Colombia

Martín Acero, Nicolás Tirado and Juan Guillermo Nur

prietocarrizosa

  1. 1.What actions are available to creditors prior to a formal insolvency proceeding to recover on a defaulted loan or obligation of a debtor? Are there any expedited formal proceeding?

    Creditors may initiate an executory proceeding (collection claim) in order to force debtors to perform a certain obligation, whether monetary or otherwise.

    In the course of such processes, creditors are allowed to request some precautionary measures (medidas cautelares) preventing debtors from divesting assets; such measures may include a judicial order to prevent the debtor from selling or transferring its assets (embargo).

  2. 2.What duties do directors or officers of a company owe creditors or other third parties if the company is insolvent or in financial difficulties, or has negative net worth? is there a standard of care towards third parties? in what circumstances can officers and directors be found liable for continuing to operate a company in financial difficulties? Can they be found criminally liable?

    Under Colombian law, a company will be deemed to be in “cause for dissolution” whenever it suffers losses which reduce its net worth below 50 per cent of its subscribed capital. In such cases, directors must refrain from engaging in new operations; and summon a shareholders’ meeting in order to inform this situation.

    If directors and officers fail to give notice to the shareholders of said situation, or engage in new operations, they may be found jointly and severally liable in the event that damages are caused to the company, the shareholders or third parties. Also, for a new corporate type called sociedad por acciones simplificada (simplified stock corporations), the law includes a provision whereby directors and officers may be found jointly and severally liable to third parties whenever such company is used in prejudice of them, without specifying particular cases or actions.

    As a general rule, directors and officers may not be found criminally liable for the mere fact of continuing operating a company with financial difficulties.

  3. 3.Can a creditor that has secured debt foreclose on the collateral or sell collateral in a private sale? if so, what rules exist to ensure the sale or foreclosure generates the maximum amount of sales proceeds possible? Can lenders take possession or control of the underlying collateral? are there any accelerated procedures available for secured creditors, and if so, under what circumstances can they be used?

    The answer to this question will depend on the nature of the collateral involved. Whenever the obligation is guaranteed by means of a pledge or a mortgage, foreclosure will always imply a judicial proceeding, in the course of which it will always be necessary that the judge orders an auction to ensure that the sale or foreclosure generates the maximum amount of proceeds possible.

    Depending on the type of collateral, lenders may take control or possession of it during judicial sale; as a general rule, the collateral will be under control of a clerk of the court appointed by the judge in an executory proceeding. Nevertheless, please bear in mind that creditors are forbidden to gain ownership over the collateral itself other than through the auction.

    Nevertheless, other sort of guarantees may have a different treatment under Colombian law. For instance, whenever a trust is put in place for guarantee purposes, the trust company will issue certificates to creditors guaranteeing their credits with the underlying assets placed in trust. In case of default, the trust company will sell the asset privately in accordance with the rules set forth in the trust agreement, which will rarely imply judicial intervention. In this case, it is possible for the creditor to gain ownership over the asset underlying the trust without need of an auction.

  4. 4.What types of insolvency proceedings are available in your jurisdiction? are different insolvency proceedings available for individuals and companies? is there any distinction made between ‘preventative’ insolvency proceedings and ‘actual’ insolvency proceedings?

    Generally, the Colombian insolvency act (Law 1116, 2006) regulates two sorts of proceedings reorganisation (similar to a Chapter 11 proceeding in the US); and judicial or compulsory liquidation (similar to a Chapter 7 proceeding in the US). There are other insolvency proceedings according to the type of entity that is subject to them. Individuals who are professional merchants are subject to the provisions of Law 1116. Recently, the Colombian Constitutional Court (Corte Constitucional) declared non-merchant individual’s insolvency procedures unconstitutional and thus void.

    There are no formal preventative insolvency proceedings under Colombian law.

  5. 5.On what grounds may a debtor company be placed into an insolvency proceeding? who may do this? what are the grounds for a voluntary proceeding? if an involuntary proceeding is filed, must a bond be posted or is there any risk of liability to the creditor or creditors who filed the action? what effect, if any, does a filing have on a subsidiary or affiliate of the debtor? are there any grounds for consolidating or coordinating insolvency proceedings involving related parties? are inter-company or affiliate claims treated differently in terms of recovery or voting?

