Forthcoming Events
For information about events not listed, please contact Caroline Taylor.
INSOL Europe Academic Forum Conference 2020 - MEMBERS
Registration now open!
30 September, 2020
16:00 to 17:40 (CET)
Online Event - Zoom
Registration will be free for members or €50+VAT for non-members. If you are a non-member but a full time academic you qualify for a free place on application to Harriet Taylor.
Further information
More details will be posted here when available. If you have any queries, please contact Event Manager, Harriet Taylor. In the meantime, keep your diary free for this special event!
With thanks to our Academic Sponsor
Edwin Coe – www.edwincoe.com
Stabilizing Corporate Workouts (Out-Of-Court Restructurings) in Times of the COVID 19-Pandemic and Beyond: The Case for Creditor Cooperation Duties
Short CVs
Horst Eidenmüller is a Statutory Professor for Commercial Law at the University of Oxford and a Professorial Fellow of St. Hugh’s College, Oxford. He is a Research Member of the European Corporate Governance Institute and a Member of the Berlin Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities. Full details are here .
Kristin van Zwieten is Clifford Chance Associate Professor of Law and Finance at the University of Oxford and the Gullifer Fellow at Harris Manchester College, Oxford. She is Director of the Commercial Law Centre at Harris Manchester College and a Research Member of the European Corporate Governance Institute. Full details are here .
Paper Abstract
In this paper, we investigate the case for creditor cooperation duties in corporate workouts. We demonstrate how such duties could facilitate beneficial out-of-court restructurings and what their doctrinal basis is or could be in key jurisdictions (United States, United Kingdom, Australia and Germany).
The COVID 19-Pandemic causes financial distress for firms on an unprecedented scale. Millions of economically viable firms worldwide are affected. A large subset of these firms will need to be restructured. Workouts (out-of-court restructurings) are preferred to court-supervised processes because they involve much lower direct and indirect insolvency costs. But workouts are inherently unstable: they are based on consent and may be undermined by the presence of free-riders (holdouts). Creditors face a multi-party prisoners’ dilemma. Cooperating to implement an out-of-court restructuring plan is in the interest of the creditors as a whole (and in the interest of the debtor). However, each creditor has an incentive to hold out and freeride on the contributions of others.
Laws governing corporate workouts differ. Creditor autonomy and contractual freedom are central to the workout regimes in many jurisdictions. At the same time, at least in some jurisdictions, tort laws, rules on quasi-contract or even company laws impose limits on selfish creditor behavior in a workout setting—for the benefit of the creditor community. These rules may be used to develop a system of “creditor cooperation duties” to stabilize a corporate workout. Under certain specified conditions, creditors would no longer be free to “do what they want” in a workout setting. They would be obliged to negotiate a restructuring plan in good faith, and they might even have to agree to such a plan. We explore this idea by investigating the legal regime governing workouts in the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia and Germany.
Lydia Tsioli, King's College London
Viability Assessment: Models and filtering mechanisms from U.S. Chapter 11 to the European Directive
Short CVs
Lydia Tsioli is a PhD in Law Candidate at King's College London as well as a Qualified Lawyer at the Athens Bar Association. From January till July 2020 she has been a Visiting Researcher at the University of California, Berkeley School of Law. Full details are here .
Paper Abstract
Distinguishing viable companies from non-viable ones is at the epicentre of the law of corporate distress. Providing for frameworks that facilitate the restructuring of financially distressed yet viable companies, while at the same time succeed in filtering out non-viable ones towards liquidation has always been a real challenge for legislators. At European level, despite the numerous references of the directive on restructuring and insolvency to the notion of viability, the latter has not yet received equally high levels of attention in Europe compared to the United States, a leading jurisdiction in this field. In building a true rescue culture upon correct foundations across Europe, a close reflection on the notion of viability, especially on a comparative basis, would thus be beneficial.
