Disputed a debt transfer transaction where a financially sound debtor was replaced by an insolvent person

Our client's debtor entered bankruptcy proceedings. We were interested in maximizing the replenishment of the debtor's bankruptcy estate, including by challenging transactions.

One of these transactions was the transfer of debt to an insolvent person. Initially, a liquid and financially stable organization had liabilities to the bankrupt in the amount of 40 million rubles. After the transfer of the debt, these obligations were transferred to a company that did not actually conduct activities and did not have any assets.

In the first hearing the transaction was ruled invalid, but the cassation court disagreed. The district court pointed out that the absence of assets does not mean that the debt cannot be repaid, and the solvency of an organization must be assessed on the basis of certain financial and economic ratios. Only by proving that the ratios of the "old" debtor are better than those of the "new" debtor is it possible to assert that the transaction is detrimental to the bankrupt.

On the second round of consideration we again succeeded in invalidating the transaction. We pointed out that the "old" debtor was built into the activities of a large holding company, so it had the financial stability that the "new" debtor did not and could not have.

In addition, the debtor's representatives had made a mistake by submitting primary documentation in which the warehouse was listed with a non-existent address. The courts once again ruled the debt transfer deal invalid.