Restructuring: will the Dutch Scheme help us through the economic crisis?

On 1 January 2020, the so-called Dutch Scheme (WHOA - Wet homologatie onderhands akkoord) was introduced in The Netherlands. The Dutch Scheme is an efficient and flexible restructuring procedure outside a formal insolvency procedure. During the last two years, the Dutch Scheme has been tried and tested, albeit mostly with respect to the “S” in SMEs. The question on the table though is is the Dutch Scheme now ready to help operationally sound but financially distressed companies through the upcoming downturn in the economic cycle?

It was a packed board room as Greenberg Traurig hosted a lunchtime presentation on 'Restructuring: will the Dutch Scheme help us through the economic crisis? Hosted by Thijs Elsemann and Lilian Welling-Steffens they provided the audience with theoretical and practical insights into the application of the Dutch scheme in addition to explaining the differences between Chapter 11 (US scheme) and the UK's Scheme of Arrangement. They also introduced us to new roles within the bankruptcy sector including that of the restructuring expert and the restructuring observer. Thijs and Lilian very deftly squeezed an afternoon's quantity of information into a 1hr presentation. Many thanks to the Greenberg Traurig team.