Lithuania: bnt insolvency team advising international fashion retailer

bnt attorneys in CEE supporting international fashion retailer in multijurisdictional insolvency matter.

The bnt insolvency and restructuring team led by cross-border insolvency specialist and bnt partner Frank Heemann is advising a Germany-based, internationally active fashion retailer (fast-fashion) on insolvency law and related questions. In late autumn 2021, as a result of the COVID-19-pandemic, the Germany-based main company of the fashion retailer had first entered protective shield proceedings (German Schutzschirmverfahren), before insolvency proceedings in the form of debtor-in-possession proceedings (German Eigenverwaltung) were opened early in 2022.

Once the financial situation of the German main company and various local entities in Central and Eastern Europe had deteriorated, the bnt attorneys in CEE insolvency and restructuring team advised in March 2022 on the company’s filing obligations under Romanian, Hungarian, Czech and Slovak law, legal and pragmatic advice concerning various insolvency matters, representation in the context of insolvency filings of the Romanian and Hungarian entities and support in negotiations with the landlords of fashion stores for the termination of all lease agreements.

This matter illustrates the importance for managers of distressed companies to obtain timely and competent advice to be able to comply with insolvency-related filing obligations under applicable national laws and thus to minimize the risk of personal liability (civil, administrative, criminal). Competent advice is of particular relevance for individuals exercising director’s duties in one or multiple foreign jurisdictions, since grounds for filing for insolvency and related filing obligations still vary considerably from country to country. In this context, directors should also take into consideration that preparing an insolvency filing request in countries in Central and Eastern Europe is often more “bureaucratic” and time -consuming than in Germany or other Western European countries.

The advisory team is coordinated by Frank Heemann (Lithuania) and is composed of members of bnt‘s international insolvency and restructuring practice group: Ondřej Tejnský (Czech Republic), Dávid Oršula (Slovakia), Andrei Mircea Zamfirescu (Romania) und Gábor Jánoshalmi (Hungary).

The international team of bnt attorneys in CEE insolvency and restructuring experts is lead by partners Frank Heemann and Stela Ivanova. The team is used to provide one-stop shop multijurisdictional insolvency and restructuring related advice in Central and Eastern Europe.

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