    A debtor company may file for insolvency whenever it fails to satisfy two or more obligations representing 10 per cent or more of its total liabilities for a period exceeding 90 days; or is in an imminent inability to satisfy obligations. A company will be deemed to be in an imminent inability or incapacity to satisfy obligations whenever there are internal or market circumstances which affect (or may reasonably affect) its capacity to discharge short term (one year or less) obligations as they mature.

    The above are the grounds for either a voluntary or an involuntary proceeding. In case of an involuntary proceeding, there are no special risks or liabilities of any kind to the creditor or creditors that requested commencement of an insolvency proceeding on any given debtor, and no bond needs to be posted.

    As a general rule, there are no effects on the subsidiary or affiliate of a Colombian company if a filing for insolvency is made and affiliates are able to choose whether or not to join the process. Nevertheless, the first exception to this rule is that branches of foreign companies that filed for insolvency are required to file for insolvency in Colombia as well. Also, whenever the insolvency of a company threatens to put any of its affiliates in a position of inability to satisfy its obligations as they mature, the Superintendencia de Sociedades (Corporate Superintendence) may order the commencement of an insolvency proceeding of the affiliate.

    Furthermore, there is a legal presumption whereby insolvency is deemed to have been caused by parent companies, whenever subsidiaries enter into a reorganisation process.

    Colombian law allows simultaneous filing for insolvency between related parties, as well as the possibility to request coordination between related parties’ insolvency procedures.

    Inter-company or affiliate claims are subordinated to third party claims for purposes of recovery.

  6. 6.What notifications and meetings are required after the company has been placed in an insolvency proceeding? Do the insolvency laws recognise bondholders under an indenture? what must they show to prove their ownership interest in the underlying debt?

    When the judge admits a company into an insolvency proceeding, its legal representatives are required to inform the initiation of the proceeding to all of the company’s creditors. Further, the judge must send communications to the Tax Administration and to the Ministry of Labour. The decision of the judge admitting the debtor to insolvency must be registered in the local Chamber of Commerce (and also in the chamber of commerce corresponding to each place where the debtor has branches).

    Insolvency laws recognise all different types of creditors; there are in principle no distinctions among them. Hence, all creditors are allowed to participate in the process and to request the payment of their obligation, subject to creditor priority rankings regulated in the Colombian Civil Code.

    When filing the request for insolvency, the debtor is required to list each of its creditors in a creditors’ list. In the event that any given creditor is not mentioned in said list, it is entitled to object it in order to be accepted and included as part of the insolvency proceeding. In the objection the creditor has to demonstrate that there are pending obligations in his favour. No particular formalities are needed for such purposes.

  7. 7.How are contingent creditors dealt with? How are inter-company claims handled? if so, has this been challenged and with what result? are there special rules for certain contracts?

    As mentioned above, there are no differences between creditors. As has been recognised by the Corporate Superintendence, all credits – including contingent ones, regardless of whether they are outstanding- must be included by the debtor in its creditors’ list. Contingent creditors may object to the creditors’ list in order to be included in it as regular creditors are.

    As mentioned above, intercompany credits will be satisfied only after all third party creditors have been satisfied. No precedents exist of a challenge to this rule.

    Insolvency laws forbid unilateral termination of agreements against a debtor placed in insolvency on grounds of the initiation of the proceeding, or for breach prior to the commencement thereof. Further, the law allows debtors to renegotiate contracts of continuous performance; if such renegotiation is unsuccessful, debtor may request the judge to terminate the contract whenever it results excessively cumbersome.

  8. 8.What effect does the commencement of an insolvency proceeding have on the debtor and its operations? is there an automatic stay that prevents third parties from acting against the debtor? Can a debtor terminate or reject contracts to which it is a party?

    When a debtor is accepted into an insolvency process, all existing executory proceedings will be brought into the reorganisation process and no judge may accept further suits against such debtor. If any of said processes are continued, all the decisions made by the judge will be null and void.

