The fiftieth session of Working Group V (Insolvency Law) will take place in Vienna from Monday 12 to Friday 16 December 2016. The delegates will discuss draft legislative provisions regarding the cross-border insolvency of multinational enterprise groups and the recognition and enforcement of insolvency-related judgments. For more information, see here.
Category: Insolvency
En dan gaat het mis… 10 tips voor de bestuurder van een vennootschap in financiële moeilijkheden
Een gastblogpost door Alexander Suykens
Een belangrijke schuld van een vennootschap wordt eerstdaags opeisbaar en de financiering ervan is nog niet gegarandeerd. De financiële toestand van een vennootschap gaat onder een bepaalde ratio uit haar leningsovereenkomst met de bank, waardoor de lening in haar geheel opeisbaar wordt. Een vennootschap dingt mee voor een project om er weer bovenop te komen, maar indien dit mislukt rest er nog weinig hoop.
Allemaal situaties die een onduidelijke schemerperiode creëren. Op de korte termijn is insolventie voor deze vennootschappen een reële mogelijkheid, maar heerst er nog een gerechtvaardigd vertrouwen dat insolventie kan worden afgewend. Voor de bestuurders creëert dit ongemakkelijke keuzes. Continue reading “En dan gaat het mis… 10 tips voor de bestuurder van een vennootschap in financiële moeilijkheden”
Proposal for a Directive on preventive restructuring frameworks, second chance and measures to increase the efficiency of restructuring, insolvency and discharge procedures and amending Directive 2012/30/EU
The proposal of the European Commission, and additional information, can be consulted here. A detailed analysis of this proposal will follow shortly.
Breaking news: press conference on European insolvency proposal
This afternoon, European Commissioner Věra Jourová will give a press conference on the European insolvency proposal. See here.
Best practices in cross-border proceedings (SaveComp)
The goal of the SaveComp Project, funded by the European Union, is to collect and exchange best practices in the field of (pre-)insolvency cross-border proceedings, to help office holders in insolvency proceedings to better coordinate and implement international cooperation, thus enhancing management of multiple proceedings, reorganization of companies and the protection of creditors and interests of stakeholders. The Project aims to collect best practices, private international rules and case law in (pre)insolvency cross-border proceedings. Moreover, the Project aims to develop and exchange best practices with respect to cross-border proceedings. Continue reading “Best practices in cross-border proceedings (SaveComp)”
Past and future of bankruptcy
In a recent insightful paper, professor Mark Roe (Harvard) reflects on the past and future of bankruptcy. Three ages of bankruptcy are identified and linked to underlying market-based phenomena and institutional conditions (comp., R. Clark, “The Interdisciplinary Study of Legal Evolution”, Yale Law Journal 1981, pp. 1238-1274). The paper also looks forward. New market trends are identified that will shape the future of bankruptcy law. The paper can be read here.
Stealing Deposits: Deposit Insurance, Risk-Taking and the Removal of Market Discipline in Early 20th Century Banks
In a recent paper C.Calomiris (Columbia) and M. Jaremski (Colgate) argue that deposit insurance can reduce liquidity risk, but also can increase insolvency risk by encouraging reckless behavior.
By investigating state deposit insurance experiments in the United States of the early 20th century, they find the introduction of deposit insurance may have actually increased systemic risk, instead of mitigating it (see https://corpgov.law.harvard.edu/2016/11/11/stealing-deposits-deposit-insurance-risk-taking-and-the-removal-of-market-discipline-in-early-20th-century-banks).
The paper also argues that economic models that attempt to explain the attraction of deposit insurance may be less relevant than political ones.
Commercial Law Centre Webinar (University of Oxford)
The Commercial Law Centre (University of Oxford) hosts a series of interesting webinars. Previous webinars dealt with principles of cross-border insolvency law (Reinhard Bork) and form and substance in the determination of property rights (Anthony Duggan). Continue reading “Commercial Law Centre Webinar (University of Oxford)”
All creditors are equal, but some creditors are more equal than others
Les biens du débiteur sont le gage commun de ses créanciers, et le prix s’en distribue entre eux par contribution, à moins qu’il n’y ait entre les créanciers des causes légitimes de préférence
Article 8 Belgian Loi Hypothécaire (art. 2093 French Civil Code) contains the basic principle of paritas creditorum. All creditors have an equal right to payment and the proceeds of the debtor’s estate shall be distributed in proportion to the size of their claims. The principle of equality is, however, not absolute. Secured and preferred creditors jump the queue, and are paid before ordinary creditors. The pari passu principle still is a bedrock principle of insolvency law. In reality, however, the rule has gradually become the exception (read about the pari passu myth, here). Ordinary creditors are left with peanuts once secured and preferred creditors are paid. All creditors are equal, but some creditors are more equal than others, indeed. Continue reading “All creditors are equal, but some creditors are more equal than others”
The Insolvency Regulation (case-law)
Enefi – article 4 Regulation 1346/2000
In its recent Enefi judgment (C‑212/15, read here, no English translation available yet) the Court of Justice interpreted article 4 of Regulation 1346/2000. The judgment illustrates the shifting boundaries of the framework underlying the Insolvency Regulation.
Sovereign Debt Restructuring and International Law
The Max Planck Institute Luxembourg for International, European and Regulatory Procedural Law organises a series of lectures on sovereign debt (see here). In the absence of an international legal framework, the process of sovereign debt structuring remains fragmented and uncertain. This is best illustrated by the decade and a half of litigation that followed Argentina’s sovereign bond default in 2001 (read here).
The first two lectures (“The Law and Economics of Sovereign Debt and Default” and “Sovereign Debt Restructuring and International Law”) can be found here.
The High Court of England and Wales approves Nortel’s global settlement
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.
De nieuwe kleren van de keizer
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”
Values in bankruptcy law
“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”
Debt: use it wisely
“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”
Corporate Finance Lab 