Business crisis, negotiated settlement can make the difference

A company crisis is not a final verdict. And negotiated settlement can be a concrete way to avoid the worst and save, as has happened, thousands of jobs (about 18 thousand in Italy so far), acting promptly and with the help of qualified experts: it has fast turnaround times, low costs and advantages in terms of business continuity . This is the message that emerged from the round table “Beyond the crisis. Open dialogue on negotiated settlement ” , promoted by the Pordenone-Udine Chamber of Commerce in its Sala Valduga , where all the actors involved in the procedure met publicly: professionals, experts, judges, creditors (starting with the Revenue Agency and banks) and companies. In the conference's assessment, a shared conviction: negotiated settlement is a young tool, but already fundamental. It requires training, awareness, responsibility. And it involves the chamber system, which is its promoter and facilitator. For this reason – as highlighted by Micaela Sette , president of the Udine Accountants' Association and councilor of the Pn-Ud Chamber of Commerce who acted as host – occasions like this round table «bring all the protagonists into dialogue and show that we can get out of the crisis today. In this, even the professional associations can do a lot, for example by helping to identify the most qualified experts to be of assistance to businesses».

Moderated by Il Sole 24 Ore journalist Giovanni Negri , the meeting analyzed the potential and critical issues of the instrument which, for the territory under the jurisdiction of the Pn-Ud Chamber of Commerce, from November 2021 to today has seen the submission of 39 requests , 18 of which by Srl, 9 by Sas and 8 by Spa. The companies in the manufacturing and trade and services sectors prevail: both sectors have expressed requests from 13 companies each; construction follows, with 7 requests. The majority of requests, that is 20, come from companies with fewer than 10 employees. At the moment, 17 out of 39 negotiated settlement procedures have been concluded, while the remaining are still ongoing. Seven have closed with a negative outcome in the 180 days, four have been archived at the request of the entrepreneur and one due to the lack of concrete prospects of recovery. On a positive note, however, three of the requests were concluded through a contract with creditors with business continuity (of at least two years), one with a request for approval of the debt restructuring agreement and one with an agreement signed by the entrepreneur and the creditors and the expert. The one to present the national data was Sandro Pettinato , deputy general secretary of Unioncamere, who highlighted how the negotiated composition is the first tool for resolving business crises : the requests activated in Italy are 2,765, with an increase of 49% in the last six months and a success rate growing up to 22.5%. "It is a quick, effective, inexpensive tool, with advantages in terms of business continuity, it is totally digital - said Pettinato -. If it doesn't get to the last second, the crisis has a very high probability of being resolved".

«The size of the company remains one of the central issues. Negotiated settlements work much better for structured companies, above 200 employees», highlighted Massimiliano Ciarrocchi of Confindustria Alto Adriatico and vice-president of the Cciaa of Venezia Giulia – as well as a member of the Regional Commission for the nomination of experts –. It is a shame, he said, that the majority of Italian companies are small and micro in size, on which therefore there is still a lot of work to be done. Small companies, in fact, often fail to build adequate plans or fear reputational repercussions. According to Massimo Zappalà , professor of Crisis Law at the University of Padua, everything stems from the «adequate organizational structures» required by the law. A radical change of perspective is therefore needed. Central to all of this is the role of the expert, a third and independent figure who accompanies the company in building the plan. This was reiterated by Alberto Cimolai , accountant and first-hand negotiator of great experience: the expert is not a simple supervisor, but the guarantor of the entire process. Must know the company, understand it, validate real and not theoretical solutions.

Then the creditors' point of view: Marco Stagni , head of the Anomalous Credit Office of Credifriuli, brought the testimony of the banking system, while Dorotea Polizio of the Revenue Agency explained the institution's approach, specifying what is expected of the entrepreneur and what should be done for success. Lawyer Luca Filipponi also intervened to reinforce this point, recalling the importance of the corrective intervention to the crisis code of September 2024 in profoundly modifying the framework for banking players. A cultural change is necessary: ​​companies must bring the crisis to light at the first signs.