    Further, the debtor will require henceforth authorisation from the judge to perform certain activities, such as making amendments to the by-laws, creating or enforcing encumbrances (including trusts), set-offs, compensations, settlements and termination of controversies (unilaterally or otherwise), selling or disposing of assets except in the ordinary course of its business.

    As mentioned above, debtors may request – from the judge – termination of continuous performance contracts whenever they are found to be excessively onerous, prior cost-benefit study. This study shall include termination penalties and the study of the economical conditions of contracts of the same type.

  9. 9.How are secured creditors treated in an insolvency proceeding? How do they protect their collateral, particularly liquid assets? Can they seek remedies? Must their approval be obtained to use or dispose of their collateral? How are unsecured creditors treated? How are equity holders treated? Could an equity holder recover prior to creditors being paid in full?

    Secured creditors will lose their preferential treatment and their guarantees will be put on hold until the reorganisation plan is consummated; consequently they will not be able to seek remedies outside such plan, so long as the debtor is in compliance with it.

    Nevertheless, secured creditors will undoubtedly have an advantage in the creditors’ list, because they will be placed in priority ranking (second or third, depending on the nature of the guarantee), which must be respected for all purposes in the reorganisation plan. Such ranking may not be altered in a manner which degrades a preferential or prioritised creditor, although lower-ranking creditors may be upgraded whenever a 60 per cent majority is in agreement and the process is facilitated through such upgrade, among others.

    If the reorganisation plan fails, securities will be reestablished. If a mandatory liquidation follows, the ranking will be honoured in furtherance thereof.

    In order to make the guarantees effective, it will be necessary that the reorganisation plan specifically makes reference to this fact, and that for such matters the plan is approved by an absolute majority of admissible votes, plus the vote of the secured creditor.

    Unsecured creditors will be subject to the creditors’ list according to the classification given by the Colombian Civil Code which establishes a five-class order, and they will be placed in the last class.

    Equity holders will be entitled to recovery after all external liabilities have been paid.

  10. 10.What is the effect of an insolvency proceeding on current and retired employees?

    Insolvency proceedings will not have, per se, any effect on current and retired employees. As will be explained, employees’ credits will receive special treatment during reorganisation and will be placed in first position in order of importance.

  11. 11.Do directors or officers of companies in insolvency proceedings suffer any consequences?

    There are no specific provisions regarding directors or officers in relation with other companies. As a general rule, the role of a “promoter” will be assumed by the person acting as legal representative at the time of filing, unless otherwise determined by the judge, as explained below.

    The provisions regarding directors or officers established in insolvency laws are only intended to control and limit their capacity in order to prevent losses on the company’s net worth. There are several provisions regarding their liability and the possibility to remove them in case of wilful misconduct or negligence.

  12. 12.How do the various types of claims rank in an insolvency proceeding? Do some claims automatically have higher priority?

    As mentioned above, there are five ranking classes of creditors during insolvency proceedings in Colombia, as follows (among others):

    • labour and tax claims;
    • pledge holders;
    • mortgage holders;
    • suppliers of raw materials for production or transformation of goods or the rendering of services; and
    • all external and unsecured creditors.

    Claimants with lower priority may receive special consideration under a reorganisation plan only if the creditors accept such changes with a majority of the 60 per cent. Those changes will only be enforceable if higher ranking creditors are not demoted and if such upgrade is deemed to contribute to the reorganisation process.

  13. 13.Are local creditors treated differently from foreign creditors in practice? What laws exist to prevent such disparate treatment? What factors contribute to how effectively those laws are applied?

    Foreign creditors are treated equally to local creditors by means of the equality principle established in the Colombian Constitution.

  14. 14.What level of creditor support is needed to approve a reorganisation plan? Can secured creditors and other priority claim holders that do not approve a reorganisation proposal be ‘crammed down’? Are there any substantive criteria that a plan must satisfy? Must hearings take place or documents be distributed?

    Reorganisation plans shall be approved by creditors and by the judge to be final and binding. Creditors must approve the plan by simple majority within four months from the approval and recognition of existing credits.

    The above rule requires that at least three out of the five creditor voting groups (ie, labour, governmental, financial institutions, internal creditors and other external creditors) have voted in favour. This requirement may be overruled with a 75 per cent majority vote.

