Member's News - Business breakfast “Bankruptcy. Asset Recovery” held at ALTHAUS Group office

Member's News - Business breakfast “Bankruptcy. Asset Recovery” held at ALTHAUS Group office

  • 14 November 2017

Representatives of the relevant operating units of Russian banks, including Sberbank, Rosbank, Uralsib, Unicredit, Mosoblbank, Home Credit, as well as corporates, such as VEON and TD Agrotorg, participated in the event.

During the business breakfast, the participants discussed an innovative product for the Russian market that ensures comprehensive approach to resolving the issue of asset recovery and collection:

  • One-stop shop support for bankruptcy cases, i.e. comprehensive project management from the moment of stating the terms of reference to the moment of funds recovery.
  • Combining forensic tools with classical legal advice with geographical coverage in the world's primary jurisdictions. Efficient bankruptcy with asset recovery using forensic tools.
  • Possibility to organize efficient management of the debtor's business in order to compensate for the costs related to the bankruptcy procedure support and to secure asset sale as a ready-made business.

The issue of subsidiary liability of the debtor’s controlling persons was raised as the key aspect of the modern law enforcement practice, subject to the latest amendments to the bankruptcy legislation.

Speaking at the business breakfast were Andrey Bezhan, PhD in Law, advocate, partner, head of “Legal Disputes and Bankruptcy” practice at ALTHAUS Group; Alexander Khaki and Alexander Pisemskiy, executive directors at CSI Group; Denis Yaroslavtsev, head of legal and litigation support directorate, VEB Capital; and Oleg Petrov, an insolvency officer.

The speakers emphasized that the standard approach to supporting projects in the field of insolvency (bankruptcy) has long been proved ineffective. Current statistics indicate the need to reevaluate the standard approaches and find the new ones to improve efficiency of legal support for such projects.

They suggested an innovative approach aiming to combine classical legal tools in the field of insolvency (bankruptcy) with forensic tools and a professional approach to crisis management of business. Such a comprehensive approach is intended to solely counter the schemes to evade repayment of accounts payable used by unscrupulous debtors.

During their joint address, Andrey Bezhan and Alexander Khaki provided specific examples of standard legal tools enhanced by forensic tools in order to improve efficiency of bankruptcy support. Participants of the business breakfast were also given an opportunity to act as international detectives and identify asset location of the debtor’s beneficiaries together with the speakers using photos from social media.

Denis Yaroslavtsev, head of legal and litigation support directorate, VEB Capital, touched upon the hottest issue in developing the bankruptcy institution, i.e. subsidiary liability of the debtor’s controlling persons. In particular, Denis highlighted to the participants of the event a possibility of adding subsidiary liability after the bankruptcy procedure is completed, an expanded scope of parties entitled to file a corresponding application and the specifics of applying new provisions of the legislation in time.

The presentation by Oleg Petrov, an insolvency officer, dealt with the debtor’s business continuity during the bankruptcy procedure. Oleg considered the existing strategies and suggested the most advanced approaches to bankruptcy support that would not only ensure safety of the debtor’s assets but would also significantly increase its capitalization by using state-of-the-art crisis management techniques in managing those assets.

As Andrey Bezhan summarized at the end of the event, only new comprehensive approach to resolving the debt collection issue and bringing together a team of professionals would help to correct the current unfavorable statistics and drive development of the insolvency (bankruptcy) institution in the context of restoring the debtors’ solvency.

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