(c) Commencement of insolvency proceedings by a group company against a related group company.

(b) The treatment of intra group debts (claims against the debtor company by related group companies) and

(a) The responsibility of any other company in the group for the external debts of the insolvent company (being all debts owed by the insolvent company except for those owed to related group companies, i.e. intra group debts )

1. The concessionaire as a consortium 24 28 8

Furthermore, where the debtor company belongs to a group of companies, it may be difficult to untangle the specific circumstances of any particular case to determine which group company particular creditors dealt with or to establish the financial dealings between group companies.

Other electronics and IT companies have made acquisitions abroad examples are the merger of TCL with the TV and DVD operations of Thomson in France and Lenovo's acquisition of IBM PC.

It is common practice for commercial ventures to operate through groups of companies and for each company in the group to have a separate legal personality.

(d) The extent to which inter company pricing policies drive the consequent distribution of assets and liabilities within corporate groups

In either case, however, it is common for insolvency laws to address these issues of intra group liability on the basis of the relationship between the insolvent and related group companies in terms of both shareholding and management control.

An enterprise group company may determine its internal financial management system by itself.

disease vectors Group, Inc.)

Insolvency regimes look to a number of different circumstances or factors in the assessment of whether a related or group company should bear responsibility for the external debts of an insolvent member of the group.

One possible advantage of addressing these issues in an insolvency law is to provide an incentive for corporate groups to continuously monitor the activities of companies within the group and take early action in the case of financial distress of a member of that group.

Some laws adopt a prescriptive approach, which strictly limits the circumstances in which group companies can be treated as other than separate legal personalities and the corporate veil lifted or, in other words, the circumstances in which a related company can be responsible for the debts of an insolvency group member.

In such a case, creditors of a group company with a significant asset base would have their assets diminished by the claims of creditors of another group company with a low asset base.

The Conglomerate Way to Growth

Bumrungrad Hospital, a health services company, has extended its services to neighbouring countries.

The ancestor of the modern corporation, the City of London Corporation, existed in the 12th century.

In certain situations, such as where the business activity of a company has been directed or controlled by a related company, the treatment of the group companies as separate legal personalities may operate unfairly.

The company plans to merge its European operations, including the UK business, with those of ThyssenKrupp, the German conglomerate.

Three issues of specific concern in insolvency proceedings involving one of a group of companies are

(a) Differences in philosophy and approach between civil and common law traditions concerning management or control of corporate groups and related companies and in approaches to director responsibility and liability in the context of corporate groups

23. For example, at the end of last year, the Dow Chemicals group of the United States bought 100 per cent of the shares of South Africa s Sentrachem group, the owner of the Sanachem company, with which the Cuban entity Quimimport had maintained significant and stable trade relations since 1992.

Treatment of corporate groups in insolvency

Treatment of corporate groups in insolvency

C. Treatment of corporate groups in insolvency

Dr. Bamanga Tukur, Group Chairman of the BHI Holdings Limited

Dr. Bamanga Tukur, Group Chairman of the BHI Holdings Limited

Within Africa, the South African conglomerate Eskom has contracted to run the Tanzania Electric Supply Company and the main power station in Zimbabwe.

(c) The effect of tax legislation, the incidence of which is often the reason for the formation and subsequent growth of a corporate group and the adoption of strategies within the group

Programme Component D.6 SME Export Consortia and Corporate Social Responsibility

(b) Facilitates pooling of assets and liabilities of group companies and

(e) Guidelines for dealing with group companies in different jurisdictions, (by possibly adjusting, for example, the concept of centre of main interests for subsidiary or related companies)

Programme Component D.6 SME Export Consortia and Corporate Social Responsibility 57

INSOL proposes that the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) consider undertaking a project in the area of insolvency law and its effects upon the treatment of corporate groups and related companies when one or more of the members of such a group becomes insolvent.

The attribution of companies to a common group would need to be based on legal control, that is, ownership of some defined threshold of equity 51 or higher. But a much lower share of equity often is sufficient to secure de facto control, thus encouraging groups to adapt their capital structure moving firms in and out of the group s boundaries to minimize tax liabilities.

The Group has created Gleneagles International as an international brand.

On 13 December 2004 in San Pedro, CIVPOL officers tried to gain access to the port to verify the arrival of a Chinese registered cargo ship, but were denied entry.

It was noted, however, that the pledge of shares of the project company raised essentially the same concerns as arose where the project company itself or the concession was assigned to another entity or consortium.

United Nations Development Group Office

Mr. Li Guomin, Manager of President's Office, MINMETALS Corporation

Ms. Cong Guoling, businesswoman, MINMETALS Corporation

Their company's public relations team is very strong.

The productive transformation that developing countries need is much easier to achieve with the support, rather than the obstruction, of their conglomerates. But ensuring such support requires policies that nudge (or even shove) conglomerates toward export industries that can grow beyond the limits of the domestic market industries in which competition will encourage the discipline that they lack as a result of dominating local markets.

The great majority of domestic insolvency and corporate law regimes do not address the treatment of corporate groups in specific legislation or at all.