Cross-Border Protocols in Insolvencies of Multinational Enterprise Groups, is the title of my new book written together with my Leiden colleague Ilya Kokorin. In May 2021 it has been published by Edward Elgar Publishing in the series Elgar Corporate and Insolvency Law and Practice. Cross-border insolvency protocols were an intriguing new development in the early days in my practice. Later, my research focus has been on them. In all, protocols have been playing a role for over 25 years in my life. They can play a critical role in facilitating the efficient resolution of complex cross-border insolvency cases, especially in international corporate insolvencies. Examples include for the 1990s the Maxwell and the Everfresh protocols, and more recently protocols related to Lehman Brothers, Bernard Madoff and Jet Airways.
Analysis
Ilya Kokorin and I claim to bring together protocols’ common foundations and developments and we dive deep into an analysis of close to 50 of those protocols from 1992 to 2020. Doing so this book constitutes the first in-depth study of the use of insolvency protocols, enriching existing knowledge and serving as a comprehensive introduction to their application in the context of multinational enterprise group insolvency. We furthermore thoroughly discuss the legal basis, contents, effects, major characteristics and limitations of protocols against the background of an analysis of major international insolvency law instruments and modern trends and developments in the area of insolvency of enterprise groups. The book also proposes a Group Insolvency Protocol (GIP) design.
Use in cross-border practice
For their use in international practice, we aim to provide practical recommendations for drafting an insolvency protocol, addressing problems related to their adoption and offering suggestions for the improvement of group coordination exploration of the nature of insolvency protocols. And we cover issues related to the preservation and realization of material assets, resolution of intercompany claims, information exchange, conflicts of interest, participation rights and group governance in insolvency.
To order: Ilya Kokorin and Bob Wessels, Cross-Border Protocols in Insolvencies of Multinational Enterprise Groups, Edward Elgar Publishing, Cheltenham, UK / Northampton, MA, USA, 2021, xxvii + 343, ISBN 978 1 80088 053 5
For information, see https://www.e-elgar.com/shop/isbn/9781800880535
Database of insolvency protocols
I hope you will enjoy reading it as well as using it! Furthermore, in the Annex, the book contains the text of some of the landmark insolvency protocols (Maxwell, Lehman Brothers, Jet Airways, etc.). These and other insolvency protocols, referred to in our book, are also available via the Database of Insolvency Protocols, maintained and updated by the International Insolvency Institute (III) at https://www.iiiglobal.org/international-resource-library (go to heading ‘Insolvency Topics’, and then to ‘Insolvency protocols’).