In Short

The Situation:  A draft law designed to substantially reform the Belgian Companies Code was submitted to the Belgian Parliament for review ("New Companies Code") on June 4, 2018.

The Result: The New Companies Code will lift a number of mandatory rules applicable to convertible bonds and to the general assembly of bondholders.

The European Commission ("Commission") has released a consultation paper to evaluate the merits of introducing measures to support secondary markets for distressed debt and the development of a new, contractual-based loan security obligation.

Consultation

In Short

The Situation: Belgium has introduced senior non-preferred notes, a new category of debt securities available to banking institutions.

The Result: In the event of a liquidation, senior non-preferred notes will rank ahead of subordinated notes, but behind "ordinary" senior preferred notes and any claims benefiting from legal or statutory preferences.

The recentThomas Cook refinancing and Cortefiel scheme of arrangement offer contrasting examples to investors of the risks and rewards of adopting a hold-out position in complex multijurisdictional restructurings.