I CORPORATE FINANCE, COVENANTS AND CREDITOR’S LIABILITY 2 II NATIONAL LEGISLATION 4 III EUROPEAN LEGISLATION 5 IV NATIONAL CASE LAW 5 NEWSLETTER I CORPORATE LAW WWW.CUATRECASAS.COM NEWSLETTER I CORPORATE LAW 2/6 CORPORATE LAW NEWSLETTER I CORPORATE FINANCE, COVENANTS AND CREDITOR’S LIABILITY Introduction In the field of corporate finance the liability of creditors that negotiate covenants with companies is an issue that currently generates great concern.
Judgment of the Supreme Court of Justice of 1 July 2014
This judgment concludes that the Insolvency Plan is an alternative corporate recovery measure which aims to satisfy the interests of the creditors, which applies indiscriminately to natural and to legal persons. When the insolvent is a natural person, the fact that the liquidation of its assets within the insolvency proceedings took place without the full payment of the claims, is still not enough to declare the release of the debtor.
Financial institutions are not de facto directors of the insolvent company because they do not significantly affect the performance of the insolvent company’s activity, but only ensure that certain costs do not affect the repayment of their loan.
A credit institution that is the indirect owner of an insolvent company’s share capital is not a person closely related to the insolvent company, unless it uses an intermediary to avoid that status.
Madrid Commercial Court No. 6 order of October 7, 2013: acquirer of a production unit subrogated in employment liabilities because the shareholders and directors had established the company specifically to acquire the insolvent company ("Marco Aldany Case")
The court did not rule out liability for employment obligations because the partners - directors of the insolvent company wished to acquire the production unit through a company created specifically to acquire it.
On December 28, 2013, the new Electricity Sector Act (Act 24/2013, of December 26) or “LSE” came into force.
The LSE maintains the essence of the rules established under Royal Decree- Law 9/2013, of July 12. Existing renewable energy plants will receive the market price and will be entitled to additional remuneration that, based on investment costs and standard operations costs, will enable them to achieve certain profitability.
The ruling called for rescission of previously agreed valuations to divide a company’s assets into two portions in a process for total spin-off in favour of two pre-existing companies. One of the beneficiaries was ordered to refund the other beneficiary company (undergoing insolvency proceedings) the excess valuation the former h ad received during the total spin-off.
If severe losses and insolvency occur, the directors’ duty to seek wind -up no longer applies if the company files for insolvency and is declared insolvent. While the composition is being carried out, the duty to seek wind-up and the directors’ resulting liability will not arise.
This ruling clarifies the role of the directors’ corporate duties in the event that legal grounds can be attributed to the company for wind-up due to losses, and the obligation to file for insolvency if the company becomes insolvent.
In 2011, the Spanish legislator introduced the court-sanctioned refinancing agreement (‘Spanish Scheme’) in the Spanish insolvency system. While the introduction of the Spanish Scheme has been praised for providing new tools for debtors to reorganise out-of-court while addressing the collective action problem, certain of its provisions have made this instrument too rigid and, thus, ineffective for tackling Spanish restructurings.
En aplicación del art. 6.3 Cc, se declaran nulas prendas sobre acciones otorgadas por una sociedad en garantía de préstamos para adquirir acciones de la propia sociedad porque vulneran la prohibición de asistencia financiera. No existe obligación de restitución porque la prenda fue concedida con carácter unilateral y gratuito.