faillissement

French fashion house Sonia Rykiel is bankrupt. Now that the search for an acquirer has failed, the 1968 fashion brand is left with 30 million euros of loss and declining sales.

The only way for the Dutch branch of Hudson's Bay to get rid of its overly expensive and very long-running rental contracts would be bankruptcy, as the chain's odds of survival are looking slim no matter what.

After the failure in the Netherlands, fashion chain CoolCat has now filed for bankruptcy for its seventeen stores in Belgium as well as the local head office. That puts 163 jobs in jeopardy. The stores have already been closed.

Intertoys, the Netherlands' biggest toy store chain, has filed for bankruptcy, after last week's suspension of payments was unable to solve the company's problems. The sale of the Belgian stores, who are not in this bankruptcy, is in an “advanced stage”.

Gerry Weber's parent company is in suspension of payment. The German fashion chain wants to make a fresh start, but not before they've been thoroughly restructured. 230 stores will need to be closed, putting 900 jobs at risk.

Eddie Lampert refuses to give up: the investor and president of the board of directors at endangered department store chain Sears is making a new 5-billion dollar (4.3 billion euros) takeover offer to save the chain from bankruptcy.

American department store chain Sears is suffering from heavy debt and considers all options, including a thorough reorganisation or even bankruptcy. The company's situation will become clearer later this week.