Creditors with serious intentions – Finance – Kommersant

As Kommersant found out, in the past two months, the number of official messages from creditors about their intention to bankrupt their debtors has sharply increased – the publication of these notifications in the Federal Resource allows you to then initiate bankruptcy in court. The main reason for the burst of activity of creditors is pent-up demand due to the moratorium that ended on October 1. Nevertheless, if in the first days of October messages were published mainly by those who were looking forward to its end, then further growth may already indicate a trend. According to lawyers, increased interest in bankruptcy will continue at least until the end of the first quarter of 2023, which is primarily due to economic reasons.

According to Kommersant’s estimates based on publications in Federal resource, in the past October-November, the number of messages from creditors, notifying their intention to bankrupt their debtors, increased significantly. Such notification is a prerequisite for the creditor, allowing him to then apply to the court with a bankruptcy petition for the debtor – a legal entity or an individual entrepreneur. To initiate the bankruptcy of a citizen, such publication is not required.

In October alone, creditors published 5953 messages (2.4 times more than October 2021), and in November – 3327 (an increase of 42% compared to November 2021).

So, in October 2021, there were 2306 and 2341 such notifications in November, and in October and November 2020 – 2460 and 2484, respectively. Moreover, the growth is noticeable even in comparison with the pre-Covid 2019, when there were 2807 publications from creditors in October and 2682 in November. Kommersant’s experts had previously predicted a similar development of events (see Kommersant of October 7).

Recallthat in Russia, from April 1, a moratorium was in effect for six months, which did not allow creditors to initiate bankruptcy of those who owed them. Lawyers are confident that the record growth in publications about the intentions of creditors is primarily due to the moratorium. With the impossibility of creditors to initiate bankruptcy of debtors within six months, Sergey Savosko, a lawyer at the Delcredere Bar Association, notes that the number of problem companies not only did not decrease, but rather even increased. “As a result, the lifting of the moratorium led to an avalanche-like increase in statements of intent and will entail the same increase in bankruptcies in the future,” he says.

At the same time, it is important to understand that the moratorium had a greater impact on the number of bankruptcies of legal entities, which are most often bankrupted by creditors, and citizens, as a rule, initiate insolvency proceedings themselves, which was not prohibited by the moratorium, points out Anton Krasnikov, partner at Sotheby law firm.

In just five days after the lifting of the moratorium, creditors posted almost 2.5 thousand messages of intent.

“Everyone has been sitting “at a low start” for a long time and was waiting for October to promptly publish a bankruptcy notice if the moratorium is not extended,” says Rimma Malinska, partner in the commercial disputes practice at MEF Legal. Anton Krasnikov reminds that in April the largest banks applied to the State Legal Department of the President and asked to be allowed to overcome the total moratorium through the courts, warning of potential losses for citizens-debtors of 31 billion rubles, so “it is not surprising that all the bankruptcies postponed due to the moratorium appeared in October and November.”

The point is not only in the cumulative effect, but also in the special legislative regulation of the procedures initiated in the first three months after the moratorium. “The law gives creditors in such bankruptcies an important advantage – it increases the period of suspicion of transactions that are subject to challenge (not from the date of initiation of a bankruptcy case, but from the date of the moratorium), and therefore expands the possibilities of filling the bankruptcy estate. For this reason, many creditors are in a hurry to have time to file for bankruptcy right now,” explains Sergey Savosko. In addition, December is often an active period for corporate lawyers, when the results of the year are summed up and it is necessary to report on the work done, Ms. Malinska notes.

In addition to the end of the moratorium, lawyers see the reason for the growing interest in bankruptcy procedures in the “general deterioration of the economy due to the political situation.”

In addition, Anton Krasnikov points out, a slight increase in the number of corporate bankruptcies occurred already in January-March 2022 (6.4% more than the same period last year). And already in March, “it was impossible to deny the fact that in the near future even financially stable organizations may have difficulties that cannot be overcome without state support,” the lawyer emphasizes.

As a result, some companies were objectively unable to continue their business in the changed conditions, continues Rimma Malinska: “With the complication of the economic situation in the country and the world, the imposition of sanctions and restrictions, the business structure is changing, purchasing power is decreasing, companies have to look for new opportunities and sales markets, and do not Everyone is able to rebuild.” “The disruption of supply chains, the termination of financing, the exit of many companies from the market, the suspension of supplies or maintenance – all this sets off a chain reaction of non-payments and suspension of activities,” adds Case by Case lawyer Yulia Mikhalchuk.

According to Sergey Savosko, “until the end of 2022, we will observe the maximum rates of new bankruptcies,” but in the future, he expects to exceed the indicators of previous years. “We expect the number of bankruptcies to rise for approximately another six months. Then the situation may return to normal,” admits Rimma Malinska.

Yulia Mikhalchuk also believes that in 2023 the growth of publications of creditors and the initiation of bankruptcy cases will continue, although the quarterly dynamics may fluctuate. “Traditionally, there will be some recession due to the January holidays, but in the future the trend will go up. This dynamics will be significantly influenced by external factors – for example, if the legislator again introduces a bankruptcy moratorium or starts to give cheap money to businesses, then there will again be a decline, which will begin to grow after the end of state support measures for business,” says Ms. Mikhalchuk.

Since the reasons for the increase in demand for bankruptcy are primarily economic, Sergey Savosko believes that this “trend will end, probably, only after the transition of the economy to the growth stage.”

Mr. Krasnikov is more optimistic and admits that already in the second quarter of 2023, corporate bankruptcies may return to “domoratorial indicators”.

Anna Zanina