ИСТИНА

The paper deals with the analysis of existing and perspective business restructuring opportunities in Russia. Preventive restructuring is aimed at avoiding bankruptcy and can include urgent operative tools to stop crisis (restructuring of assets, liabilities, management system) and strategic measures to increase business sustainability (informal workouts i.e. assignments of payments delay, changes in the capital structure, mergers and acquisitions, business processes reengineering, etc.). Process of “bad debts” regulation and debt restructuring is considered at the example of large Russian banks and companies (e.g. Russian mining and metal company “Mechel”). The other main direction of the research concerns the practice of using rehabilitation procedures (Financial Rehabilitation and External Administration) supposed by the Russian Insolvency Law. Nowadays there is a few number of business rescue cases within insolvency proceedings (less than 2.5% of all insolvencies) due to certain problems in this area: assetless or “letter-box” debtors, deliberate bankruptcies which are practically unprovable, formal approach to financial analysis of the debtor, mistakes in cash flow calculation within restructuring plans, absence of real crisis management skills of insolvency administrators, etc. However, the necessity of strengthening of the Insolvency Law rehabilitation orientation has been commonly recognized in Russia. The Law Draft “On business restructuring during insolvency proceedings” seems as a perspective way to harmonize with foreign practice and to increase restructurings by cancelation of the first “technical” Supervision procedure, change in voting for rehabilitation plan, forming opportunities of preliminary negotiations between creditors and the debtor. Modernization of the insolvency institute in Russia should include adoption of new Federal standard for debtor’s financial analysis by the insolvency administrator and updated requirements for the insolvency administrator’s profession.