The court ruled to allow the sale of the production unit with assignment to the acquirer of the agreements involving the insolvent companies affected by the transfer of the production unit and necessary for its continuance.

Whoever acquires control of a listed company due to a conversion of  debts  into  shares directly attributable to a court-sanctioned refinancing agreement will not have to launch a mandatory bid. This exemption applies automatically without the need for a CNMV evaluation.

INTRODUCTION

Financial entities. Royal Decree-Law 14/2013, of November 29, on urgent measures to adapt Spanish law to European Union law on the supervision and solvency of financial entities. (BOE 287, November 30, 2013)

European Union law on the supervision and solvency of financial entities (Basel III) has been incorporated into Spanish law.

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.

The Madrid and Barcelona Provincial Courts took different positions on the classification of a creditor’s credit in the insolvency of the joint and several guarantor: the former classed it as an insolvency credit; the latter classed it as a contingent claim.

These resolutions clarify the circumstances in which an appraisal certificate is required to create and amend mortgages following the reform of the Rules of Civil Law Procedure under Act 1/2013.

Royal Decree-Law 4/2014, of March 7, on urgent measures for refinancing and restructuring corporate debt, substantially amends the Insolvency Act (particularly regarding the regulation of refinancing agreements and their court sanctioning, and other pre-insolvency institutions). It also modifies the exemption on mandatory takeover bids for rescue operations and extends for one more year (and broadens the scope of) the special regime for calculating loss based on impairment in cases of mandatory capital reduction and mandatory dissolution of companies.

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.

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.

The Supreme Court reiterates the doctrine in its rulings of February 12 and 19, 2013, although in this case, unlike the above rulings, in which the credits were classified as insolvency credits, it concluded that instalments resulting from one finance lease agreement falling due after the declaration of insolvency are claims against the insolvency estate.