The Guide on Conducting an Out-of-court Workout in Asia (“Guide“) has been jointly released by the Asian Business Law Institute and the International Insolvency Institute as part of their Asian Principles of Business Restructuring Project. Rajah & Tann Singapore and Rajah & Tann (Laos) have assisted in this publication by providing Singapore and Laos jurisdictional insights.
One way of dealing with insolvency is a private agreement between creditors and the debtor to effect a restructuring. This is known in the industry as a “workout”. The Guide sets out a model of best practices, in the form of both principles and practice tips, for workouts of corporate debtors in Asia. The Guide considers the diverse cultures, heterogeneous economic development, and different legal systems in Asia. It confronts head-on the challenges of workouts in Asia, with especial challenges in developing jurisdictions. In particular, the Guide accentuates issues which are not necessarily identified, or accentuated, in the approaches of other jurisdictions and which may apply in some parts of Asia.
The Guide was produced with input from experts from Australia, Brunei, Cambodia, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of China, India, Indonesia, Japan, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Thailand and Vietnam, and with the involvement of international organisations like INSOL International, the Insolvency Law Academy, the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law and the World Bank.
Sim Kwan Kiat, Head of Rajah & Tann Singapore’s Restructuring & Insolvency Practice, and Lee Hock Chye, Managing Partner of Rajah & Tann (Laos), have provided input from the Singapore and Laos perspectives respectively.
For more information, click here to read the full Authored Publication.
