Order No. 2014-326 of March 12 (the "Order"), adopted pursuant to enabling legislation No. 2014-1 of January 2, significantly modernizes French distressed companies law.
The primary objective of the Order is to encourage recourse to mediation proceedings and conciliation proceedings, the efficiency and success of which have been demonstrated consistently in recent major financial restructurings.
SUMMARY
French bankruptcy law has been recently modified by Law no. 2012-346 of March 12, 2012 relating to protective measures (mesures conservatoires) applicable to safeguard, recovery and liquidation proceedings, and by Law no. 2012-387 of March 22, 2012 relating to the simplification and easing of administrative procedures.
(Cass. Com, Feb. 19, 2013, no. 12-13.662)
In the instant case, a lessee had been placed into receivership on September 27, 2010, and then into court-ordered liquidation on November 8, 2010. Subsequently, on December 28, 2010, the lessor had served the liquidator with notice of termination for nonpayment of the rents accrued since the opening of insolvency proceedings.
In France, when bankruptcy proceedings are instituted against a party involved in a pending arbitration it can result in conflicts between the applicable arbitration and insolvency rules. In that context, an arbitral tribunal sitting in France may be confronted with determining the extent to which they must defer to mandatory insolvency rules.
Chapter 11 focuses on preserving reorganization or going concern value over liquidation value. As a corollary, Chapter 11 assumes that the most efficacious way to achieve that result is to retain management and enable multiple outcomes either through a plan of reorganization, a series of going concern sales and even a liquidating plan. Chapter 11 enables a wide range of proposals to be put into a reorganization plan, including having the company and its management survive the process.
Article L 611-4 to L 611-15 of the French Commerce Code.
Act n° 2005-845 of 26 July 2005, as completed and amended, has created a new out-of-court settlement process known under French law as “Conciliation,” replacing the former amicable settlement or “règlement amiable.”
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Liquidation procedures
Eligibility
What are the eligibility criteria for initiating liquidation procedures? Are any entities explicitly barred from initiating such procedures?
The decision of Graham & Jackson v Arena Capital Limited (In Liquidation) concerned an application under the Companies Act 1993 by liquidators seeking direction on the application of liquidation funds.
The Court of Appeal has confirmed that if a secured creditor votes its secured debt in a liquidation meeting, the vote is invalid – and the security remains.
Liquidation meetings are for unsecured creditors. A secured creditor has no vote, except in respect of debt that is unsecured.
The case
In Strategic Finance Limited (in receivership & in liquidation) and Strategic Nominees Limited (in receivership) v Bridgman and Sanson CA 553/2011 [2013] NZCA 357 the Court of Appeal has, for the moment, settled what constitutes an "account receivable", and this provides certainty regarding the scope of the assets available to meet preferential creditor claims ahead of secured creditors with general security agreements.