The share price, euro12.80 at flotation in 1997, sank to euro4.50 earlier this month, but has since climbed a little.

ECONOMIST: Industry in eastern Germany

The main spending cuts will fall on the federal Labour Office, which will see its government grant cut by euro4 billion a year.

ECONOMIST: Germany's new government

BT's stake in Cegetel, but around euro4 billion is plausible.

ECONOMIST: Vivendi Universal

Its network of 14, 000 agents have made Allianz No. 1 in Germany's traditional life insurance market, with Euro4.2 billion in gross premiums written in Germany in the first half of 2000.

FORBES: Schulte-Noelle Scores

Raymond Greaves, an analyst with Merrill Lynch, has calculated that, in March, there were around euro4 billion of net prepayments on the liability side of Alstom's balance sheet for which he cannot clearly identify liquid assets.

ECONOMIST: Alstom

In recent days, Iceland has taken over the country's second-biggest bank, fixed the exchange rate of its plummeting currency, and asked Russia for a euro4 billion loan as it scrambled to stop the collapse of its economy.

NPR: Iceland Shivers From Financial Crisis