Liquidation and Bankruptcy: Protection of Creditor or Debtor Interests

INTELLECT is among the best Russian law firms practicing corporate law, mergers and acquisitions, providing legal services for bankruptcy support. INTELLECT is also included in the all-Russian industry rating of the best law firms in Russia in terms of representation in arbitration courts (2012-2019) and bankruptcy (2014-2015, 2017-2019). INTELLECT's lawyers are recommended by Chambers Europe (Band 1) for litigation and enforcement proceedings.

The highly qualified lawyers of INTELLECT have extensive experience in bankruptcy proceedings both on the side of creditors and on the side of debtors, as well as experience in settling conflicts between participants in bankruptcy cases. We will help you take an effective and balanced approach to bankruptcy proceedings and get the maximum benefit from participating in the bankruptcy proceedings of your company or your debtor. Our regular clients include major Russian and foreign companies, commercial banks.

Svetlana Lebedeva
Head of Practice

Bankruptcy is the inability of a legal entity or individual entrepreneur to meet its or his/her obligations to pay debts or make mandatory payments, as confirmed by an arbitration court. This state of the debtor is also commonly referred to as insolvency.

For most people, bankruptcy means an utter ruin and collapse of the business, the sale of all the debtor's property "under the hammer" and the completion of his/her business career. However, this view of bankruptcy is long and hopelessly outdated, just as debtor imprisonment and the sale into slavery for debt have gone.

In global practice and from the point of view of the Russian legislator, bankruptcy is a way to get rid of unrealistic-for-payment "toxic" debts, to withdraw the company's assets to new companies, and to start the business "from scratch" while maintaining the business ties, the business processes, and the assets of the out-of-date company. Of course, no property always remains with the former owners of the company, but still there is always an aspiration to preserve the company's property complex, even when it is transferred to new hands.

Bankruptcy is a time-consuming activity. Its labor input and duration depend primarily on the structure of the company's assets and the complexity of the business organization, as well as, to a lesser extent, on the legal form of the company. In the course of bankruptcy, it is required to identify the company's property with subsequent registration of immovable property (if necessary), collect debts, organize and conduct auctions for the sale of assets. But, notwithstanding its complexity, bankruptcy is the only legal way for a debtor to get rid of debts, and for creditors – sometimes the only way to get at least some money from an unscrupulous debtor.

The number of companies experiencing financial difficulties is growing every year. This problem is especially relevant in the context of an unstable economic situation. INTELLECT renders services in the field of bankruptcy support to companies experiencing financial difficulties, as well as to creditors wishing to receive what is due to them.