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VIENNA/FRANKFURT, Nov 29 (Reuters) - Property and retail giant Signa declared insolvency on Wednesday after last-ditch attempts to secure fresh funding failed, making it the biggest casualty so far of Europe's property crash.Controlled by Austrian magnate Rene Benko, the group is an owner of New York's Chrysler Building as well as several high-profile projects and department stores across Germany, Austria and Switzerland.The multi-billion-euro group, whose tentacles reach from Germany's best-known department store, Berlin's KaDeWe, to the country's top high-street chain Galeria and a skyscraper project, is set to send ripples...

Euro zone saw winter recession, more challenges aheadEvotec tops STOXX 600 after Citigroup upgradeTelecoms dragged by Vodafone sharesSTOXX 600 flat, FTSE 100 down 0.3%June 8 (Reuters) - European shares were subdued on Thursday as rate-sensitive technology shares and consumer staples slipped on expectations of further interest rate hikes by major central banks, while a sharp slide in Vodafone shares weighed on the telecoms sector.The pan-European STOXX 600 index (.STOXX) was flat, with the rate-sensitive technology sector (.SX8P) down 0.3%.Britain's FTSE 100 (.FTSE) led losses among regional peers, with export-heavy consumer...

June 5 (Reuters) - Tighter lending standards from regional banks are making it harder for U.S. hotel developers to secure funding, slowing construction of new hotels at a time Americans' appetite for travel is ripe.Hotel developers, private equity firms, and general contractors told Reuters the financial stress on regional banks -- the largest lenders to hotels and other commercial real estate markets -- has forced developers to postpone projects or find other creative ways to raise capital.The hotel industry's predicament highlights the impact on the broader U.S. economy of the...