| This email contains images, if you are having trouble reading this email? View it in your browser. |
|
|
|
Dear Members
I hope you are all well and that at least some of you are experiencing the improved weather which is promised by the start of Spring. It has been an untypically cold start to the season, both in London where I am based for part of my time, and in Italy, where we’ve been experiencing weather which is typical in the winter season! This increases the expectation of beautiful weather beginning October in Sorrento, where our Annual Congress will take place. We’re working hard with the technical co-chairs Rita Gismondi and Bart der Moor and Emmanuelle Inacio. Panels have been identified, together with chairs of each of one of them and we expect a fantastic conference.
The next few weeks and months will give me an opportunity to travel widely and meet many of our members and colleagues, whether at the R3 Annual Conference in St. Andrews in May where INSOL Europe will be having a panel for the first time or our own EECC Conference in Krakow, 13-14 June. Information and links to all these events is shown below and I encourage you to register where you can.
We are pleased to announce the publication of the Spring edition of our iconic Eurofenix magazine, featuring many reports and updates, all provided by our members and managed by the editorial team of Paul Newson, Edvins Draba, José Carles, Emmanuelle Inacio and Paul Omar. This is a consistently good read featuring high quality contributions. Please do send us any proposals you have for future editions and we will be sure to find a place for them.
We are also publishing the latest insolvency statistics from France, and an ‘Inside Story’ about Ecclesiastical insolvencies in Croatia – both a very interesting read.
If you are one of our younger members living or working in a developing or low income country, there are still a few weeks to submit your proposal for the Richard Turton Award – the lucky winner will be invited to attend our Annual Congress in Sorrento at our expense, an opportunity not to be missed.
Finally, we have begun the long process of updating our plans for the future to make sure our association is still relevant and meets the needs of our members in a sustainable way. The first part of the process will be to canvas our members for their thoughts and opinions on our organisation right now, and what you expect in the future, via a series of short surveys and polls. So if you have anything to say about our association – the good, the bad or the ugly! – please don’t hesitate to engage with the surveys or let me know directly. We can’t grow without the support of our members!
Kind regards
Giorgio Corno
President, INSOL Europe
|
|
|
Giorgio Corno
President of
INSOL Europe
|
This issue is kindly
sponsored by:
DLA Piper is a global law
firm with lawyers located
in more than 40 countries
throughout the world.
www.dlapiper.com
|
|
| INSOL Europe Annual Congress Sorrento: Registration Open Soon! |
|
|
|
Registration opening soon!
We are pleased to announce that registration for our Annual Congress, to be held in Sorrento from 3-6 October 2024 will be opening soon.
The 2024 Technical Committee, chaired by Rita Gismondi (Gianni & Origoni, Italy; INSOL Europe Country Coordinator) and Bart de Moor (Strelia, Belgium; INSOL Europe Council member & Country Coordinator) have already announced the full technical programme, which is available from our website. Details of the social programme, accommodation and anciliary meetings have already been published, along with a full list of sponsors.
Details of the Academic Forum conference immediately preceeding the main Congress will also be published very soon.
Find out more on our website here.
|
|
With thanks to our Annual Congress Main Sponsor:
|
|
| EECC Conference 2024, Poland: Now only 6 weeks to go! |
|
|
| Eurofenix Spring Edition now launched! |
|
The Spring 2024 edition of Eurofenix is now available to view online, featuring reports, case studies, European law updates and conference news, as well as many other articles including:
- Second Chance for the Second Chance Directive in Poland
- Foreign Exchange Volatility and the risk to Creditors
- Preventing insolvency through transparency in Portugal
- Taking European insolvency law reform to the next level
- The EU Directive in Ukraine & Portugal
- EU insolvency law and third countries
- Statistics & Eurostat Update
- Country reports, Book reviews and more!
If you would like to contribute an article to a future edition or are interested in advertising opportunities, please contact publication manager Paul Newson.