    There are no penalties against those who did not approve the reorganisation plan. At all times, the mentioned rankings will be respected and thus creditors will not lose their ranking for rejecting the proposed plan or rejecting other creditors.

    The plan must always satisfy the ranking criteria in order to be recognised by the judge. It is necessary that labour and tax credits are considered and paid before other types of credits.

    There is a hearing for purposes of confirming the final reorganisation plan. In this hearing, creditors may submit objections to the proposed plan and may present arguments against the validity or lawfulness of the plan.

  15. 15.May creditors trade their claims during the course of a reorganisation? what impact, if any, will it have on voting for a plan?

    During the course of reorganisation, creditors are entitled to sell their claims and the buyers will have the same treatment that the sellers would have. They will have the same number of votes, their ranking in the classification will not be modified and they will be treated equally as the seller of the credit.

  16. 16.Does the government tend to play an active role in insolvency proceedings? What factors determine this?

    For companies and foreign companies’ branches, insolvency proceedings may only be made before the Corporate Superintendence, who will act as judge for all purposes. The Corporate Superintendence is a governmental organisation whose authority derives from the president’s. The Corporate Superintendence performs jurisdictional activities from time to time, as provided by law.

    This Superintendence may order the initiation of an insolvency proceeding if the requirements (as above explained) are met; this faculty shows that the government is at least entitled by the law to perform an active role.

  17. 17.What kind of court supervision is there in each type of insolvency proceeding? Is a trustee or receiver (or other court-appointed officer) appointed to supervise the debtor or can the debtor continue to control operations during the insolvency proceeding? Can creditors form creditors’ committees? what formal role do creditors (or creditors’ committees) play in the process? Do insolvency proceedings permit competing reorganisation plans? Are the judges that supervise and administer the process specialised? Does a debtor company or its creditors have any power to select or influence the selection of the trustee, receiver or other court-appointed officer?

    As mentioned above, the role of “promoter” will be carried out by the legal representative of the debtor at the time of filing for insolvency. Nevertheless, by way of exception, the judge is entitled to designate in certain special cases, a different “promoter”. This shall be the case whenever it considers it necessary given the importance of the debtor, the amount of its outstanding liabilities, the number of creditors it has, whether it has international operations, whether there are irregularities in its accounting books or whether it has breached its legal obligations.

    In addition to this, any number of unrelated creditors representing at least 30 per cent of the debtor’s total liabilities, or the debtor, may request that a “promoter” be designated by the judge, independently.

    The law provides that a creditors’ committee must be included in the reorganisation plan, and defers to the parties thereto to determine its actual functions, so long as such functions do not imply administering or co-administering the company.

    When the process is led by the Corporate Superintendence, the judge is certainly specialised. Otherwise, a regular civil/commercial judge will see to the matter.

  18. 18.May a debtor obtain financing while in insolvency will the lender enjoy special rights or preferences for providing debtor-in-possession financing?

    There are no provisions under insolvency laws that prohibit a debtor from obtaining financing while in insolvency; there is only one provision that allows lenders of pension liabilities to be classified in the first class of creditors.

    Obligations assumed after the debtor has been admitted to insolvency will be deemed to be “administrative expenses”; such “administrative expenses” will be paid with priority over all other credits, whether secured or not.

  19. 19.What happens at the end of an insolvency proceeding? If there is a discharge of prior claims, is it permanent or subject to any conditions subsequent?

    An insolvency proceeding will terminate upon compliance of all obligations set forth in the reorganisation plan; uncured breach of the plan; or failure to satisfy administrative expenses or social security payments.

    Except for the first case listed above, termination of the proceeding will imply following into a judicial or mandatory liquidation proceeding.

  20. 20.How long do restructurings last? is there a formal deadline?

    There is a deadline for submitting the reorganisation plan, which has to be approved by the majority of creditors (as explained above) within four months from the admittance of the debtor into the reorganisation process. If this period of time is not complied with, a debtor will need to follow liquidation and the judge will award its assets to the creditors according to the five ranking classes explained above.

