Judgment of the Court of Appeal of Porto of 2014-11-06

Insolvency proceedings – Creditors of the insolvent debtor – Termination of proceedings – No need to adjudicate on the action

Two recent decisions of the Tribunals of Ferrara (8 April 2014) and Palermo (9 June 2014) address some of the majorissues involved in group restructurings under Italian insolvency laws: conditions and features of a single “concordatopreventivo” procedure for all the companies of the same group

The Case

In a case where NCTM assisted the debtor, the Court of Appeals of Turin, with a decision of 17 April 2014, confirmed the most recent case law of the Court of Cassation limiting the power of the Tribunal to refuse confirmation to cases where, beyond doubt, the concordato is not economically feasible.

The case

The Tribunal of Naples, with a decision of 5 July 2013 in an interim proceeding, ruled that the Commissioner and the Judicial Liquidator can sue former directors for damages only if the claim (i) was included in the concordato proposal, or (ii) has grounds in tort, for facts entailing bankruptcy crimes.

The Case

In a recent decision, the Tribunal of Monza (23 October 2014) ruled that super-priority status can be denied if it is established that (i) professional duties were not properly performed or (ii) the concordato proved to be useless or detrimental for the creditors.

The Case

The Official Journal of the European Union of July 31, 2014, published the European Commission Guidelines establishing the conditions under which state aid for rescuing and restructuring non-financial undertakings in difficulty can be considered compatible with the domestic market. The Commission has been applying these Guidelines since August

The lender’s credit in respect of the joint-and-several guarantor declared insolvent is contingent unless existence of p

Rescission of an extension to a mortgage granted by the insolvent company securing a preexisting debt of a company of its group

A composition agreement was approved involving the merger of some of group’s companies and with different alternatives, one of which is specifically designed for financial institutions, but open to all creditors, proposing a partial capitalization of the insolvency credits and the payment of the resulting credits through the realization of certain assets and the free cash flow generated by the company in the coming eight years.

First decisions on the court-sanction of refinancing agreements and extension of effects to dissenting entities under the new text of the Fourth Additional Provision, and analysis of the concept of disproportionate sacrifice when there is opposition to the agreement