Eurofenix is kindly sponsored by Prof.Dr.Pannen
|
Read the new edition here!
|
|
|
Renew your Membership and enjoy these Benefits
|
| Visit our website for more details or contact Hannah Denney. |
| National Insolvency Statistics Update: France |
|
Insolvency proceedings were opened against 55,096 companies in 2023 compared with 41,483 in 2022, an increase of +32.8% marking the end of the slowdown in the number of procedures during the health crisis period. This evolution occurs in a context of modest growth, geopolitical uncertainty, an increase in the cost of raw materials, and a deterioration of business across all sectors, writes Jean BARON, Partner at CBF Associés (France) and INSOL Europe Country Coordinator.
The most affected sectors remain trade and construction, as well as those of catering and accommodation. In terms of employment, more than 210,000 jobs have been affected by the opening of insolvency proceedings in 2023. Particularly, 14,449 jobs were affected among VSEs.
|
|
|
Indeed, SME insolvencies rose sharply in 2023. Summer 2023 was the worst since 2014. 91.7% of companies concerned by insolvency proceedings have fewer than 10 employees. However, 19 insolvency proceedings were opened for companies with sales in excess of €100 million. This ratio can be explained by the fact that SMEs are less able to turn around than larger companies.
The use of preventive procedures is slightly up in 2023 (+4,5%). This increase is in line with previous years: +29% in 2022 and +12% in 2021. 59.6% of companies using preventive procedures are companies with no employees. Only 6.2% of conciliation procedures are opened for companies with between 51 and 200 employees.
Safeguard procedures account for only 2% of all procedures, with a total of 1,572 procedures in 2023. However, they are not that much representative compared to other procedures. Most of insolvency proceedings opened in 2023 were winding-up procedures which account for 69% of all proceedings.
Judicial restructuring accounts for 28% of all proceedings, with an increase of +44,3% in 2023. This last procedure enables the company to present a recovery plan, which is a court-approved program to organize the company's continuation or sale.
Despite this data, the French GDP is steady in the fourth quarter of 2023. On average in 2023, it will rise by 0.9%. This annual growth is mainly due to the sharp rise in the second quarter of 2023. Average wage has increased but household consumption slowed down (+0.7% only) due to a further decline in food sales (-4.7%).
The year 2024 would be the year of declining inflation, but growth would remain modest due to the impact of increases in benchmark interest rates. Source: insee.fr
Further statistics from France and other jurisdictions can be found on our website here.
|
|
| INSIDE Story: Ecclesiastical Insolvency in Croatia |
|
In December 2023, the first case of bankruptcy of an ecclesiastical institution in history of Croatia was in sight. Namely, the Commercial Court in Zagreb Croatian Financial Agency (FINA) initiated preliminary bankruptcy proceedings against the Diocese of Zagreb-Ljubljana of the Serbian Orthodox Church.
The Serbian Orthodox Church has been present on this part of the territory of Croatia since the 16th century, when its first monasteries were founded. Later, the Kings of Hungary and Emperors of Austria granted them numerous privileges for the purpose of defence of the southern borders from the Ottomans.
|
 |
|
This Diocese has jurisdiction over Orthodox Christians in northern Croatia and Slovenia. In the 20th century, the church was at the centre of the war conflicts and suffered both human and material losses. The Serbian Orthodox Church in Croatia, Diocese of Zagreb-Ljubljana was registered in the Register of Religious Communities of the Republic of Croatia on 16 November 2004 with its headquarters in Zagreb-Ilica Str. 7/II.
An important dispute between the Serbian Orthodox Church and the Republic of Croatia arose from the damaging of the palace of the Diocese in the Croatian capital of Zagreb at the beginning of the conflict in 1992, which led to judicial proceedings. The Diocese of Zagreb-Ljubljana of the Serbian Orthodox Church lost the case and had to pay a huge amount for procedural expenses. Since its account was blocked, the proposal for opening preliminary bankruptcy proceedings followed. However, by the hearing scheduled for determining the bankruptcy ground, the debt was paid and proceedings were closed.
Read the full story here by Dr Djuro M. Djuric, Visiting Research Fellow, Martin Luther University, Halle-Wittemberg, Germany.
|
|
| INSOL Europe Strengthens links with National Associations |
|
Working with our Country Coordinators, we have started a programme to develop a close relationship with the relevant National Association (or similar body) in each jurisdiction covered by our members. With these agreements, we hope to increase the flow of information between the bodies, and work together on future events (such as the ARE conference reported below).
