Nov.06.2002

Japanese Bankers Association

Findings of Follow-up Study Group on the "Guideline for Multi-Creditor Out-of-Court Workouts"

The Follow-up Study Group on the "Guideline for Multi-Creditor Out-of-Court Workouts" (Chair: Professor Shinjiro Takagi, Faculty of Law, Dokkyo University), which was established to promote further use of the Guideline, finalized its Report on October 29 and released it on November 6.The main points of the Report are the broadening of the interpretation of the original Guideline in two fronts. One is the allowing of an exception to the rule that requires the company in question to eliminate its negative net worth and realize current profits in three years, when there is a cogent reason. Another concerns the rule that requires the company to reduce or terminate the proportional interest of existing shareholders through capital reduction and the management of the debtor to retire. The Report admitted it more practical to interpret this part more flexibly when the proportional interest of existing shareholders is reduced through capital increase, or the responsibility of managers is deemed slight. The Report also advocates that the losses arising from asset revaluation be treated as an expense in calculating tax.