The �Concordato preventivo� in Italian corporate bankruptcy law: a policy evaluation

From 2005 to 2013 Italian corporate bankruptcy law underwent a series of reforms. One of the goals was to improve the in-court restructuring proceedings (concordato preventivo), mainly as a way to promote the continuity of distressed but still viable companies. The reforms have succeeded in broadening the use of restructuring proceedings, even taking into account the effects of the economic crisis. The increase has been particularly large since the introduction of the concordato in bianco, which allows the firms to postpone the presentation of their recovery plan. The reforms have thus improved the likelihood of survival of distressed but still viable companies. Nevertheless, only a small proportion of companies (approximately 4.5 per cent) is still active after restructuring, the main purpose of which remains to provide an alternative form of liquidation, entailing a reduced role for courts, with respect to bankruptcy. The use of restructuring procedures is due to the length of bankruptcy proceedings in the courts, as well as to the structural characteristics of companies (larger proportion of fixed assets) and their credit relations (smaller proportion of collateralized loans).