On June, 20 2019, the European Parliament adopted a new directive harmonising insolvency law at a European level for the first time.

It was a long wait before the process of transposition into Belgian law finally came to fruition with the adoption in May 2023, and the publication of the law on June, 7 2023.

The law, whose guiding principle is “efficiency”, will come into force on September, 1 2023.

The long-awaited new Luxembourg law on business preservation and modernisation of bankruptcy law voted by the Luxembourg Parliament on 19 July 2023 (the Law) implementing EU Directive 2019/1023 of 20 June 2019 contains a range of new preventive reorganisation procedures, notably (i) conservatory measures (appointment of a conciliator), (ii) an out-of-court reorganization procedure by mutual agreement (réorganisation par accord amiable) and (iii) judicial reorganisation proceedings (JRP).

If bankruptcy proceedings are commenced against a debtor or if a debtor enters into a court-approved composition agreement with an assignment of all of its assets, transactions executed by the debtor during the last five years are subject to scrutiny.

The purpose of claw back claims is to recover assets extracted from or given away by an insolvent debtor for the benefit of its insolvency estate and ultimately its creditors. Transactions may be subject to claw back actions if:

European leveraged finance transactions (i.e., acquisition financing by fund sponsors of European targets) are often structured through Luxembourg or the Netherlands because those are creditor-friendly jurisdictions for the creation, perfection and enforcement of (certain) security interests. Structuring through Luxembourg or the Netherlands provides a high degree of transaction flexibility compared to other jurisdictions.

The effects of Brexit have had seismic consequences for all aspects of law, not just in the UK but in Europe more widely. This month we hear from four Loyens & Loeff team members specialising in insolvency and restructuring matters, who take a look at the corporate insolvency fallout for Luxembourg specifically. How have Schemes and restructuring plans been impacted by the UK’s exit from the EU, and what has it meant for enforceability of judgements?

1.1 Are there international treaties and/or cross-border instruments applicable?

The restructuring Q&A provides a comprehensive overview of some of the key points of law and practice of restructuring in Switzerland.

1.1 What formal insolvency proceedings are available in Switzerland? 

De Herstructureringsrichtlijn van 20 juni 2019 zorgt voor het eerst op Europees niveau voor een harmonisatie van de wetgeving omtrent insolventie.

Een belangrijk onderdeel van deze Richtlijn heeft betrekking op preventieve herstructureringsstelsels, die tot doel hebben de vereffening van levensvatbare ondernemingen te vermijden.

In België zal dit voornamelijk een impact hebben op de gerechtelijke reorganisatie, en meer bepaald op de gerechtelijke reorganisatie door een collectief akkoord.

The Restructuring Directive of 20 June 2019 harmonises insolvency legislation for the first time at the European level.

An important part of this Directive concerns preventive restructuring frameworks, which aim to limit the unnecessary liquidation of viable companies.

In Belgium, this will mainly impact judicial reorganisation, and more specifically judicial reorganisation by means of collective agreement.

La directive du 20 juin 2019 relative aux restructurations harmonise pour la première fois la législation sur l'insolvabilité au niveau européen.

Une partie importante de cette directive concerne les cadres de restructuration préventive, qui visent à limiter la liquidation inutile d'entreprises viables.

En Belgique, cela aura principalement un impact sur la réorganisation judiciaire, et plus particulièrement sur la réorganisation judiciaire par accord collectif.