancer lawsuits
German drugs and pesticides giant Bayer AG agreed to pay as much as $10.9 billion to settle almost 100,000 US lawsuits claiming that its weedkiller…
EU holds in-depth probe of $27bn LSE bid for Refinitiv
The European Commission said on Monday it has opened an in-depth investigation to assess the proposed $27 billion acquisition of Refinitiv by the London Stock…
ING names Steven van Rijswijk as new CEO
Dutch banking giant ING Groep NV said on Friday its chief risk officer Steven van Rijswijk will succeed Ralph Hamers as chief executive officer and…
Wirecard seeks finance plan after downgrade to junk
Troubled German payments firm Wirecard said at the weekend it has hired US investment bank Houlihan Lokey to “develop a plan for the sustainable financing…
Sweden’s EQT sells €4bn credit unit to Bridgepoint
Swedish private equity firm EQT this week agreed to sell its €4 billion credit business to European buyout fund Bridgepoint. “The acquisition will be combined…
KKR buys Dutch holiday park firm Roompot in €1bn deal
US private equity firm KKR this week agreed to buy Dutch vacation parks firm Roompot from French private equity firm PAI Partners in a deal…
EIB in €100m support for BioNTech’s Covid-19 tests
The European Investment Bank (EIB) and German biotech firm BioNTech said they concluded a €100 million debt financing agreement for the EIB to support the development…
European football generates record €29bn revenue
The European football market as a whole generated record revenues of €28.9 billion (£25.5 billion) for the year covering the 2018-19 season. That’s according to…
IMF says $10 trillion spent on pandemic, more needed
Governments around the world have spent $10 trillion in fiscal actions to respond to the economic crisis caused by the coronavirus pandemic, the head of…
OECD: second wave could wipe 11% off Euro area GDP
The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) warned on Wednesday that if a second major outbreak of Covid-19 occurs later this year and triggers…
Euro unchallenged as No 2 currency; leads green bonds
The euro has remained unchallenged as the second most used currency globally after the US dollar since its introduction 20 years ago, but its usage…
ECB stimulus lifts bond purchases to €1.35 trillion
The European Central Bank on Thursday announced a bigger-than-expected expansion of its stimulus package to support an economy plunged into recession by the coronavirus pandemic….