Factsheet for measure
PT-2012-16/2743
– measures in Portugal
Special Revitalisation Process
Processo Especial de Revitalização (PER)
Background information
The Law 16/2012, of 20 April set up the special revitalisation process (Processo Especial de Revitalisação - PER), amending the Insolvency and Business Recovery Code (Código da Insolvência e da Recuperação de Empresas, approved by Decree-Law 53/2004, of 18 March). It allow to comply with the goal established in the Memorandum between Portugal and the Troika with a view to creating a swift and effective means of revitalising companies and individuals in difficult financial situations or facing imminent insolvency, rather than liquidating their assets from the outset.
Content of measure
The PER is part of the Revitalisation Programme (Programa Revitalizar) and is an alternative judicial instrument to insolvency, which gives companies in difficulty and/or facing imminent insolvency the possibility to negotiate with their creditors, leading to the revitalisation of their activity. Therefore, this does not apply to companies declared insolvent by a court of law, or after opening of insolvency proceedings.
The instrument protects the productive capacity of the company and the jobs, by maintaining activity and providing for a suspension of creditors' debt recoveries during the negotiation process. The recovery plan is made viable by creditors.
However, all applicants must prove that they also meet certain conditions which will enable their economic recovery. More in detail, creditors must be provided with all the information needed to confirm the company's economic and financial viability, as well as the ability to comply with the restructuring agreement.
The recovery plan is considered approved if (Decree-Law 53/2004 of 18 March, article 17F):
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It is voted by creditors whose claims represent at least 1/3 of the total claims related to voting rights included in the list of credits referred to in paragraphs 3 and 4 of article 17D;
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It collects also the favourable vote of more than 2/3 of all votes issued and more than half of the votes corresponding to non-subordinated credits, excluding abstentions; or
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There is a favourable vote of creditors whose claims represent more than half of all claims relating to the right to vote, in accordance with the provisions of the preceding paragraph and more than half of votes corresponding to non-subordinated credits, excluding abstentions.
The PER can be applied to all kind of business entities, with the exception of:
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public entities;
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insurance companies;
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credit institutions;
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financial companies;
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investment firms and collective investment undertakings.
Use of measure
According to statistics of the Directorate General for Justice Policy (Direção-Geral da Política de Justiça - DGPJ), in the fourth quarter of 2023, the number of applications for the Special Revitalisation Process (PER) increased 10.7% compared with the same period of 2021 but a 2.3% decrease compared with fourth quarter of 2022. At the end of the fourth quarter of 2023, 187 of these cases were pending (about 22% more than in the fourth quarter of 2021 and more 15% than in the same period in 2022).
Additionally, data from the Informa D&B barometer shows that in 2023 51,320 new companies were constituted in Portugal, 2,302 more than in the same period of 2022, which corresponds to a growth of 4.7%. Transport, construction and accommodation and catering are the sectors that concentrate a third of the new companies created in 2023 - 69%, 16% and 8%, respectively. Between the beginning of January and the end of September of 2022, 8,826 companies closed down, which corresponds to 50 fewer closures than the same period in 2021 and to a negative variation of -0.6%.
The Industry is the sector that register an increase in the number of insolvencies, in 2023, with 148 more new cases than in 2022 (+47%).
Target groups
Actors and funding
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Actors
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Funding
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National government
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No special funding required
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Social partners
Social partners' role in
designing the measure
and form of involvement:
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Trade unions
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Employers' organisations
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Role
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Unknown
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Unknown
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Form
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Not applicable
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Not applicable
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Social partners' role in the
implementation, monitoring and assessment phase:
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Unknown
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Main level of involvement: N/A
Involvement
Unknown
Views and reactions
Unknown
Sources
