In re Agrokor D.D.

591 B.R. 163

IN RE: AGROKOR D.D., et. al., Foreign Debtors.

Case No. 18-12104

United States Bankruptcy Court, S.D. New York.

Signed October 24, 2018

KIRKLAND & ELLIS LLP, Counsel to the Foreign Representative, 601 Lexington Avenue, New York, New York 10022, By: James H.M. Sprayregen, Esq., Daniel Rudewicz, Esq.

KIRKLAND & ELLIS LLP, Counsel to the Foreign Representative, 300 North LaSalle, Chicago, Illinois 60654, By: Adam C. Paul, Esq., Brad Weiland, Esq., Whitney Fogelberg, Esq.

MEMORANDUM OPINION GRANTING RECOGNITION AND ENFORCEMENT OF FOREIGN DEBTORS' SETTLEMENT AGREEMENT WITHIN THE TERRITORIAL JURISDICTION OF THE UNITED STATES

MARTIN GLENN, UNITED STATES BANKRUPTCY JUDGE

Agrokor d.d. ("Agrokor") and eight debtor affiliates filed these Chapter 15 cases.¹ They are a small part of a larger group of 77 companies headquartered in the Republic of Croatia that are the subject of an extraordinary administration proceeding in a Croatian court under a new Croatian law applicable to systemically important business entities or groups. The foreign representative appointed by the Croatian court (the "Foreign Representative" or "Extraordinary Administrator") asks this Court to recognize the Croatian proceeding as a foreign main proceeding, to recognize him as the foreign representative and to recognize and enforce the restructuring plan reached in the Croatian proceeding (the "Settlement Agreement") within the territorial jurisdiction of the United States.

The proceeding in Croatia (the "Croatian Proceeding") was filed under Croatia's "Act on the Extraordinary Administration Proceedings in Companies of Systemic Importance of the Republic of Croatia" (the "EA Law"). The statute's purpose is the "protection of sustainability of operations of the companies of systemic importance for the Republic of Croatia which with its operations individually or together with its controlled or affiliated companies affect the entire economic, social, and financial stability of the Republic of Croatia." The law was adopted on April 7, 2017, shortly before Agrokor and its debtor affiliates commenced the proceeding in the Croatian court. The new law will be available to all companies that are determined to be systemically important to the Republic of Croatia; it is not a specialized law only applicable to Agrokor. That said, Agrokor and its debtor affiliates' (the "Agrokor Group") financial distress and the resulting threat of systemic impact upon the Croatian economy was, no doubt, the impetus for the creation of the new law.

One of the more controversial aspects of the EA Law is that its provisions for reorganization and adjustment of debts apply to enterprise groups of companies that have a principal place of business in Croatia and exist under Croatian law, though they may operate both in and outside of Croatia. In this case, while 77 companies of the group are based in Croatia, they are part of a larger group of approximately 155 companies that operate outside of Croatia as well. How to deal with the cross-border insolvency of enterprise groups raises some of the most important issues in evolving cross-border insolvency law and practice.²

The Agrokor Group was, and remains, the largest private company by revenue in Croatia. It was insolvent and qualified by amount of debt and number of employees for eligibility to file under the EA Law. Once a company qualifies for an extraordinary administration proceeding, the Croatian statute includes provisions for the negotiation, acceptance by creditors and approval by the Croatian court of a settlement agreement—essentially a plan of reorganization that adjusts the debt and ownership interests of distressed companies. In accordance with the law's provisions, the Settlement Agreement was successfully negotiated, approved by the requisite vote of creditors and then approved by the Commercial Court of Zagreb in Croatia. Final approval of the Settlement Agreement is pending in the High Commercial Court, where 92 appeals were lodged against the ruling confirming the Settlement Agreement. According to counsel to the Foreign Representative's Brief in Further Support , the decisions of the High Commercial Court are not expected before the end of November 2018. ("Brief in Further Support," ECF Doc. # 24 ¶ 45.) The Foreign Representative asks that, in addition to recognizing him as the "foreign representative" within the meaning of the Bankruptcy Code and recognizing the Croatian Proceeding as a foreign main proceeding within the meaning of the Bankruptcy Code, this Court should also recognize and enforce the Settlement Agreement within the territorial jurisdiction of the United States.

