Rehabilitation and reorganization of insolvent estates

The principal focus of modern insolvency legislation rests no longer on the liquidation and elimination of insolvent estates but on the remodeling of the financial and, if necessary, organizational structure of a debtor in economic difficulties so as to permit the continuation of the economic activities. Procedures for the conclusion of binding preventive accords with creditors, requiring approval by a qualified majority of them and confirmation by the courts, were provided by legislation in a number of countries during the second half of the 19th century. Economic crises during the 20th century gave rise to further legislative measures, providing a breathing spell for the debtor by means of a postponement or reduction of his liability, coupled if necessary with a change in ownership. Thus, a German law of 1916 provided for avoidance of bankruptcy and executions by a procedure placing the debtor, upon his petition, under judicially supervised management. Similar procedures were introduced subsequently into the companies acts of South Africa and Australia and incorporated into the English Insolvency Act, 1986, as a new avenue of relief for debtors threatened with insolvency (administration orders procedure). In addition, the laws of England, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand outline procedures for preventive composition and schemes of arrangement with creditors by companies or individual debtors. Procedures for preventive accords also exist in many civil-law countries—e.g., Austria, Germany, Italy, Portugal, Spain, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, and Mexico. Italy has enacted special legislation for the extraordinary management of large enterprises in economic difficulties. Usually judicial compositions affect only the rights of unsecured creditors. Secured creditors must specifically and individually assent to any modification of their rights. In the case of corporate debtors, however, effective restoration of the viability of the enterprise may require much more drastic measures. Therefore, the United States, Japan, and, more recently, Argentina and Chile have enacted laws establishing procedures to permit the formulation and judicial confirmation of reorganization plans, the provisions of which may include elimination of ownership rights and significant curtailments of the rights of secured creditors. Austria reformed its composition act in 1982 by adding a preliminary procedure, resembling the old German management supervision order, to facilitate voluntary reorganization, especially refinancing. The most comprehensive legislation aimed at the salvage of distressed enterprises is the French insolvency legislation of 1985. This law provides a unified procedure establishing a mandatory period of observation to determine whether the insolvent enterprise can be rescued, if necessary at the expense of the owners and existing creditors, or whether liquidation is unavoidable.