After Volkswagen/Porsche, another German corporate and family soap opera moves into its final act. Ultimately, Schaeffler, the family-owned maker of ball bearings that overstretched itself trying to take over car parts maker Continental as the market collapsed last year, proved too leveraged to fail. Rather than take big losses now, its five banks agreed to a €12bn refinancing that could open the way to a full merger with Conti. Like VW/Porsche, this tangled saga has cast German capitalism in a poor light – and seems set for a typically German resolution.

Splitting Schaeffler’s debt into tranches with maturities of four and a half and six years should allow full integration with Conti. That had been in question as Schaeffler struggled to manage its debt, and similarly indebted Conti pursued plans for a €1.5bn capital raising that could have diluted Schaeffler’s stake. The deal removes the danger of a fire sale of Conti assets to reduce Schaeffler’s debt. And it might slow the revolving door at Conti which, feuding with Schaeffler, has lost two chief executives and two chairmen in a year.