The German Federal Court of Justice (Bundesgerichtshof) has clarified the conditions under which incongruent collateral, granted when an insolvency is imminent, can be contested. The burden of proof is placed on the defendant creditor to demonstrate that the action was part of a serious restructuring attempt.

Background

Volatile credit markets and guarded banks have made securing term loan C (TLC) debt attractive for borrowers who heavily rely on letters of credit to trade but either have low credit ratings or otherwise have difficulty accessing large enough revolving facilities to support the high amount of letters of credit needed.

Elizabeth McColm, Brian Bolin and Grace Hotz, Paul Weiss Rifkind Wharton & Garrison

This is an extract from the 2023 edition of GRR's the Americas Restructuring Review. The whole publication is available here.

In summary

As the volume of high-profile bankruptcies continues to climb, companies are now in the process of seeking to amend and re-negotiate their credit agreements, or finding new sources of financing in efforts to avoid bankruptcy.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit recently reversed a bankruptcy court’s ruling that a lender failed to perfect its security interest because its UCC financing statement failed to provide sufficient indication of the secured collateral under Article 9 of the Uniform Commercial Code.

After an individual debtor receives a bankruptcy discharge, a creditor may not seek to recover the discharged debt. Under section 524(a)(2) of the Bankruptcy Code, a discharge injunction permanently enjoins creditors from trying to collect discharged debts and prohibits a creditor from collecting any debt where the debtor has been discharged of personal liability.

The initial stage of a Chapter 11 filing is the most crucial and debtors must be ready for the tactics of aggressive creditors and stakeholders jockeying for priority in the restructuring proceedings. As part of this phase, “first day motions” are typically filed on the first day of a case. These motions are to obtain permission to take certain actions necessary to maintain the debtor’s business operations that cannot be taken unless the court first issues an order authorizing the debtor to take the actions.

Those who file UCC records often provide the required collateral description on an attached schedule or exhibit rather than the designated field on the financing statement. This well-established and accepted practice can save time in the filing process and reduce transcription errors. When providing the description using an attached document, the financing statement collateral field will typically incorporate the document by reference using words such as “See Schedule A attached” or words to that effect.

Introduction

The work of art as a security in Belgian law