  21. 21.Is there an expedited or summary proceeding available to obtain court approval of an out-of-court restructuring plan? If so, what types of claims and creditors may participate and how does the process work?

    There is an out-of-court restructuring proceeding that may be exercised by debtors, by means of which a debtor negotiates, under similar terms and conditions applicable to court proceedings, with creditors in order to design a reorganisation agreement. This agreement shall be authorised by a reorganisation judge whose main obligation is to review whether all requirements are included and, additionally that credits are classified accordingly. The purpose of this kind of out-of-court proceedings is to allow the parties to enter into negotiations before debtor becomes insolvent.

  22. 22.May creditors offset debts owed to them by the debtor in an insolvency proceeding? Does it require court approval? Can creditors recover the expense of participating in the process? if so, how is that dealt with?

    A creditor is not allowed to offset any debt in an insolvency proceeding in order to prevent any breach of the ranking system.

  23. 23.If a debtor company has tax losses prior to a reorganisation, will it retain and be able to use such losses after it emerges from the reorganisation?

    Debtor will be able to retain and use such losses after emerging from the reorganisation proceeding because it is the same individual or legal entity and thus it is the same taxpayer.

  24. 24.How are extraterritorial bankruptcy or insolvency proceedings recognised? Could a bankruptcy or insolvency judgment abroad substantially delay an insolvency proceeding in your jurisdiction? Does your jurisdiction contemplate ancillary or parallel insolvency proceedings with respect to a foreign proceeding? if a company organised under the laws of your jurisdiction entered into extraterritorial bankruptcy or insolvency proceedings, would those proceedings be recognised in your jurisdiction?

    The person in charge of the administration of the reorganisation proceeding in a foreign country may submit a request of recognition of an extraterritorial process. These proceedings will be recognised if debtors are insolvent, the extraterritorial proceeding is currently in process and, the person in charge of the administration of the proceeding is duly authorised to represent the proceeding.

    It is possible to conduct parallel insolvency proceeding in both Colombia and another country. The difference will be whether the main proceeding is conducted in Colombia or in a different jurisdiction. If the main proceeding is conducted abroad, then there is an obligation for Colombian authorities to help coordinate the process abroad by making hearings, taking affidavits, and controlling assets. Colombian authorities will also take care of the internal proceeding.

  25. 25.How frequently do debtor companies reorganise and emerge from bankruptcy as opposed to liquidation? what factors determine this?

    Since the entry into force of the latest modification of reorganisation laws, in 2006, there has been 374 companies and individuals accepted in reorganisation proceedings, from which 115 are still implementing the agreement and only two companies or individuals have successfully completed the reorganisation proceeding.

    On the other hand, there have been 475 initiated liquidation proceedings and just 246 of them have been completed.

  26. 26.In what circumstances could transactions that were entered into prior to an insolvency proceeding be vulnerable to challenge? By whom?

    As a general rule, all transactions entered into by the insolvent debtor 18-24 months prior to the commencement of insolvency (depending on the type of transaction) are deemed to be “suspicious” and hence may be revoked by the judge whenever they have affected the credit ranking or caused prejudice to creditors.

    Examples of transactions included in the law are asset transfers, dation en paiement, liens and gratuitous transactions. Amendments to the by-laws tending to reduce capital contributions and to reduce or limit shareholder responsibilities’ are also revocable.

    These challenges may be initiated by creditors, the “promoter” or the judge, as the case may be.

  27. 27.If a debtor company has debt securities, does your jurisdiction’s insolvency or securities law provide for any special treatment for an exchange of those securities?

    No special treatment is included with regard thereto.

  28. 28.Are there any common techniques that debtors use to manipulate or control insolvency proceedings? Have any of these techniques been challenged, and if so, what was the result?

    There are no known precedents on techniques used by debtors to manipulate or control insolvency proceedings.

  29. 29.Are any amendments to your jurisdiction’s insolvency laws envisaged?

    The insolvency process has been modified in the past year, by means of the First Employment Act (Ley 1429, 2010, generally known as the “Ley del Primer Empleo”) and so there are no amendments envisaged. As it has already been mentioned, the Constitutional Court found unconstitutional the insolvency proceeding for non commercial individuals.

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