In early 2015, credit institutions gained the right to initiate the bankruptcy of their debtors according to a simplified procedure – i.e., without a court decision ordering the recovery of debt.

While the CIS nations have recently provided a multitude of sizeable restructuring cases, the region’s dominant force, Russia, has stood up reasonably well to lengthy economic decline, economic sanctions and the collapse of oil and gas prices. There are now signs however, that its complex troubles are pushing certain companies towards a restructuring or insolvency position.

There has been a significant increase in insolvencies in the construction, real estate, retail and wholesale sectors of the Russian economy, according to the statistics in the Competition Development Bulletin “Concentration on the Russian Markets: Trends in the Period of Recession” published in December 2015 by the Analytical Centre of the Government of the Russian Federation.

The role of a bondholders’ representative (BR) improves the protection of bondholders’ rights and provides additional oversight of the execution of the issuer’s bond obligations. Let’s look at some of the practical aspects of BR activities.

Non-default period of a deal

The main BR responsibility during a regular deal period (when there is no default or signs of it) is to oversee the issuer’s activities and inform third parties. The law offers no list of events that a BR should control.

Introduction

On 25 July 2016, the White & Case team obtained, at the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation (the "Supreme Court"), a declaration that a secured creditor has the right to reduce, at its discretion, the amount of a secured claim during receivership and, as a consequence, the right to vote at meetings of the debtor's creditors.

In October 2016, the Chamber for Commercial Disputes at the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation considered the cassation appeal of Eurasian Trading Company LLC (hereinafter – the Trading Company) in Case № А57-16992/2015 against the court’s refusal to introduce monitoring procedures with respect to RBP JSC (hereinafter – the Debtor) and decision to dismiss the application by the Trading Company without consideration.

22 ноября 2016 года Пленум Верховного Суда Российской Федерации издал Постановление № 54 «О некоторых вопросах применения общих положений Гражданского кодекса Российской Федерации об обязательствах и их исполнении».

Постановление содержит 59 пунктов, содержащих разъяснения различных положений Гражданского кодекса РФ. 

Практический интерес для бизнеса, помимо прочего, представляют разъяснения по следующим вопросам:

In December 2014 Russia’s Federal Law “On Insolvency (Bankruptcy)” was  significantly amended to introduce bankruptcy of individuals and modify the  rules for bankruptcy of legal entities.  The amendments related to bankruptcy of legal entities came into effect on  29 January 2015.

Significant improvements have been made to creditors’ rights in Russian bankruptcy proceedings by amendments made on January 29, 2015. The Federal Laws No. 432-FZ “On Amending Certain Legislative Acts of the Russian Federation” and No. 482-FZ “On Amending the Federal Law on Insolvency and Administrative Offences Code” (together, the Amending Laws) came into force in Russia. The Amending Laws significantly modify the Federal Law “On Insolvency” and, to a certain extent, improve creditors’ rights in Russian bankruptcy proceedings. Further changes come into force on July 1, 2015.