As such, this paper takes as a starting point the intricate notion of viability, its meaning and role for a corporate debt restructuring framework, as well as what these two signify for the scope of such a framework. It then presents the different existing models of viability assessment and subsequently focuses on what the author defines as the “filtering mechanisms” employed by one of these models. More specifically, the paper investigates the filtering mechanisms embedded into U.S. Chapter 11 and juxtaposes these with the provisions of the European directive on restructuring and insolvency with the aim to evaluate the latter under the comparative light of Chapter 11.
In developing the above, the paper uses both legislative provisions and extensive case law in order to demonstrate how the notion of viability both permeates Chapter 11 and constitutes the “litmus test” underlying the filtering mechanisms embedded into its framework. These conclusions serve as a springboard for a close look at the provisions of the European directive. Through this, the paper evaluates the European framework and puts forward suggestions for its interpretation/potential reform in order for it to achieve an effective filtering of viable companies from non-viable ones.
Academic Forum sponsored by
INSOL Europe Academic Forum Conference 2020 - NON MEMBERS
Registration now open!
30 September, 2020
16:00 to 17:40 (CET)
Online Event - Zoom
Registration will be free for members or €50+VAT for non-members. If you are a non-member but a full time academic you qualify for a free place on application to Harriet Taylor.
Further information
More details will be posted here when available. If you have any queries, please contact Event Manager, Harriet Taylor. In the meantime, keep your diary free for this special event!
With thanks to our Academic Sponsor
Edwin Coe – www.edwincoe.com
Stabilizing Corporate Workouts (Out-Of-Court Restructurings) in Times of the COVID 19-Pandemic and Beyond: The Case for Creditor Cooperation Duties
Short CVs
Horst Eidenmüller is a Statutory Professor for Commercial Law at the University of Oxford and a Professorial Fellow of St. Hugh’s College, Oxford. He is a Research Member of the European Corporate Governance Institute and a Member of the Berlin Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities. Full details are here .
Kristin van Zwieten is Clifford Chance Associate Professor of Law and Finance at the University of Oxford and the Gullifer Fellow at Harris Manchester College, Oxford. She is Director of the Commercial Law Centre at Harris Manchester College and a Research Member of the European Corporate Governance Institute. Full details are here .
Paper Abstract
In this paper, we investigate the case for creditor cooperation duties in corporate workouts. We demonstrate how such duties could facilitate beneficial out-of-court restructurings and what their doctrinal basis is or could be in key jurisdictions (United States, United Kingdom, Australia and Germany).
The COVID 19-Pandemic causes financial distress for firms on an unprecedented scale. Millions of economically viable firms worldwide are affected. A large subset of these firms will need to be restructured. Workouts (out-of-court restructurings) are preferred to court-supervised processes because they involve much lower direct and indirect insolvency costs. But workouts are inherently unstable: they are based on consent and may be undermined by the presence of free-riders (holdouts). Creditors face a multi-party prisoners’ dilemma. Cooperating to implement an out-of-court restructuring plan is in the interest of the creditors as a whole (and in the interest of the debtor). However, each creditor has an incentive to hold out and freeride on the contributions of others.
Laws governing corporate workouts differ. Creditor autonomy and contractual freedom are central to the workout regimes in many jurisdictions. At the same time, at least in some jurisdictions, tort laws, rules on quasi-contract or even company laws impose limits on selfish creditor behavior in a workout setting—for the benefit of the creditor community. These rules may be used to develop a system of “creditor cooperation duties” to stabilize a corporate workout. Under certain specified conditions, creditors would no longer be free to “do what they want” in a workout setting. They would be obliged to negotiate a restructuring plan in good faith, and they might even have to agree to such a plan. We explore this idea by investigating the legal regime governing workouts in the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia and Germany.
Lydia Tsioli, King's College London
Viability Assessment: Models and filtering mechanisms from U.S. Chapter 11 to the European Directive
Short CVs
Lydia Tsioli is a PhD in Law Candidate at King's College London as well as a Qualified Lawyer at the Athens Bar Association. From January till July 2020 she has been a Visiting Researcher at the University of California, Berkeley School of Law. Full details are here .