We are very happy to report that most recently we have signed with the German association NIVD and the Hungary association RFE, bringing the total up to 11 agreements, with more in the pipeline.
|
|
|
A full list is shown below and on our website here.
|
|
| Richard Turton Award 2024: Win free place to Sorrento! |
|
|
|
Richard Turton had a unique role in the formation and management of INSOL Europe,
INSOL International, the IPA (English Insolvency Practitioners Association) and R3 (Association of Business Recovery Professionals in the UK). In recognition of his achievements, these four organisations jointly created an award in memory of Richard. The 2024 competition is now open for anyone who is a national of a developing or emerging nation; works in or studies insolvency & restructuring law and practice and is under 35 years of age.
“Achieving the Richard Turton Award is more than an award for me. It is a unique and rare opportunity to be part of such a conference and be surrounded by the best professionals and practitioners in the insolvency area. It is also a lifetime experience and a huge motivation for me as a young researcher.” Marinela Majnova, 2023 Winner
The successful applicant will be asked to write a paper of 3,000 words on a subject of insolvency or turnaround agreed with the panel. This paper will be published in summary in one or more of the four Member Associations' journals and in full on their websites. The winner will be invited to attend the INSOL Europe Annual Congress in Sorrento, 3-6 October, expenses paid. Applications deadline: 14 June 2024.
For more information and to apply, visit the Richard Turton Award page here.
|
|
| Forthcoming Events of Interest |
|
|
|
Registration is now open for the R3 Annual Conference, 1-3 May 2024
R3’s 2024 Annual Conference will take place at the beautiful Fairmont Hotel located in St Andrews. This year’s conference theme ‘Forging global pathways: UK insolvency and restructuring in a post-Brexit world’ will explore global economic trends and the role and shape of the eco-system for insolvency and restructuring in an inter-connected world. INSOL Europe President, Giorgio Corno, will be chairing an all-INSOL Europe panel titled 'EU Passports to the right, UK to the left - pathways in EU post-Brexit' on the Thursday afternoon. Find out more and register on the R3 website.
|
|
|
|
ERA Online Conference, 3-4 June 2024 - 25% Discount for INSOL Europe Members
This year's conference will focus on access to and enforcement of digital assets and the treatment of digital assets as part of the insolvency estate. In addition, there will be a debate on different restructuring schemes in Europe, a report from Brussels on the state of play of new legislative initiatives and a case law review of recent CJEU judgments on cross-border insolvency proceedings. The online event involves many INSOL Europe members, including Stefania Bariatti, Michal Barlowski, Reinhard Dammann, Rita Gismondi, Ilya Kokorin, Antonio Leandro and Irene Lynch Fannon. For further information and to register, visit the ERA website.
INSOL Europe members can benefit from a 25% discount using the code 25Insol124D63.
|
|
|
|
SAVE THE DATE! The 18th annual R3 & INSOL Europe Conference on cross-border restructuring and insolvency returns to London on 27 June 2024.
The one-day conference is aimed at all restructuring and insolvency professionals with an interest in cross-border matters. This conference is aimed at all professionals interested in cross-border restructuring and insolvency, including financial advisers, lenders, distressed asset investors, judges and academics. INSOL Europe will be hosting a panel on sanctions, chaired by Damien Murren (Teneo, Ireland; Council member and Country Co-ordinator for Ireland). Find our more and register here.
|
|
|
We welcome feedback, news and story ideas for future newsletters.
Please send your suggestions to Paul Newson, CEO & Communications Manager,
email: paulnewson@insol-europe.org.
Follow us on Social Media and join the conversation:
 
Thanks to our General Sponsors
|
| INSOL Europe, PO Box 7149, Clifton, Nottingham. NG11 6WD |
| www.insol-europe.org |
| Unsubscribe from INSOL-Europe.org mailing. |
| Disclaimer: This newsletter is sent to members of INSOL Europe. No responsibility legal or otherwise is accepted by INSOL Europe for any errors, omissions or otherwise. The opinions expressed in the articles that appear are not necessarily shared by any representative of INSOL Europe. |
|
|
.jpg){kind=logo}
.jpg){kind=logo}
.jpg)
