Overview
1.1 Where would you place your jurisdiction on the spectrum of debtor- to creditor-friendly jurisdictions?
Traditionally, the French restructuring framework has been considered debtor friendly.
However, since 2021, the transposition of Directive (EU) 2019/1023 introduced mechanisms rebalancing the system in favour of creditors. For large restructurings, classes of affected parties allow creditors to vote within classes and enable cross-class cram-down mechanisms.
In practice, similar tools are now sometimes used in smaller cases as well, which can, depending on how they are implemented, operate to the detriment of creditors.
French law offers a wide range of formal insolvency and preventive proceedings allowing stakeholders to…