This quick guide summarises the duties that directors of French companies are subject to, and how those duties change when the company is insolvent or at risk of being insolvent. It also gives an overview of the personal risk to directors when the company is in financial difficulty and suggests some practical tips to help … Continue Reading
To assist French businesses in understanding what financial support packages are now available we have produced a helpful guide summarising those. This gives an overview of the package, the level of funding available, eligibility, how to apply and when it will be available. To access the most up to date guide click on this link. … Continue Reading
French businesses face significant business disruption, as does any country faced with restrictions in place to curb movement of people because of Covid-19. In this blog we consider what the restrictions are in France and what help is on offer.… Continue Reading
Rastignac? Grandet? Swindler? Arsène Lupin? Ponzi scheme concerning letters and manuscripts? The adventures of Gérard X, formidable businessman, founder and manager of the Aristophil company, were abruptly interrupted in November 2014, with the search of the company premises and its property by the judicial police. The company was put into receivership on February 16 2015, … Continue Reading
As 26 June 2017 approaches – the date of entry into effect of the Recast EU Insolvency Regulation (2015/8484/EU) – we look in detail at the new provisions for co-ordinating the insolvency proceedings of members of a pan-European group of companies and consider whether the new proposals for co-operation will be compulsory, the practicalities of who will … Continue Reading
It is not always easy to prioritize between the various goals pursued in every insolvency legislation, namely; the continuation of the company, preservation of the jobs, the general economic/public interest and the payment of dividends to creditors. There is no clear hierarchy in French law amongst these major targets and French case law appears fairly pragmatic. … Continue Reading
A scandal in the world of letters and old manuscripts would not have gone unnoticed and the French case of Aristophil has lead to extensive press coverage; a massive fraud is suspected with thousands of works and hundreds of millions of euros at stake. The concept was appealing: manuscripts full of history, a promise of elevated re-sale … Continue Reading
Cathryn Williams, Andreas Lehmann, Fernando Gonzalez and Antoine Adeline have written an article for the Journal of Corporate Renewal in its May 2015 issue entitled “EU Retailers’ Struggles Continue Amid Signs of Improvement.” Click here to read the article.… Continue Reading
The continued modernisation of the French economy has been a long and difficult process but, as a former British prime minister was fond of saying, “there is no alternative”. Emmanuel Macron, the Minister of Economy, Finances and Industry, and other members of the French government are currently championing a new bill relating to “growth and … Continue Reading
In a Cross-Jurisdictional review of distressed loan sales in US, France, Germany and Spain, Squire Patton Boggs’ insolvency/restructuring lawyers from each of these jurisdictions give a high-level overview of both economic and legal market trends and how certain key legal issues are being addressed by their local insolvency regimes. They look at: Who is selling … Continue Reading
