Clifford Chance

Clifford Chance Prague hosts its 4th Annual Insolvency Seminar

A number of interested insolvency industry members and Clifford Chance clients made up the audience at the well attended annual Insolvency seminar held recently by the Prague office. Presentations by leading members of the office's insolvency practice Tomáš Richter and Jindřich Arabasz focused on the proposed amendments to the Czech Insolvency Act, the recast European Insolvency Regulation, and new case law as well as important trends in restructuring and insolvency both locally and regionally.

Seminar attendees praised the forum for its relevance to current developments in the industry, the depth of insight available, and highlighted the value of relevant information provided on topics such as the case law underpinning a number of ongoing issues of interest, including the much reviewed Czech Superior Court judgment in the ELMA-THERM case. This case (dealing with the insolvency of one of the largest electrical engineering companies in the Czech Republic) is of particular interest to the market for its wider consequences in relation to the securing of future and contingent claims in light of the court's extremely broad interpretation of the principle of accessority. Given the role of the Prague office in advising Komerční banka on its attempts to overturn the judgement, there was great interest in Clifford Chance's views on the matter.

The seminar drew a diverse group of attendees and included members of the legal and restructuring and workout departments from UniCredit, HSBC, Citi, Komerční Banka (Société Générale), Česka sporitelna (Erste Group), Československá obchodní banka (KBC), COMMERZBANK,  ING Bank, KKCG, ČEZ, ABB and the Czech National Bank.