The situation bordering mandatory consolidation of factual small business teams. The have to have to maintain officers and managing shareholders of multi-entity firms accountable for breaching the principle of fairness segregation.
A person of the most actual illustrations of the provisions of the preceding merchandise considerations the concern encompassing the mandatory consolidation of factual business enterprise groups, and the have to have to maintain officers and controlling shareholders of multi-entity providers accountable for breaching the theory of equity segregation.
As is widespread awareness, a person amid the numerous subject areas that were not explicitly addressed by Regulation 11.101/05 was that referring to the possibility of submitting reorganisation proceedings by additional than just one organization that is component of the identical conglomerate concurrently.
In the sphere of procedural law, this issue is translated into the norms pertaining to the joinder of plaintiffs, which triggers it to appeal to to its spectrum the whole physique of authorized norms and concepts around it.
Within the framework of individual bankruptcy law, the phenomenon is translated into a mere nomenclature for procedural consolidation. About these kinds of risk, there is no important doubt in authorized literature or case legislation.
The procedural consolidation of providers belonging to the identical conglomerate in a reorganisation continuing is feasible, to allow for, via procedural unification, a much better alignment of the procedural measures to be taken by providers in crisis, with far more judicial overall economy and celerity. It also will allow for a extra structured alternative – that is, far more satisfactory authorized protection, the canon of the truthful method – for the dilemma of corporations in crisis.
Although even more queries are not lifted with regards to the admissibility of procedural consolidation, the exact are not able to be reported in relation to considerable consolidation, which is one particular of the many possible consequences brought on by the acceptance of procedural consolidation.
Considerable consolidation is recognized to be the joining of all property and liabilities of all organizations that are element of the exact conglomerate in disaster, to deal with, uniquely and globally, the restructuring desired by such businesses as if it were being a one organization that experienced dealt with all creditors to be submitted to a certain personal bankruptcy scenario.
It goes without expressing that these types of doctrine, as it breaks with the simple principles of professional legislation, must be taken care of with absolute parsimony, not only because, to be acknowledged, it breaks with the logic of fairness segregation of each individual firm and, therefore, the binding of every single authorized romantic relationship to every debtor, but also because it entails attainable implications that may well give increase to attainable fraud, with the sole reason of protecting the passions of topics outside the house corporations in crisis and who were being not regarded as deserving of safety by the lawmaker in 2005, on the enactment of Legislation 11.101/05.
As with procedural consolidation, considerable consolidation was not delivered for in the Company Reorganization Act. In actuality, it could not be, due to the fact, as observed above, not even the procedural consolidation was imagined at that time, enable on your own the significant consolidation, which is just one of the implications created by the phenomenon.
Continue to, in the industry of significant consolidation, legal literature normally refers to voluntary and necessary substantial consolidation, the distinguishing element of which is who oversees its filing.
So, the voluntary sizeable consolidation may well appear to be carried out each time the creditors, holding a creditors’ meeting, choose to do so, an assertion, by the way, totally supported by the Corporate Reorganization Act. Just after all, in accordance to post 35, merchandise I, letter (f) in the Company Reorganization Act, it is incumbent on the general assembly to go a resolution “on any other make a difference that could have an impact on the interests of creditors”.
This alternative has the merit of rightly honouring the theory of autonomy of will and making a healthier negotiation atmosphere in between the functions, the place they truly feel relaxed to share information and facts, aiming to get to a fair, enough and fast remedy to the trouble of the financial disaster of economic conglomerates.
Each time probable, this is the remedy that must be sought by brokers included in this type of court docket scenario, to help a compatible option for a really elaborate situation, as the reorganisation proceeding of a multi-entity financial organisation is supposed to be.
The required sizeable consolidation, on the other hand, may well be carried out by the court docket regardless of any assertion by the community of collectors.
In that case, at the time the thesis that the court docket could choose that way is recognized, it would then be vital to locate out in which instances the needs for the acceptance of such doctrine in Brazilian regulation would be existing. In the official subject, it must 1st be noted that it is not prudent that this issue is made a decision in advance of the typical meeting of lenders, so that the subject initially in cost of choosing on the make a difference could have the prospect to categorical his or her feeling thereon, once asked for by the multi-entity company.
In addition, the adoption of the precautionary basic principle to the Judiciary Department is also advocated so that it has a extra measured stance on this difficulty, staying away from to intervene untimely on the deserves of the situation, that is, only at the request of the firms below reorganisation, without initially listening to the personal bankruptcy trustee, the creditors’ committee, if any, and the creditors’ local community in normal, to allow for them to make the most informed determination doable on the matter.
As for the materials demands, it is feasible to set up that generic arguments such as the existence of a mere economic team, unity of route and control, prevalent scope of the organizations involved, or the existence of cross assures, or even the mere existence of common associates, are not sufficient to determine the unification of belongings and liabilities of all companies that are portion of a company group, beneath the canopy of an alleged and fictitious multi-entity corporation, as the defenders of this modality of considerable consolidation want.
If that is correct, it should really be famous that the proper reaction to solve this challenge appears to be indicated by short article 50 of the Civil Code, when it alludes to the abuse of lawful individuality, characterised by misuse of function or fairness merger. Doctrines these types of as abuse of rights, fraud, and poor religion with harm to lenders, triggered by the dysfunction of company command, are also strong indications of a whole absence of fairness segregation, as determined by broad situation law.
Therefore, the mandatory considerable consolidation may possibly occur to be carried out when robust and expressive symptoms are current that stage to a situation of these a absence of respect for the limitations imposed by the fairness segregation of just about every isolated enterprise, to the issue of not staying capable to distinguish autonomous centres of fascination.
