Restructuring and Insolvency

Tenacious and pragmatic support however challenging the circumstances.

When it comes to restructuring and insolvency matters in Serbia and Montenegro, Stankovic & Partners (NSTLAW) is a premier choice. Deeply experienced in this field, our track record includes many of the largest insolvency actions and debt restructurings in the region, notably including the financial restructuring of the major mining and smelting business, M&S Combine Bor, which at €1.2 billion is the largest pre-pack financial restructuring in bankruptcy to date in Serbia.

We are experienced in acting for all parties in major insolvency and bankruptcy proceedings, including domestic and international banks and financial institutions, corporate debtors, private equity sponsors, bondholders, creditors’ committees, accountants and other financial advisors and insolvency practitioners. Our work ranges from debt rescheduling and restructuring, and corporate restructuring to avoid formal insolvency, to pre-pack administrations, bankruptcy sales and all related regulatory and commercial issues. Our talented contentious lawyers also assist with asset recovery and represent clients in a range of bankruptcy-related claims. We also work closely with other teams across the firm to handle the sale of corporate, financial and real estate assets out of bankruptcy.

What our clients really appreciate, however, is our dedication to their best interests and our willingness to work hard to understand their commercial imperatives and think creatively to achieve them.

We advise a wide range of domestic and international companies and organisations, including banks, investment funds and other financial services companies, public sector bodies, bondholders, accountants and administrators, and corporate debtors among others. Some examples include M&S Combine Bor, HETA Asset Resolution AG, UCTAM d.o.o (an affiliate of UniCredit Bank), and Celanova Group.

Recent highlights:

  • acting for M&S Combine Bor on the largest pre-pack financial restructuring in Serbia ever with the value of total restructured debt standing at over €1.2 billion;
  • advising minority shareholders in connection with debt restructuring negotiations relating to the restructuring of Agrobanka Serbia. We also advised a group of Cypriot and Slovenian investors in relation to an investment dispute with Serbia regarding the receivership and takeover of Agrobanka a.d. Belgrade;
  • working for HETA Asset Resolution AG, a wind-down company owned by the Republic of Austria set up in connection with the 2014 dismantling of Hypo Alpe-Adria-Bank International AG, on various issues regarding the leasing, management and disposal of real estate assets;
  • advising UCTAM d.o.o. Belgrade, an affiliate of UniCredit Bank, on various issues relating to the acquisition and development of distressed € multi-million real estate;
  • advising a leading debt management group in SE Europe on the purchase of a troubled loan portfolio from a Serbian bank, consisting of several hundred unpaid loans, many of which were secured by guarantees, bills of exchange, pledges and mortgages;
  • representing a well-known travel agency in restructuring its debt with one of the largest banks in Serbia with new finance supplied by a Canadian company;
  • advising Celanova Group on a €10 million restructuring of its secured foreign credit, in the context of advising on the restructuring of Celanova Capital Serbia through a series of mergers of local affiliates and a debt restructuring;
  • assisting a leading debt management group with the acquisition of a troubled loan portfolio from an international financial Group headquartered in Vienna;
  • advising a bank in a matter concerning wrongful collection in bankruptcy proceedings where our client was one of the major creditors;
  • representing a client as creditor in bankruptcy proceedings against a well-known company in the agricultural sector.