OUR MISSIONS

On the basis of a prior consultation, we establish, together with the management and their advisers, a diagnosis of the difficulties that are encountered and we determine whether or not resorting to this option is the best choice.

All companies encountering proven or foreseeable difficulties may use prevention, provided that they are not in a situation of cessation of payment (ad hoc mandate) or have not been in a situation of cessation of payment for more than 45 days (conciliation). The aim is to reach an amicable settlement of the difficulties and to find lasting solutions for the company.

The ad hoc mandate is the most flexible procedure: at the request of the director, the president of the court appoints the ad hoc agent of his choice and assigns him the mission that is requested (generally, it is the conclusion of an agreement with banks, shareholders, or other creditors, particularly tax and social security creditors, but it may involve any other negotiation: conflict between partners, problems with strategic customers or suppliers, social negotiations, etc.). In order to carry out this completely confidential mission, the ad hoc legal agent has no power on anyone: the measure is not publicized in any way, and the ad hoc agent, in order to succeed, only benefits from his negotiating know-how, his intimate knowledge of the environment of a company in difficulty, his experience of such negotiations and the authority of the president of the court that appointed him.

He is both the driving force and arbitrator of the negotiations, and as such, the ad hoc representative must restore trust, which is often damaged, by ensuring the credibility of the information provided, the transparency of the discussions and respect for all the interests involved. His action is directed towards one goal only: the conclusion of an agreement that will ensure the long-term survival of the company he assists.

Conciliation is based on the same principles as the ad hoc mandate. It differs, for the most part, by its necessarily limited duration and the possibility, once the agreement has been concluded, of having it homologated by the court, in order to give it complete legal security and to grant, if necessary, a privilege to the contributors of "new money".

The success rate of these voluntary, consensual and confidential procedures is extremely high.

Safeguard is a voluntary procedure, open only to companies that are not in cessation of payment. Its effect is to "freeze" the company’s liabilities, by the simple effect of the judgment initiating the procedure, in order to give the company the time needed to build a plan to ensure its survival and reschedule its liabilities.

In the absence of any agreement with the creditors, the court may impose a deferral of up to 10 years.

The role of the Judiciary Administrator is to assist the manager first in the construction of a plan, then in the negotiation with the creditors, in order to reach a negotiated solution.

The procedure offers greater leverage than preventive procedures:

It is partially coercive for the creditors, whose claims are frozen by the opening of the procedure;

Any redundancy that needs to be implemented can be financed in the form of repayable advances from the Unedic-AGS ;

An agreement can be reached by a majority of the creditors representing 2/3 of the liabilities;

In the absence of an agreement, the Court may impose a deferral of up to 10 years on the creditors.

This procedure, however, has the disadvantage of publicity

Receivership is intended to organize the recovery of a company in difficulty, within the framework of a legal proceeding controlled by Court.

It is the procedure to be followed when amicable procedures do not provide sufficient leverage to resolve the difficulties and when the company, in cessation of payments, is not eligible for safeguard.

Like the safeguard procedure, receivership:

• is coercive for creditors, whose claims are frozen by the opening of the procedure;
• allows the Unedic-AGS to advance the cost of any redundancy that needs to be implemented;
• allows the court, in the absence of agreement, to impose a deferral of up to 10 years on creditors.

However, receivership differs from safeguarding by the following elements:

• the procedure for redundancy, for which the receiver is responsible, is simplified and sped up;
• when it is impossible to discharge the liabilities, the Court may order the transfer of the business to a buyer whom it considers capable of perpetuating it.

In the absence of a reorganization or transfer solution, the Court orders the compulsory liquidation.

The role of the administrator is to assist the head of the company, to organize the pursuit of the business in spite of a necessarily tense situation (concerns among employees, delivery blocks by unpaid suppliers, etc.), to diagnose the situation and to work with the head of the company to find a lasting recovery solution.

If no such solution is found, the administrator must look for buyers and negotiate with them to reach the best possible takeover solution in terms of preserving the business, safeguarding jobs and clearing liabilities.

The judicial administrator may be entrusted with the temporary management of a company in the event of vacancy or paralysis of its management bodies.

He then assumes legal responsibility for the management of the company while the company is re-equipping itself with autonomous management bodies.

When a company has exhausted its corporate purpose, or more generally when its partners wish to put an end to its activity, an amicable liquidator must be appointed at a general meeting to collect its receivables, sell its assets, pay its debts and pursue any lawsuits in progress.

At the end of these operations, if there is a liquidation bonus, it is distributed among the partners.

If, on the other hand, the assets do not make it possible to settle all the debts, amicable liquidation presupposes that negotiations are conducted with the interested parties to reduce the liabilities to a level less than or equal to the assets.