Restructuring and insolvency counsel in France
We act in French financial distress on both sides of the table: companies renegotiating debt through mandat ad hoc and conciliation, creditors protecting their position in collective proceedings, and investors acquiring businesses or assets at the bar. French procedures are court-driven and calendar-strict; knowing the timetable is half the work.
When this practice applies
The earlier the instruction, the wider the options. Out-of-court tools — mandat ad hoc and conciliation — are confidential and flexible, but they require acting before cessation des paiements hardens into a filing obligation.
Once sauvegarde, redressement or liquidation opens, the Livre VI Code de commerce framework takes over: classes of affected parties, observation periods and court-set deadlines for offers and claims.
Our approach
- Position read: where the company stands against cessation des paiements and who holds the leverage
- Tool choice: mandat ad hoc, conciliation, or preparing for a court-supervised procedure
- Negotiation: standstills, new money, security packages and the privilege that protects them
- Proceedings: representing debtor, creditor or bidder within the court calendar
- Exit: plan confirmation, asset transfer, claims recovery and post-closing follow-through
Scenarios we handle
Out-of-court workouts
Mandat ad hoc and conciliation: confidential renegotiation with court cover.
Collective proceedings
Sauvegarde, redressement, liquidation — debtor and creditor side.
Distressed M&A
Offers for businesses and assets within insolvency timetables.
Creditor strategy
Claims, security enforcement and committee dynamics for foreign creditors.
The team on this
Selected matters
- Advising the foreign lender group in the conciliation of a French industrial borrower, including a new-money privilege.
- Preparing and filing a takeover offer for the business of a French company in redressement judiciaire.
- Representing a foreign trade creditor through a sauvegarde plan, from claim filing to plan vote.
Fees
Distress work is budgeted by phase against the procedural calendar, in writing, with the basis agreed before each phase. Urgency is priced transparently at the first call; no figures are published here.
FAQ
What is the difference between mandat ad hoc and conciliation?
Both are confidential, voluntary procedures led by a court-appointed facilitator. Mandat ad hoc has no statutory time limit and no formal effect on creditors — pure negotiation under court shadow. Conciliation is time-boxed, requires the company not to have been in cessation des paiements for more than 45 days, and can end in an agreement the court acknowledges or homologates — which brings the new-money privilege for fresh financing. The choice is tactical: discretion and time versus the legal effects of a blessed agreement.
Can we buy a business out of a French insolvency?
Yes — it is a defined route. In redressement, bidders submit offers for the business as a going concern within a court-set window; the tribunal weighs price, employment commitments and continuity, and the transfer comes substantially clean of pre-existing liabilities. In liquidation, asset sales follow a similar logic. Timetables are short and documents are public, so preparation before the window opens is what separates credible bidders from spectators. Foreign bidders should also check the IEF overlay early.
Who controls the process during a sauvegarde?
The debtor's management stays in place — that is the point of sauvegarde — supervised by a court-appointed administrator whose mission the opening judgment defines. Creditors organise into classes for plan purposes under the post-2021 framework, and the tribunal confirms or refuses the plan. For creditors, influence flows from claim filing discipline, class composition and the ability to propose alternatives — all calendar-driven.
General information, current as of 18 June 2026. Not legal advice. Subject to applicable law.