The National Assembly Finance Committee on Friday unanimously approved the draft of the Corporate Restructuring Companies Bill, 2016.
Member National Assembly Qaiser Ahmad Sheikh chaired the meeting. The bill is aimed at establishing a new business regime under which corporate restructuring companies are to be incorporated, licensed and regulated by the SECP to perform the business of acquisition, management, restructuring and resolution of ‘non-performing assets of financial institutions’ and restructuring, reorganising, revival and liquidation of ‘commercially or financially distressed companies and their business’.
The bill will also provide basic set up for the rehabilitation mechanism of sick units in the country and to put the corporate economy on fast track.
The SECP drafted the bill after extensive consultations with relevant stakeholders such as the SBP, Pakistan Banks Association, business groups, and legal experts.
Qaiser Ahmad Sheikh noted that there was a need to introduce a comprehensive legal framework to address the rehabilitation issues of distressed businesses in Pakistan, develop and promulgate a comprehensive corporate rehabilitation regime.
The committee was informed that the existing institutional arrangements and legal process for revival and rehabilitation of potentially viable companies are both inadequate and time consuming. Efforts in the past have been made largely on creditor-friendly laws which resulted in a serious imbalance of legal remedies between creditors and debtors. A Banking Law Review Commission (BLRC) constituted in 2001 had emphasised the need for developing a progressive law for the revival of companies facing financial crisis.