Endless receiverships: 385 companies still in liquidation

Reform to shorten timeframes, avoid a long and often pointless agony for companies on the brink of bankruptcy and, why not, save public resources. For years now, governments of all political persuasions have been professing their intention to reform the extraordinary administration procedures that keep dozens and dozens of decayed companies alive and guarantee lavish remuneration to dozens and dozens of professionals as commissioners.

The picture, however - to read the latest update from the Ministry of Enterprise and Made in Italy, as of 31 May 2024 - is still hypertrophic, with many cases of procedures that seem endless, initiated when the respective reference laws came into force - the Prodi bis law in 1999 (Legislative Decree 270) and the Marzano decree at the end of 2023 (Decree 347) - and today still, in fact, open.

Adding up the two different legal institutions, the procedures opened to date - concerning corporate groups - total 168 (137 under Prodi bis and 31 under Marzano). The individual companies admitted so far have been 635 (365 and 270 respectively). But what is most striking is the number of companies still in the liquidation phase, 385 of which 234 under Prodi bis and 151 under Marzano. In practice, over 60 per cent of the total. On the other hand, proceedings were closed for 71 companies in the first case and 87 in the second. There were 55 and 1 bankruptcies, respectively. By contrast, there were only five companies with the Prodi bis and 31 with the Marzano. These companies can be traced back to ten groups. The best known are Ilva and Acciaierie d'Italia (known in turn as ex-Ilva), placed under commission under Marzano, as well as Piaggio Aero Industries, Blutec and Condotte d'Acqua. And then, under Prodi bis, also Abramo, ANCR, Fimer and Work Service, La Perla.

The ministry's tables also allow us to reconstruct a statistic of the longest administrations, those that never seem to see the finishing line. Out of 137 Prodi bis company group procedures, 36 have been ongoing for at least 20 years, 87 for at least 15 years and 115 for at least 10 years. The speed of execution does not seem much different in the case of the Marzano decree, albeit with the due proportion of numbers. Here, out of 31 company group procedures, 12 have been dragging on for at least 15 years and 21 for at least ten years. A place in history has been earned by the Parmalat affair, with four out of 70 companies in extraordinary administration after 21 years, and Bongioanni with 14 out of 21 after 24 years. And it goes without saying that this often results in multi-year appointments for extraordinary commissioners. Net of multiple appointments - professionals managing more than one procedure at the same time - the ministry's latest report indicates a total of 255 appointments still in progress between the two institutions.

Precisely the case of the lingerie company La Perla, one of the most recent examples of a made-in-Italy brand sliding inexorably towards extraordinary administration, has reopened the debate on possible legislative changes. On several previous occasions, the Minister of Enterprise and Made in Italy Adolfo Urso had already spoken about it, referring to a reorganisation to be carried out in tandem with the Minister of Justice. In truth, some partial interventions have been introduced in the decree law on extraordinary administration procedures for companies of a strategic nature - the one launched as a matter of urgency to save the former Ilva in the midst of the clash with ArcelorMittal - but they appear to be non-resolving touches for now. Among other things, the decree law has established that, in cases where the programme for the sale of company complexes is fully completed on time, the extraordinary commissioner can ask the court to convert the extraordinary administration into judicial liquidation or, for innovative start-ups, into controlled liquidation.