Paper Abstract
Distinguishing viable companies from non-viable ones is at the epicentre of the law of corporate distress. Providing for frameworks that facilitate the restructuring of financially distressed yet viable companies, while at the same time succeed in filtering out non-viable ones towards liquidation has always been a real challenge for legislators. At European level, despite the numerous references of the directive on restructuring and insolvency to the notion of viability, the latter has not yet received equally high levels of attention in Europe compared to the United States, a leading jurisdiction in this field. In building a true rescue culture upon correct foundations across Europe, a close reflection on the notion of viability, especially on a comparative basis, would thus be beneficial.
As such, this paper takes as a starting point the intricate notion of viability, its meaning and role for a corporate debt restructuring framework, as well as what these two signify for the scope of such a framework. It then presents the different existing models of viability assessment and subsequently focuses on what the author defines as the “filtering mechanisms” employed by one of these models. More specifically, the paper investigates the filtering mechanisms embedded into U.S. Chapter 11 and juxtaposes these with the provisions of the European directive on restructuring and insolvency with the aim to evaluate the latter under the comparative light of Chapter 11.
In developing the above, the paper uses both legislative provisions and extensive case law in order to demonstrate how the notion of viability both permeates Chapter 11 and constitutes the “litmus test” underlying the filtering mechanisms embedded into its framework. These conclusions serve as a springboard for a close look at the provisions of the European directive. Through this, the paper evaluates the European framework and puts forward suggestions for its interpretation/potential reform in order for it to achieve an effective filtering of viable companies from non-viable ones.
Academic Forum sponsored by
INSOL Europe Online Conference "Towards A New World" - MEMBERS
Online Sessions: 8, 15, 22 & 29 October
Session Time: 12:25 - 14:05 CET
Watch our launch video here as Piya Mukherjee explains the new format >
Registration will be free for members or €100+VAT per weekly session for non-members.
A discount of 25% will be given to non-members booking onto all 4 sessions.
Announcing our first keynote speaker:
Lars Liebst, former CEO of Tivoli, Denmark
The keynote speaker for the first webinar on 8 October will be Lars Liebst. Lars Liebst was the CEO of Tivoli (the second-most popular seasonal theme park in the world which opened in 1843 in Copenhagen) from January 1996 to August 2020. Lars is also the chair of one of the eight committees set down by the Danish government to advise on the restart of the business sector in Denmark. In this regard, Lars is the chair of the committee concerning tourism and experience economy. Lars' perspective as an experienced CEO of a sector particularly hit hard by the Covid-19 crisis will be very topical and is sure to be extremely interesting! (Photo: Tivoli)
Key Topics of the Conference:
- Directors and shareholders’ liability.
- Implementation of the Directive on Restructuring and Insolvency.
- Saving SMEs during the pandemic.
- The (new) role of the practitioner in the field of restructuring.
- Voluntary arrangements with creditors in the time of COVID-19: Has legislation helped?
- Battle of Schemes: UK vs The Netherlands.
- Lessons learned from the failures of the Fintech company Wirecard Case.
- Judges faced with a COVID-19 World.
Young Members Group: Virtual Wine Tasting
If you’re already a member of INSOL Europe aged 45 or below, we welcome you to join our virtual wine tasting session. Simply select this optional extra on the registration page and we’ll post 6 small bottles of carefully selected wines straight to your door, log into the session and you'll be guided through the tasting process. The perfect way to unwind from the comfort of your home whilst networking online with like-minded professionals.
Further information
More details will be posted here when available. If you have any queries, please contact Event Manager, Harriet Taylor. In the meantime, keep your diary free for these special events!
With thanks to our Sponsors:
Main Sponsor
NetBid - www.netbid.com
Download the NetBID company profile here.Session Sponsors
AlixPartners - www.alixpartners.com
HORTEN - www.horten.dk
Proskauer - www.proskauer.com
Hoche Avocats - www.hoche-avocats.com
anchor rechtsanwälte - www.anchor.eu
bnt attorneys in CEE - www.bnt.eu
Grant Thornton – www.grantthornton.co.uk
CITR - www.citr.ro
Young Members Wine Tasting
Schiebe und Collegen - www.schiebe.de
INSOL Europe Online Conference "Towards A New World" - NON MEMBERS
Online Sessions: 8, 15, 22 & 29 October
Session Time: 12:25 - 14:05 CET
Watch our launch video here as Piya Mukherjee explains the new format >
Registration will be free for members or €100+VAT per weekly session for non-members.
