Reorganization vs. Liquidation: How Insolvency Procedures Deal with the Past

Reorganization procedures are sometimes a better way to deal with (pre-)insolvent companies than to liquidate them. Not only is the outcome of a reorganization procedure markedly different from a liquidation procedure, also the way of dealing with the past is quite different. In liquidation procedures, an appointed insolvency practitioner will review transactions conducted prior to insolvency through the lens of transaction avoidance and review behaviour of directors and shareholders through the lens of liability. Reorganization procedures are so strongly geared towards saving the business and the company and thereby so forward-looking, that there appears to be little room for looking back. One could even question whether a less noble goal of starting reorganization procedures might in some cases be to prevent looking back. 

 

NACIIL 2025: Transaction Avoidance in Reorganization (US, English and Dutch Perspectives)

During the 2025 Netherlands Association for Comparative and International Insolvency Law (NACIIL) annual meeting ‘WegpoetsWHOA or Scheme of Erasures? Difficulties of applying transaction avoidance in reorganization procedures’, we explored the dilemmas of to looking back in a reorganization procedure from a US, English and Dutch perspective, with a focus on transaction avoidance. This book contains the reports that were prepared for the 2025 NACIIL annual meeting.