In this regard, the present bill in the National Congress, which aims to partly modify the Company Reorganization Act and affirm the doctrine of necessary significant consolidation, is not very clear on this topic and does not appear to follow the path indicated herein when it lists on an option basis – by making use of the expression “or” – the situations narrated above, as if at least a person of them were more than enough, to recommend its applicability.
Last but not least, it is also essential to investigate, still in the content subject, whether or not the request for obligatory considerable consolidation is not intended only to trigger problems to creditors – detrimental necessity – either by manipulating the creditors’ quorum of the basic assembly of collectors, or even worse, to safeguard foreign interests that were being not contemplated by the lawmaker in 2005, as the protection of the own property of the controlling shareholders and/or officers, and of the associated functions, regardless of whether by household ties or even by contractual instruments that are lawful, but that, in reality, intention to circumvent the regulation.
Soon after all, as Appellate Judge Fabio Tabosa in São Paulo Condition Court of Appeals wisely asserted when judging the request for significant consolidation made by Grupo Viver:

“(…) When speaking, on the other hand, about one cash, or fairness merger, it usually signifies situations of an absolute anomaly in the operating of the group’s businesses, scenarios in which, occasionally, the precipitate deferral of a reorganization can stand for a reward to irregularity specifically, or its legitimacy. (…) It is not satisfactory, at last, that the require to make the pathology official as a remedy versus the condition alone is stated (…).”

In this situation, it must be observed that ex officio management by the Judiciary Branch is continue to totally practical, as guardian of the procedural principles that purpose to sustain a good negotiation atmosphere, when, simply because of these specifications, there is an arbitrary assortment of an only portion of the business enterprise models as plaintiffs to reorganisation proceedings, leaving out businesses acquiring property that were directed to them by way of company transactions, without having any affordable amount of financial rationality, other than to harm collectors.
Nor could it be or else, considering the fact that the Judiciary Branch can’t acknowledge that a person normally takes gain of their turpitude to gain advantages over people today with whom they relate in the legal world, a basic principle that governs any authorized connection.
As a result, the moment all the official and content demands previously highlighted are in position, it is possible to envisage the acceptance of the necessary consolidation doctrine in the Brazilian Personal bankruptcy Legislation as thoroughly achievable, irrespective of not getting been formerly supplied for by the Corporate Reorganization Act.
A content consequence so far inadequately explored by the legal literature that aims to harmony the negotiation environment aimed at by Legislation 11.101/05, by the improvement of a fair process so usually defended herein, is the require for computerized triggering of the incident to establish the responsibility of the controlling shareholder and/or officer of the isolated businesses that are element of the factual small business group, by analogically enforcing post 82 of the Company Reorganization Act behold, the existence of required substantive consolidation necessities level to a complete dysfunction of corporate control, and violation of their fiduciary obligations as officers, according to the company legislation in pressure.
This sort of view is even much more strengthened when a person realises that the Companies Act settles the commutative mother nature of the interactions between the managing and managed enterprise in factual business enterprise teams – opposite to what happens in the so-named legal teams, enable it be crystal clear now – placing a two-way procedure, in the sense that none of the firms that make up the factual team can favour or damage the other folks.
It need to be noted at the outset that the automated establishment of an incident to ascertain the responsibility of the controlling organization and the officer extended just before it signifies any obstacle to the adoption of the institute of required sizeable consolidation – as the most suitable instrument to warranty a resolution for the multi-entity firm – it only strengthens it, as a lot more topics may well be named upon to be a part of the reasonable negotiation procedure imagined by the Businesses Act, which fulfills the passions of the whole collective of interests, usually, below penalty of not executing so, it might have utilized pecuniary damages not agreed among the functions, but imposed by a third celebration, the Judiciary Branch.
Still, on this theme, it is important to first be aware that the invocation of this provision in the face of a framework of mandatory substantive consolidation is not by chance and is specifically aimed at keeping away from abusive and unnecessary requests for necessary substantive consolidation, reserving this institute for individuals conditions where by enterprise arranging is intertwined in such a way that it is no lengthier feasible to envision it usually, as a multi-entity corporation.
Second, pursuant to paragraph 2 of write-up 82 of the Corporate Reorganization Act, it is very clear that this sort of an incident may be initiated ex officio by the decide, averting all that discussion pertaining to the legitimacy or not of the collectors to occur, based mostly on the Brazilian Corporate Law, file civil legal responsibility lawsuits, as perfectly as the problems of – as soon as, admittedly, this sort of legitimation is admitted – to specify with absolute perfection what would consist of reflex damage and direct problems for the acceptance of these kinds of a assert by collectors, in the case of specific demand, it is hard to visualize a circumstance where the creditor’s decline – non-payment of his or her credit rating – is not accompanied by a prior reduction to the enterprise.
3rd and lastly, due to the fact the statute of limits for analyzing this sort of liability is significantly extended in the actual world, behold, its preliminary phrase passes from the closing date of the individual bankruptcy case, this time period lets additional time for lenders and judicial administrator to investigate doable irregularities on the section of the company in crisis.
Conclusion
As we have noticed, the situation surrounding the required consolidation of factual company groups, and the have to have to maintain supervisors and managing shareholders of multi-entity organizations dependable for violating the principle of fairness segregation, is one particular of the many challenges arising from the have to have to established an enough coexistence involving corporate legislation and reorganisation regulation.
The require to establish an adequate marriage is critical in the look for for an successful procedure to restructure organizations, inasmuch as the buying and selling environment sought by the Corporate Reorganization Act tends to have its forces rebalanced, for the fascinated events to be in a position to access a consensual alternative on their have that fulfills their interests, devoid of resorting to procedural and product tips that only goal to fulfill their egocentric passions.
