A new form of bankruptcy procedure, Accelerated Financial Safeguard (sauvegarde financière accélérée, “AFS”) was adopted by the French Parliament on October 22, 2010.
France has amended the safeguard procedure by which debtors facing difficulties may restructure their financial arrangements.
On March 8, 2011, France's highest court, the Cour de cassation, confirmed that CMBS borrower, Heart of la Défense SAS (Hold), and its Luxembourg parent company, Dame Luxembourg Sarl (Dame), were entitled to Court protection in France under Safeguard Proceedings (sauvegarde). Safeguard is a French bankruptcy process that resembles the U.S. Chapter 11 debtor-in-possession procedures, used most recently (and notably) in connection with the bankruptcies of General Motors and Lehman Brothers.
Decree n°2011-236 of 3 March 2011 (OJ of 4 March 2011) details the so-called sauvegarde financière accélérée introduced by Law n°2010-1249 of 22 October 2010 (OJ of 23 October 2010) (
Law n°2011-331 dated 28 March 2011 (OJ of 29 March 2011) relating to modernising the legal professions includes the creation of a secure Internet portal aiming at relaxing the formalities related to insolvency. This national portal will allow the sending and reception of legal proceedings documents, including statements of claim.
The recent Cour de Cassation ruling in respect of the safeguard proceedings opened by Heart of La Défense SAS ("SAS Holdco") and its parent company, Sarl Dame Luxembourg ("Dame"), overturned the earlier decision of the Paris Court of Appeal in February 2010. The decision reinstated the safeguard proceedings of the two companies that were initiated in November 2008.
Introduction
On 8 March 20111, the French Supreme Court issued an important decision for the restructuring, finance and private equity communities and their advisers in connection with the on-going litigation surrounding the Coeur Défense restructuring.
On 25 February 2010, the Paris Court of Appeal handed down two much-anticipated decisions confirming that creditors are able to challenge the opening of safeguard proceedings and clarifying the basis upon which safeguard proceedings can be opened by a debtor.
In July 2006, after a long and unsuccessful attempt to reach an out-of-court restructuring of the indebtedness of the Eurotunnel group of companies, the managers of the Eurotunnel group requested the opening of main insolvency proceedings for all the companies in France.
Chapter 11 focuses on preserving reorganization or going concern value over liquidation value. As a corollary, Chapter 11 assumes that the most efficacious way to achieve that result is to retain management and enable multiple outcomes either through a plan of reorganization, a series of going concern sales and even a liquidating plan. Chapter 11 enables a wide range of proposals to be put into a reorganization plan, including having the company and its management survive the process.