(Finance) – The number of requests filed by Lombard companies to manage and resolve asset, financial and economic crises has grown by 63% in one year. In particular, in the first semester of 2024, 116 requests were filed with the Arbitration Chamber of Milan; there were 71 in the first semester of the previous year. At national level in the same reference period (1st semester 2024 vs 1st semester 2023), a 53.5% increase (476 applications were filed in the first half of 2024 compared to the 310 applications filed in 2023).
79% of the companies that published the request were limited liability companies (92 out of 116 in total). If we look at the turnover of the applicant companies, a third (28%) falls within the range between 1 million and 5 million euros.
Jobs Safeguarded – In the reference period (first semester 2024) 11 companies were restructured in Lombardy, all with headquarters in Milan (if we look at the number of employees of the restructured companies, 1056 jobs were saved)
National/Lombardy data – Analyzing the data from the beginning of the activity of the Negotiated Composition of the Business Crisis service (from 15.11.2021) to 01/07/2024, it appears that the Lombardy requests represent 23% of the national total, almost one in 4 requests is from Lombardy. In Italy, a total of 1608 requests have been filed; in Lombardy 370.
Distribution by province – Milan with 221 companies, concentrates 59.7% of the Lombardy requests. Bergamo with 34 requests represents 9% of the total, Brescia with 32 requests (9%); Varese 24 (7%); Como-Lecco with 21 requests represent 6%; Mantua with 10 requests (3%); Pavia 9 requests (2%); Cremona with 8 requests (2%); Monza 5 requests (1.3%); Sondrio 5 (1%); Lodi 1 request (0.2%).
“The Negotiated Composition offers an important opportunity to companies in difficulty: it is a support to prevent default and to try to guarantee business continuity as much as possible – he declared Rinaldo Sali, Deputy Director General of the Arbitration Chamber of Milan and contact for the Negotiated Settlement Service for Lombard companies –. To date, the Milan Arbitration Chamber receives and manages, as the Secretariat of the Lombardy Commission for the resolution of the crisis, established by law, 23% of the national requests and has 19% of the experts appointed in Lombardy compared to the national total. It is important, first of all, to work on a change of perspective and to create a system at multiple levels, with the Institutions, the Trade Associations and the Professional Orders, to accompany companies in understanding the opportunities of facing the crisis, when it is still reversible and indeed to exploit the crisis to relaunch themselves. Secondly, as the Arbitration Chamber, we are committed to guaranteeing the competence and independence of the expert called to facilitate the dialogue between entrepreneurs and creditors”.
Protective measures – When submitting the application, companies can request protective and precautionary measures: these are interventions aimed at protecting the assets, company assets and rights with which the business activity is carried out from the creditors’ legal initiatives. These protective measures serve to facilitate the successful outcome of the negotiations undertaken to regulate the crisis. In total, in Italy, 1230 companies have requested protective measures, of which 270 are from Lombardy. 76.5% of the national requests contain a request for protective measures. 22% of the national requests, containing requests for protective measures, come from Lombardy. 64% of the requests for protective measures in Lombardy come from the Chamber of Commerce of Milan Monza Brianza Lodi (62.6% from Milan; 1.1% from Monza Brianza; 0.37% from Lodi). 14% of the requests for protective measures in Italy come from the Chamber of Commerce of Milan Monza Brianza Lodi.
The key figure in the Negotiated Composition of the crisis is the expert: is a negotiator who assists companies, talks with creditors, in the search for a solution aimed at the recovery of the company. The expert must possess certain characteristics and is registered in a special list. In Italy there are 4,280 experts, of which 815 are in Lombardy. 19% of the national experts are from Lombardy. 39.3% of the experts in Lombardy are from the province of Milan. 7.4% of the experts in Italy are from the province of Milan. Of all the experts from Lombardy, 79% are accountants; 18.8% are lawyers; 1.7% are not registered in any register (so-called managers); 0.3% are labor consultants.
Successful – From the beginning of the activity (11/15/2021) to 07/01/2024, 167 Italian companies have been rehabilitated (i.e., the negotiated settlement procedure has been concluded with a positive outcome), of which 44 are the Lombard applications closed with a positive outcome (equal to 26.3% of the national total).
Success rate – It is defined by the ratio between requests closed with a favorable outcome and the total number of closed requests. The requests closed in Lombardy from the start of the service to 1 July 2024 are a total of 223, of which 44 are positive for a success rate of 19.7%. In Italy, out of 915 requests closed since the start of negotiated settlement, 167 requests were closed with a favorable outcome. The success rate of negotiated settlement in Italy is 18%.
Negotiated Composition of the Crisis and a procedure, repeatedly subject to regulatory changes and now incorporated into the Crisis and Insolvency Code which came into force on 15 July 2022. It was created on 15 November 2021 to help companies in difficulty, restructure business activities and prevent corporate default; it is a voluntary procedure, therefore, it is the entrepreneur who submits the request and requests the intervention of an expert negotiator/facilitator who assists him, by talking to the creditors, in the search for a solution aimed at the recovery of the company.
Role of the Milan Arbitration Chamber (CAM) – Since 2021, CAM has been handling the Negotiated Composition of Business Crisis (CNC) procedures on behalf of the Chamber of Commerce of Milan Monza Brianza Lodi. The composition procedure is carried out entirely electronically through the national Negotiated Composition platform. The company submits the request directly on the platform. The lists of Lombardy experts are kept at CAM and the Regional Commission responsible for appointing experts for cases throughout Lombardy operates at the same Arbitration Chamber.
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