A discount of 25% will be given to non-members booking onto all 4 sessions.
Announcing our first keynote speaker:
Lars Liebst, former CEO of Tivoli, Denmark
The keynote speaker for the first webinar on 8 October will be Lars Liebst. Lars Liebst was the CEO of Tivoli (the second-most popular seasonal theme park in the world which opened in 1843 in Copenhagen) from January 1996 to August 2020. Lars is also the chair of one of the eight committees set down by the Danish government to advise on the restart of the business sector in Denmark. In this regard, Lars is the chair of the committee concerning tourism and experience economy. Lars' perspective as an experienced CEO of a sector particularly hit hard by the Covid-19 crisis will be very topical and is sure to be extremely interesting! (Photo: Tivoli)
Key Topics of the Conference:
- Directors and shareholders’ liability.
- Implementation of the Directive on Restructuring and Insolvency.
- Saving SMEs during the pandemic.
- The (new) role of the practitioner in the field of restructuring.
- Voluntary arrangements with creditors in the time of COVID-19: Has legislation helped?
- Battle of Schemes: UK vs The Netherlands.
- Lessons learned from the failures of the Fintech company Wirecard Case.
- Judges faced with a COVID-19 World.
Young Members Group: Virtual Wine Tasting
If you’re already a member of INSOL Europe aged 45 or below, we welcome you to join our virtual wine tasting session. Simply select this optional extra on the registration page and we’ll post 6 small bottles of carefully selected wines straight to your door, log into the session and you'll be guided through the tasting process. The perfect way to unwind from the comfort of your home whilst networking online with like-minded professionals.
Further information
More details will be posted here when available. If you have any queries, please contact Event Manager, Harriet Taylor. In the meantime, keep your diary free for these special events!
With thanks to our Sponsors:
Main Sponsor
NetBid - www.netbid.com
Download the NetBID company profile here.Session Sponsors
AlixPartners - www.alixpartners.com
HORTEN - www.horten.dk
Proskauer - www.proskauer.com
Hoche Avocats - www.hoche-avocats.com
anchor rechtsanwälte - www.anchor.eu
bnt attorneys in CEE - www.bnt.eu
Grant Thornton – www.grantthornton.co.uk
CITR - www.citr.ro
Young Members Wine Tasting
Schiebe und Collegen - www.schiebe.de
INSOL Europe EECC Conference 2020 Online: Tectonic Changes in Eastern European Insolvency
Our EECC Conference 2020 is going online... Register your interest today and save the dates!
Thursday 3 December / Thursday 10 December
As the evolving impacts of COVID-19 ripple through our communities, we are all facing unforeseen challenges. With a renewed spotlight on insolvency, gaining fresh insight and real life examples will help us, as insolvency professionals, stay on top of our game, enhance business resiliency, ensure business continuity and most importantly, stay connected.
We feel that it is our responsibility to help flatten the Coronavirus curve and keep you safe. While we are still as dedicated as ever to offering amazing content and networking opportunities, your safety comes first.
As such, we have transitioned our in-person Eastern European Countries' Committee Conference into a virtual conference. Watch, listen, and ask questions from the convenience of your home or office, no travel needed.
On 3 and 10 December 2020, we will be holding our first online conference 'Tectonic Changes in Eastern European Insolvency', bringing together fresh insight and exceptional speakers.
Watch a video from Radu Lotrean here explaining the new format!
Add the dates to your calendar and join us!
With thanks to our Sponsors:
Main Sponsor
BDO Restructuring GmbH, Germany - www.bdo.de/restructuring
Session Sponsors
CITR - www.citr.ro
Ilyashev & Partners Law Firm - www.attorneys.ua