Going Concern Sale under the amended article 106(11) GrIC

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Recent Law 4336/2015 amended article 106(11) of the Greek Insolvency Code (GrIC) on the going concern sale of the debtor’s assets as a whole or in business segments on a clean slate basis (“special liquidation” procedure).

The main changes of the law involve:

• The simplification of the criteria of application, by eliminating the numerical criterial of the Companies Law 2190/1920 (minimum turnover, total asset value and total number of employee), which practically reserved the procedure to large debtors in the past.
• The limitation of the right of the creditors to initiate the process (to creditors representing at least 20% of all obligations of the debtor) and to intervene (to creditors representing at least 60% of the obligations of the debtor including at least 40% of secured obligations and those benefiting from a special privilege).
• The speed up of the court process: under the new provisions the hearing of the application shall take place no later than 20 day from the date of filing, while the relevant judgement shall be issued within a month from the date of hearing.
• The simplification of the filing requirements by eliminating the requirement for the filing of a declaration indicating the existence of an interested investor and that on the expected budget of the process with the corresponding declaration of the sufficiency of funds for those purposes. 
• The specification of the persons that may undertake to act as special liquidators (auditors, audit firm, lawyer with knowledge of finance and law firms fulfilling the same criteria, or university graduate a’ degree accountants), who are now the same persons entitled to act as administrators under L. 4307/2014. 
• The introduction of a right to appeal only a judgment dismissing the application.