The ordinance n°2017-748 dated 4 May 2017 to enter into force on 1 October 2017, completely reshapes the legal regime of the security agent, widely inspired by the security agent regime under OHADA law. Thus, French law continues its modernisation and attractiveness programme by creating a legal instrument able to compete with the security trustee involved in syndicated loans and bond issues in common law countries. The new provisions will clarify the legal regime of the security agent and reinforce creditors' protection, through:
The French government has made the assessment that certain small commercial courts were regularly finding themselves confronted with cases of great complexity, only because the company in difficulty had its head office in the jurisdiction of these courts. It therefore announced the establishment of specialised commercial courts (TCS) which will process the most complex insolvency proceedings.
Si, en l’état d’une autorisation administrative de licencier un salarié protégé accordée à l’employeur par l’inspecteur du travail, le juge judiciaire ne peut, sans violer le principe de la séparation des pouvoirs, se prononcer sur le caractère réel et sérieux de la cause de licenciement, il résulte de l’article L. 631-17 du Code de commerce que lorsqu’un licenciement a été autorisé par une ordonnance du juge-commissaire, le caractère économique du licenciement et la régularité de l’ordonnance du juge-commissaire ne peuvent être discutés devant l’administration.
Introduction
A significant factor in the success of restructurings negotiated in French out-of-court processes (whether ad hoc mandates or conciliations) is the absolute confidentiality of the discussions conducted by a company and the relevant stakeholders (usually creditors, existing or new sponsors or key clients) under the supervision of a court-appointed insolvency practitioner.
Recent Developments
PARLIB01/ZZZPARP/1030762.3 Hogan Lovells French Legal and Regulatory Update – May 2016 The Paris office of Hogan Lovells is pleased to provide this English language edition of our monthly e-newsletter, which offers a legal and regulatory update covering France and Europe for May 2016. Please note that French legal concepts are translated into English for information only and not as legal advice. The concepts expressed in English may not exactly reflect or correspond to similar concepts existing under the laws of the jurisdictions of the readers.
In light of the UK’s cram down and director-friendly processes, in particular its scheme of arrangement model, major European economies such as France, Germany and Italy have worked hard to develop regimes that give greater emphasis to pre-insolvency alternatives. These new regimes create cram down mechanisms and encourage debtor-in-possession (DIP) financings, ultimately aiming to make restructuring plans more accessible, more efficient, and crucially more reliable; essentially more in tune with the Anglo-American approach to insolvency and restructuring.
Fidèle à sa jurisprudence, la Cour de cassation réitère sa position : de la seule fonction de dirigeant ne peut se déduire la qualité de caution avertie. En pareil cas, c’est à l’établissement de crédit de prouver qu’il s’est acquitté de son devoir de mise en garde lorsqu’il en est effectivement tenu.
Increased vigilance required in actions for recovery: a "yes, but" does not constitute acceptance
In the presence of a retention of title clause where collective insolvency proceedings are initiated against a debtor, the creditor must file a request for the recovery of goods sold under the retention of title clause before the judicial administrator within three months from the date the opening judgment is published in the Bodacc (Official Bulletin of Civil and Commercial announcements).
The issuance of international bond debt, aka high yield notes, has been a very popular financing option for French companies for the last few years, whether it was to finance their industrial investments or to fund an LBO transaction.