RESTRUE, is the name of the Report 2023 on Restructuring proceedings and bankruptcies in Poland. It was published mid April 2024 and prepared by the law firm of Filipiac Babicz. I was invited to write a few words about the Dutch WHOA legislation. My text follows here: In 2023, the evaluation of the WHOA legislation was most anticipated in the… Read More »2024-04-doc4 Evaluation of the Dutch WHOA legislation
Mercon Coffee Corporation and some of its international subsidiaries entered Chapter 11 in New York in December 2023, while its Netherlands-registered arm Mercon BV, the parent to some of the group debtors, launched WHOA proceedings in Amsterdam. With the New York court, Mercon drafted up a protocol based on the JIN Guidelines with some special provisions applicable to the case,… Read More »2024-04-doc3 The US-approved Mercon protocol and the Dutch courts / Part One
In the Netherlands, in a letter dated April 15, 2024 to the House of Representatives, Minister of Legal Protection Mr Weerwind (in outgoing /’demissionair’) addresses ‘Developments in insolvency law’. The ‘recalibration’ program (see https://bobwessels.nl/blog/2019-07-doc1-insolvency-legislative-developments-in-the-netherlands/) has ended, but for Dutch national insolvency several other themes need to be further investigated. The minister indicates that the ‘coming period’ (my impression from the… Read More »2024-04-doc2 Are the Dutch following the Model Law? Or: does the snail move?
My colleague from the University of Bari Aldo Moro, prof. Antonio Leandro, wrote a book (in Italian) under the title ‘Movement and Extinction of Commercial Credits in Conflicts of law of the EU. The ‘Rome I’ Regulation between the Internal Market and the Capital Market.’ It is a complex topic, not often addressed in depth. Reason enough to ask Antonio… Read More »2024-04-doc1 Assignment of claims, subrogation and set-off
It is with great sadness that I read the announcement below about the passing away of Eric Dirix. He was professor emeritus at the University of Leuven and a justice in the Belgian Court of Cassation (Supreme Court) for more than 20 years. His significance for private law in Belgium, but also for the Netherlands, is enormous. His publications and… Read More »2402-02-doc 3 Passing away of Professor Eric Dirix
Ensuring smoother electronic communication in cross-border judicial cooperation in civil, commercial and criminal matters is the aim of a recently-published regulation on the digitalisation of cross-border judicial cooperation and access to justice: Regulation (EU) 2023/2844. Among other things, the new regulation amends the EU’s Insolvency Regulation (EIR 2015). Published at the end of 2023, the Regulation 2023/2844 (with its accompanying… Read More »2024-02-doc2 EU embraces digitisation of national legal systems
In Europe, the availability of the EU Insolvency Regulation (Recast) (EIR 2015) serves as a solid rock in EU-related cross-border insolvency matters. The last five years, case law has been rather scarce. But in international insolvency practice the Regulation plays its role as tool to include when weighing options to arrive at pragmatic solutions. A first step in harmonising substantive… Read More »2024-02-doc1 Where is EU Insolvency Law heading in 2024?
A Dutch court’s approval of Diebold Nixdorf Dutch Holding BV’s WHOA scheme recently allowed it to achieve and implement a parallel restructuring plan in the United States. On 7 August, the US Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas ordered the recognition and enforcement of Diebold Nixdorf Dutch Holding BV’s WHOA agreement, marking the first time a foreign judge… Read More »2023-12-doc1 The Dutch WHOA scheme as a successful tool in international restructurings
Under international law, a presumption of immunity applies to goods of a foreign state, which makes them untouchable by seizure. This rule has an exception in the event it has been established that the goods in question are being used by the foreign state, or are intended to be used, for purposes other than public ones. It is up to… Read More »2023-11-doc1 Sovereign Wealth Fund shares – Immune from execution?
On 29 August, Global Restructuring Review (GRR) reported that the Zeeland-West-Brabant District Court in the Netherlands had given its reasons for granting a “worldwide stay” (“Dutch court issues reasons for unprecedented Ch11-style stay”). To avoid confusion, what the Dutch court granted is a stay in the meaning of the local legislation of the WHOA (“afkoelingsperiode”). It is not an “automatic… Read More »2023-10-doc1 Who it the “foreign representative” under the Model Law (MLCBI)?