Avoid bankruptcy with the WHOA
Is your company in danger of going bankrupt? Make agreements with your creditors and have these approved by a judge. The Dutch law WHOA allows you to come to an agreement through the courts, even when not all creditors agree. Read how the WHOA works and what the conditions are.
What is the WHOA?
WHOA stands for the Court Approval of a Private Composition (Prevention of Insolvency) Act (Wet Homologatie Onderhands Akkoord in Dutch). If all creditors and debtors cannot reach a solution together, a court can still approve (homologate) an agreement. This agreement will automatically apply to all creditors and shareholders involved. Also creditors who do not agree with the plan.
Starting a WHOA procedure
Do you want to start preparing a settlement yourself? Then you can file a starting statement with the court. This will open a WHOA procedure and allow you to take advantage of the opportunities offered by the WHOA. You can file the start declaration yourself.
Do you not want to prepare an agreement yourself? Then through a lawyer you can apply directly to the court to appoint a debt restructuring expert. This expert will prepare an agreement and submit it to all creditors.
Check the conditions
Before a court approves the settlement, your business must meet the following conditions:
- You can no longer pay the debts of your business (insolvency)
- Your business is essentially profitable
- You have a feasible plan that meets legal requirements. You can determine the content of the agreement yourself
- You ensure a fair and equal distribution of money and assets among all creditors
Sufficient creditors vote in favour of the arrangement.
There are requirements attached to these conditions (in Dutch).
Preparing for the WHOA procedure
First file a starting statement with the clerk of the court, indicating that you will prepare an agreement. Then you can start preparing a draft agreement. These are the steps you can take:
- Consult with your creditors and shareholders
- Make arrangements about, for example, repaying later, cancelling debts or converting debts into shares
- Record those agreements in a draft agreement
- Present the draft agreement to your creditors and shareholders who you wish to involve in the private agreement
- Organise a vote and invite your creditors and shareholders
- Report on the outcome of the vote within 7 days after the vote
- Send your creditors the report of the vote
- Inform the court that you are working on an agreement according to the WHOA
You can also follow KVK's Step-by-step guide to applying for WHOA.
Cooling-off period WHOA
If you have offered an agreement, you can ask the court for a cooling-off period. For example, your creditors cannot seize assets from your business assets. And the bank may not offset debts against the balance in your bank account. The judge must first give permission for this.