What and where is a company's ‘centre of main interest’ – its COMI – and why should you care? This is not an esoteric question but a live issue in determining which nation's courts and laws deal with international insolvency issues including administration and liquidation.
Background
The tax issues of a bankruptcy estate and the creditors differ depending on whether the bankruptcy estate continues the previous business of the debtor company. The effects of a debtor's bankruptcy on the creditor's taxation may be particularly significant where the creditor is a lessor to the debtor.
The value and operation of floating charges as securities for creditors in restructurings have been the subject of several Supreme Court rulings. However, the question remains as to the value that the receivable of a floating charge creditor must have in order to be considered a secured debt in a restructuring and therefore spared from the restructuring measures that apply to unsecured debts – in particular, the cut on debt capital.
This note sets out the duties of the following directors of French companies with a particular focus on the duties owed by such directors of companies in financial difficulties:
Due to the economic downturn there has been a rapid growth in debt claims and bankruptcy cases in the Finnish courts. Compared to 2008, almost 40% more bankruptcy proceedings and twice as many debt claims have been started this year.
Sommaire
Actualité législative et réglementaire
- Ordonnance n°2017-1519 du 2 novembre 2017 relatif aux procédures d’insolvabilité
- Décret n°2017-1416 du 28 septembre 2017 relatif à la signature électronique
Jurisprudence
1. It is hard to get rid of this preconceived idea that unlike other systems, the French insolvency system (excessively) favours debtors at the expense of their creditors.
Some recent decisions make it possible to question this idea.
These decisions deal with the conditions required for the approval of a safeguard plan and are warnings to debtors that might be tempted to force their plan through.
Safeguard proceedings end with the court-approval of a restructuring plan when there are serious chances of rescuing the business (French Commercial Code, Art. L.626-1).