The Plenum of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation adopted Resolution No. 54 “On Certain Issues of Applying the General Provisions of the Russian Civil Code on Obligations and Their Performance”* on 22 November 2016.
The Resolution contains 59 paragraphs that clarify various provisions of the Russian Civil Code.
Among other things, the clarifications on the following issues are of interest to businesses from a practical perspective:
In Russian insolvency procedures, it is quite common for third parties to try to exclude property from a debtor’s insolvent estate (konkursnaya massa) by claiming title to its real property in the absence of the registered title. These third parties may refer to the agreements that had been made prior to the commencement of the insolvency procedure as well as to the actual transfer of property to them.
New grounds and conditions have been introduced to allow creditors to bring the executives and/or members of the management bodies of bankrupt Russian companies to subsidiary liability. This is expected to increase debtors’ assets that can be used to satisfy creditors’ claims as fully as possible. Also, any person will be able to find out whether bankruptcy procedures have been initiated against a legal entity by searching the * (the “Company Register”).
В июне 2017 г. вступят в силу поправки в законодательство, направленные на улучшение защиты прав кредиторов, что усилит борьбу со злоупотреблениями при банкротстве и ликвидации юридических лиц
DBI 2017 - A5 With Bleed.indd 3 20.02.2017 8:22:56 Doing Business in Russia 2017 Baker & McKenzie - CIS, Limited Moscow Office White Gardens, 10th Floor 9 Lesnaya Street Moscow 125047, Russia Telephone: +7 495 787 27 00 Fax: +7 495 787 27 01 [email protected] St. Petersburg Office BolloevCenter, 2nd Floor 4A Grivtsova Lane St.
Federal Law No. 391-FZ on Amendments to Certain Legislative Acts of the Russian Federation of December 29, 2015
The Law introduced amendments to various regulatory acts in the area of bankruptcy, notaries, appraisal activities and concession agreements. We will touch on the changes most important for the real estate market:
In early 2015, credit institutions gained the right to initiate the bankruptcy of their debtors according to a simplified procedure – i.e., without a court decision ordering the recovery of debt.
While the CIS nations have recently provided a multitude of sizeable restructuring cases, the region’s dominant force, Russia, has stood up reasonably well to lengthy economic decline, economic sanctions and the collapse of oil and gas prices. There are now signs however, that its complex troubles are pushing certain companies towards a restructuring or insolvency position.
There has been a significant increase in insolvencies in the construction, real estate, retail and wholesale sectors of the Russian economy, according to the statistics in the Competition Development Bulletin “Concentration on the Russian Markets: Trends in the Period of Recession” published in December 2015 by the Analytical Centre of the Government of the Russian Federation.
The role of a bondholders’ representative (BR) improves the protection of bondholders’ rights and provides additional oversight of the execution of the issuer’s bond obligations. Let’s look at some of the practical aspects of BR activities.
Non-default period of a deal
The main BR responsibility during a regular deal period (when there is no default or signs of it) is to oversee the issuer’s activities and inform third parties. The law offers no list of events that a BR should control.