Slovenia’s Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Justice, and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) held a conference on 5 February titled “Debt Restructuring and Insolvency: Reviving Corporate Growth in Slovenia”.
More than a hundred participants from the banking sector, academia, public and private sectors gathered at the University of Ljubljana’s Faculty of Economics to discuss key legal and economic challenges ahead. In addition, they looked at how to engage foreign investors and domestic banks in resolving these challenges. With the completion of the comprehensive bank asset quality review and the adoption of amendments to its insolvency laws, Slovenia is poised to restructure the country’s over-indebted corporate sector and push for further privatisation.
In a keynote speech, Minister of Finance Uroš Čufer said: “Quick and efficient corporate restructuring is a key element of the process of reviving investments and growth in the economy”. Deputy Governor Janez Fabijan stressed the importance of corporate restructuring and the banking community’s commitment to ongoing reform in the banking sector.
Conference participants supported the recent changes to insolvency law, which are expected to facilitate more efficient corporate financial restructuring. The amendments will also pave the way for future consensual out of court corporate restructuring between banks and borrowers.
The conference was part of the EBRD’s recently intensified engagement in Slovenia. Jean-Marc Peterschmitt, EBRD Managing Director for Central and South Eastern Europe, announced that the new EBRD country strategy for Slovenia will be approved soon, and commented: “The EBRD can add value in many areas as the government is implementing major structural reforms. The Bank’s increased engagement will be supported by our new office in Ljubljana.”
