Lawmakers amended again the “Marzano” version of the amministrazione straordinaria procedure,  in relation to the situation of ILVA S.p.A. based in Taranto. In particular, lawmakers extend the application to “undertakings of national strategic interest” some rules – which are also partially amended – already introduced for companies providing essential public services by Law Decree No.

The law of the State where an insolvency procedure is opened, applicable according to Art. 4, second paragraph, lett. m) of the Regulation (lex concursus), can be unenforceable pursuant to Art. 13 of the Regulation if according to the lawapplicable to the contract (lex contractus) the transaction cannot be challenged.

The case

The decision of the Court of Rovereto of 13 October 2014 and the Court of Bergamo of 26 September 2013 tookopposite stands on the issue of the allocation, for the purposes of the concordato preventivo proposal by the debtor, ofcash generated by future operation of the business following confirmation of the proposal.

The case

The Italian Supreme Court (judgement No. 14552 of 26 June 2014), ruled that the disclosure of acts in fraud carried out by the debtor causes the admission to concordato preventivo to be revoked according to Article 173 IBL, even in case of approval by the creditors.

The case

The decision of the Court of Treviso of 26 February 2015 admitted a concordato proposal providing for a partial payment of receivables having a lien over the entire estate and for payment of unsecured creditors out of the higher liquidation value of the debtor’s assets according to the concordato plan, as compared to the bankruptcy liquidation value

The case

Two recent decisions of the Court of Reggio Emilia (18 December 2014) and of the Court of Palermo (13 October 2014) followed the Supreme Court’s case law according to which companies  held  by  public agencies can be declared bankrupt, even in case they provide “in house” services mainly to shareholders

The cases

A  focus  on  the  different  interpretations  concerning  the  treatment  of  claims  for  costs  allocation  in  legal proceedings where a creditor is successful against a debtor admitted to a concordato preventivo procedure

The issue

The Court of Padua (6 March 2015) ruled that the authorization can be granted – provided that it is a case of urgency as required by law – only to the extent that the interests of creditors are best protected, through a competitive sale procedure setting a reasonable timing and an appropriate data room.

The case

According to Legislative Decree. No. 175/2014, in case of defaulting transferee / buyer, the transferor / supplier is entitled to recover the VAT originally paid to the Treasury, under the condition that the transferee / buyer - who has not paid his debt - has entered into a debt restructuring agreement with creditors pursuant to Article 182-bis of the Italian Bankruptcy Law (IBL) or into an out-of-court reorganization plans pursuant to Article 67, third paragraph, letter d) of the Italian Bankruptcy Law (IBL)

The New Provision

With a decree of 11 March 2015 the Tribunal of Reggio Emilia, recalling the case-law principle of the socalled “consecution” of insolvency procedures, rejected the pleading in the proof of debt procedure of a creditor who requested its own post-concordato debt towards the then bankrupt company to be set off against its own pre-concordato receivable.

The case