The legal restructuring framework in Poland: Does it help indebted enterprises avoid bankruptcy?

Abstract

The purpose of the article is to present the latest research regarding the usefulness of restructuring proceedings in Poland, which enterprises threatened with insolvency or already insolvent may use to avoid bankruptcy. Changes in the legal system in Poland in 2015 were ground‐breaking, as not only the bankruptcy law was amended, but also the legal system was enriched with a new Restructuring Law (in force from 2016). The contribution of this article is threefold. First, the specifics of the four types of restructuring proceedings and the main actions to be carried out during the proceedings are discussed. Second, an analysis of the phenomenon of enterprise restructuring in Poland has been conducted on the basis of statistical data published by the Ministry of Justice. Third, the effects of 533 restructuring proceedings opened against capital companies in the period 2016–2018 have been assessed. The results achieved have allowed for the formulation of initial conclusions on the usefulness of the legal debt restructuring framework in Poland for business entities experiencing temporary financial difficulties.