Key changes proposed in the new Rehabilitation and Bankruptcy Law affect involuntary petitions for bankruptcy, invalidations, trustees' avoidance powers, debtors' dissolution, and priority of claims.
According to the current wording of the Republic of Lithuania Enterprise Bankruptcy Law, a head of an enterprise or a shareholder must file a petition with a court for the initiation of the enterprise bankruptcy proceedings in the event where the company is not able and/or shall not be able to settle with its creditors or where the company has made a public announcement or has informed the creditors that it has no intention to discharge its obligations.
The number of companies declared bankrupt in Luxembourg has increased tremendously since 2009, reaching a record number of 1,026 in 2012. According to the Luxembourg authorities, this situation is mainly due to the current legislation, which is obsolete and no longer suited to modern financial difficulties.
In 2009, the Luxembourg government decided that the creation of appropriate tools for companies in financial distress was extremely important, especially in the post-crisis period, and decided to tackle this subject.
In the recent Federal Court case of Abdul Rashid bin Mohamad Isa v PTT International Trading Pte Ltd [2024] MLJU 1518, the core issue that arose in the appeal was whether the withdrawal of the Creditor’s Petition constituted a termination of the entire bankruptcy proceedings including the Bankruptcy Notice served on the Judgment Debtor
BACKGROUND FACTS OF THE CASE
When doing business with a Luxembourg company in financial distress, the counterpart should be aware that certain transactions are at risk.
Doing business with a bankrupt Luxembourg company
A bankrupt Luxembourg company is automatically deprived from the administration of its assets. All transactions must be entered into by the receiver in bankruptcy acting in the name and on behalf of the bankrupt company.
On 9 October 2012, a bill proposal was introduced to the Luxembourg Parliament providing for a right to claim back "intangible" and non-fungible movable assets from a bankrupt company.
According to the explanatory memorandum, the bill proposal is intended to allow the recovery of data from a bankrupt provider of distance IT services or cloud computing solutions. Once passed, the law will provide greater certainty as to the consequences of the bankruptcy of a cloud computing provider on the data in its possession.
"Separable" Assets
On 21 November 2016, the Bankruptcy (Amendment) Bill 2016 (Bill) was tabled in Parliament. The Bill will rename the Bankruptcy Act 1967 to the Insolvency Act 1967 and will have important implications, in particular to financial institutions and corporates whose loans / debts are secured by personal guarantees, once their amendments are incorporated in the existing Bankruptcy Act 1967 (Act) and are passed and in force.