New shots fired in the ‘shareholders’ vs ‘stakeholders’ war
An international group of corporate law professors has issued a “Modern Corporation Statement on Company Law“, a peculiar two page document which describes itself as a “summary of certain fundamentals of corporate law, applicable in almost all jurisdictions, in an effort to help prevent analytical errors which can have severe and damaging effects on corporations and corporate governance.”
Their 10th and last statement is: Continue reading “Whose interests are served by the corporate interest?”
In a previous post (Everybody loses … except the lawyers) the settlement in the bankruptcy liquidation of Nortel Networks Corp was announced. Last week, the High Court of Justice approved this settlement. The judgment can be read here.
Jennifer Hill (Sidney Law School) on Oxford Business Law Blog
“Any economist will tell you that incentives matter in understanding human behaviour. The positive incentives provided to the Dutch managers confirm this – they helped to put the Netherlands ahead of the rest of the colonialist pack during the 17th century. But organizational incentives are not always positive. Fast forward three centuries and the story of Domino’s Pizza Inc provides a good example of how organizations can create perverse incentives.”
See post here.
In een vonnis van 31 oktober 2016 heeft de rechtbank van koophandel te Antwerpen de homologatie van het reorganisatieplan van de NV Corsan geweigerd. In een aantal vonnissen van dezelfde datum werd eveneens de homologatie van de reorganisatieplannen van met de NV Corsan verbonden (project)vennootschappen geweigerd. Over de achtergrond van deze zaken is voldoende verslag gedaan in de (financiële) pers. De NV Corsan had zich toegelegd op de productie van films, o.a. het historische epos Emperor, gebruik makend van de fiscaal gunstige tax shelter-regeling. Een dispuut over de toepassing van deze regeling lag mede aan de grondslag van de financiële problemen van de schuldenaar. Continue reading “De nieuwe kleren van de keizer”
Bijdragen uit Liber Amicorum van Prof. Dr. M. Flamée online beschikbaar
Zie het overzicht van de bijdragen hier. Zie voor een biografie van Professor Flamée hier. Interesseerden ons onder meer: Continue reading “Blog Amicorum – Professor Michel Flamée (VUB)”
The uneasy dual role of creditor and shareholder
A previous post mentioned the rudimentary rule on distributions in the ‘partnership en commandite’ (limited liability partnership) in article 206 of the Belgian Company Code (‘BCC’), dating back to 1873:
“Third parties can force [the limited partner] to return any interest or dividends distributed to him, if such distributions are not taken from the non-fictitious profits of the partnership. The unlimited partner has recourse against the manager for any distributions he had to return, in case of fraud, bad faith or serious negligence by the manager.”
Today we discuss how one word in this antique (yet inspiring) rule foreshadows a topical subject: Continue reading “‘You can’t dance at two weddings with one behind’ (Yiddish proverb)”
Hoge Raad 27 mei 2016 : Toerekening aan overheid is mogelijk, zelfs wanneer garantie eigenmachtig en wederrechtelijk werd verleend door bestuurder havenbedrijf
De Nederlandse Hoge Raad besliste in een arrest van 27 mei 2016 dat een garantie gesteld door de (enig) bestuurder van een openbaar bedrijf (i.c. een havenbedrijf), in principe kan worden toegerekend aan de overheid, zelfs indien die bestuurder eigenmachtig en wederrechtelijk heeft opgetreden. Er moet wel in concreto worden nagegaan of de overheid bij het verlenen van de garanties was betrokken. In deze zaak stelde de Hoge Raad ook twee prejudiciële vragen aan het Hof van Justitie (zie meer hier).
“Suppose that a bankruptcy judge has two options in a bankruptcy proceeding of a factory. First, the judge could reorganize the factory, resulting in a $1,000,000 payment to creditors and keeping the factory largely intact. Second, the judge could liquidate the factory, resulting in a $1,500,000 payment to creditors and the loss of 1,000 jobs as the factory is shuttered. What should the bankruptcy judge choose?”
With this deliberately provocative question Zachary Liscow rekindles the debate about the fundamental values of bankruptcy law in a recent article published in the Columbia Law Review (read here). Continue reading “Values in bankruptcy law”
“L’homme moderne est dans bien des cas plus enclin à la dépense que ne l’étaient ses ancêtres” (F. H. Speth, La divisibilité du patrimoine et l’entreprise d’une personne, Parijs, L.G.D.J., 1958, 10)
Our society is credit driven. Consumers and companies borrow against future earnings to finance actual spending. Banks borrow for a living. The Government borrows to pay for social peace, pushing the bill towards future generations. Money for nothing only exists in pop songs. Credit eventually has to be paid by somebody, be it the debtor or society as a whole.
The International Monetary Fund recently publised a report on the proliferation of private sector debt. Continue reading “Debt: use it wisely”
Banking in a Brave New World
Financial institutions, insurers, investors, and their legal counsel need to substantially adapt their way of thinking and operating in a negative interest rate environment
See post (Stibbe) here.
Michael Schillig on Oxford Business Law Blog
“The safest option for UK incorporated companies that have their central administration in real seat countries is to convert into a company form of another Member State prior to Brexit taking effect”
See post here.
In case of an irregular distribution a shareholder – even in good faith – is less deserving of protection than a creditor
A previous post had a look at the ancient partnership en commandite as a treasure-trove for company law reform. This post explores what we can learn from the ‘partnership en commandite’ for the regulation of distributions to shareholders. Continue reading “Distributions to shareholders: inspiration from the ‘partnership en commandite’?”
SCI Senior Home – article 5 Regulation 1346/2000
In its judgment of today (read here), the Court of Justice interpreted article 5 of Regulation 1346/2000. Pursuant to this article, the opening of insolvency proceedings shall not affect the rights in rem of creditors or third parties in respect of tangible or intangible, moveable or immoveable assets – both specific assets and collections of indefinite assets as a whole which change from time to time – belonging to the debtor which are situated within the territory of another Member State at the time of the opening of proceedings. Continue reading “The Insolvency Regulation (case-law)”
Is the common law trust an ‘entity’ on the same footing as a legal person?
In a seminal case regarding trust matters, the Court of Justice of the European Free Trade Association (‘EFTA Court’) has ruled in Olsen (7 July 2014) that a trust, as a form of establishment, may fall within the scope of articles 31 and 40 of the Agreement on the European Economic Area (‘EEA Agreement’). Continue reading “An ‘entity’ or not an ‘entity’, that is the question.”
Many legal procedures focus on the question whether or not the contractants have acted in good faith. Long gone are the days that contracts were (just) considered to be the meeting point of antagonistic interests. René Demogue famously introduced the idea that contracts constitute a “petite société”, with the contractual parties having common – not divergent – interests (Traité des obligations en général, 1931, t. VI, 9). Continue reading “Good faith in contractual dealings: abstract versus concrete”
Corporate Finance Lab 