The requests to recognize the Foreign Representative as the "foreign representative," and the Croatian Proceeding as a foreign main proceeding, present relatively straightforward questions of the application of Chapter 15; both requests were approved by this Court in an Order entered on September 21, 2018. (ECF Doc. # 30.) That Order reserved decision on the request to recognize and enforce the Settlement Agreement, as it raised more challenging issues.

Recognition and enforcement of the Settlement Agreement within the territorial jurisdiction of the United States require this Court to determine whether it may and should enforce provisions of the Settlement Agreement that modify English law governed debt. While the Croatian Proceeding of Agrokor has been recognized as a foreign main proceeding in the High Court of England and Wales, that court has not so far been asked to recognize and enforce the Settlement Agreement. English case law may not permit a court outside of England and Wales (such as the Croatian court that approved the Settlement Agreement) to approve a discharge or modification of English law governed debt so that recognition and enforcement of the Settlement Agreement by that court might not be granted. For the reasons explained below, however, the Court resolves this challenging issue, recognizing and enforcing the Settlement Agreement, including the provisions modifying the English law governed debt, within the territorial jurisdiction of the United States.³

This case presents challenging issues with very practical consequences. The Foreign Debtors (with their COMI in Croatia) presently have over €1,660 million of debt governed by English law (English Law Governed Loans, defined below) and over €925 million of debt governed by New York law (New York Law Governed Notes, defined below); thus, the majority (about 64%) of the debt to be restructured under the Settlement Agreement is governed by English law. Can it really be that a court in Croatia that properly has jurisdiction over the Foreign Debtors' insolvency proceeding cannot oversee and approve the Foreign Debtors' reorganization, and the resolution of all claims against the Foreign Debtors, under a national insolvency law and court procedures that satisfy widely recognized standards of fairness and due process? More directly to the point, should a U.S. Bankruptcy Court decline to extend comity to the decision of the court in Croatia to recognize and enforce within the territorial jurisdiction of the United States the Settlement Agreement that was approved by the required vote of creditors and by the court in Croatia in a proceeding that satisfied due process standards? Of course, such a decision by this Court recognizing and enforcing the Settlement Agreement would not mean that the Settlement Agreement would be recognized and enforced in other countries. So, the Foreign Debtors might well be wise either to seek recognition and enforcement of the Settlement Agreement in the courts of England and Wales, or to commence an insolvency proceeding or scheme of arrangement in England, if either of those things can be done, even if it requires costly and duplicative proceedings in England.

The difficulties here arise because the courts in England and Wales still apply the so-called "Gibbs " rule, based on an 1890 decision of the Court of Appeal in Antony Gibbs & Sons v. La Societe Industrielle et Commerciale des Metaux (1890) 25 QBD 399 (hereinafter, "Gibbs "). While Gibbs is discussed further below, the essence of the decision is that where a debtor, in that case domiciled in France, made a contract governed by English law and to be performed in England, was declared a bankrupt and its debts discharged under foreign law in a foreign proceeding (there, French law in a French proceeding), the plaintiff was not bound by the discharge and could maintain an action on the contract and recover damages in an English court. Id. at 406. So, then, can Agrokor's creditors holding English law governed debt (or, at least, those creditors who did not approve of the Settlement Agreement or did not submit to the jurisdiction of the court in Croatia) bring an action in the courts of England to recover damages on the old English law governed debt? And, even if the creditors can do so in the courts in England, should that prevent this Court from recognizing and enforcing the Settlement Agreement and barring any efforts by creditors to enforce the original debt obligations within the territorial jurisdiction of the United States? While not determinative of the outcome, it should not be lost on anyone that this Court, based on comity principles, has recognized and enforced an English court decision modifying New York law debt in an English scheme of arrangement proceeding. See In re Avanti Commc'n Grp. PLC , 582 B.R. 603 (Bankr. S.D.N.Y. 2018).

Whether the Gibbs rule as written still applies more than 120 years after the decision was rendered remains an important issue in cross-border insolvency cases, particularly because of the substantial changes that have taken place across the globe in insolvency laws and recognition and enforcement of decisions of other courts. Courts in England and Wales, and elsewhere, still grapple with the Gibbs rule and the issue is currently on appeal in the...