For the benefit of our clients and friends investing in European distressed opportunities, our European Network is sharing some current developments.
Recent Developments
An attempt to reform and rationalize the Belgian Bankruptcy Act of 8 August 1997 and the Continuity of Enterprises Act of 31 January 2009 included the introduction of a "silent bankruptcy" that offered distressed companies the opportunity to prepare for a real bankruptcy discreetly and without any publicity, along the lines of the UK's pre-pack procedures.
While the bill was adopted in mid-July 2017 and will apply to insolvency proceedings opened on or after 1 May 2018, the attempt to include pre-pack procedures in the reform has failed.
This spring
Legal & Regulatory
BRRD: FCA publishes modification by consent for Article 55 rules
Ethias a bénéficié en 2009 d’une recapitalisation de 1,5 milliard EUR dans le contexte de la crise financière qui a engendré de graves problèmes de solvabilité et de liquidités pour ce groupe d’assurances belge. La recapitalisation a été effectuée par Vitrufin, un véhicule public d’investissements de l’Etat fédéral et des Régions flamande et wallonne.
Under European law, there are no general rules whit respect to the liability of a holding company for the debts of its insolvent subsidiary.
The Council Regulation (EC) N° 1346/2000 of 29 May 2000 on insolvency proceedings only provides for a common framework for insolvency proceedings in the European Union (EU). The harmonised rules on insolvency proceedings intend to prevent assets or judicial proceedings being transferred from one EU country to another for the purposes of obtaining a more favourable legal position to the detriment of creditors (“forum shopping”).
We are pleased to present this Summer 2011 edition of the CMS Restructuring and Insolvency in Europe Newsletter.
On 18 November 2009, the Commission approved a restructuring and asset relief package for KBC under the EC State aid rules. KBC is a Belgian integrated banking and insurance group, based primarily in Belgium and Central and Eastern Europe. KBC has received three aid measures to support it during the economic crisis: in December 2008 a recapitalisation of €3.5 billion; in June 2009, a second recapitalisation of €3.5 billion and an asset relief measure on a portfolio of Collateralised Debt Obligations (“CDO”). Approval of these measures was subject to KBC submitting a restructuring plan.
The 2014 collapse of the Corporate Commercial Bank (ranked 4th in the country) raised doubts about the accuracy of the overall liquidity ratio (34.80%) and asset value (approx. EUR 44.07 billion) of the banking sector in Bulgaria, not least because assets had been evaluated according to the internal rules of the respective credit institutions.
The consideration of the issues relating to TOPOIL begins in one of the three breakout sessions. This one considers whether some sort of restructuring process is appropriate and if so which might be the top options and their relative merits.