By S. Zisimos
[email protected]
The Greek government, systemic lenders in the country and creditors' top auditors are in the final phase of negotiations over criteria for businesses' inclusion in a new out-of-court settlement process with arrears of between 20,000 to 50,000 euros.
The latest proposal on the table was submitted by the Greek coalition government last week, with a response by creditors pending.
By all accounts, the foreseen procedure will be strictly standardized in order to preclude loopholes and to prevent any exploitation by so-called "strategic defaulters".
One of the criteria, according to reports, is recent positive EBITDA in order for a legal entity - all types of enterprises - to be considered as commercially viable.
This stipulation will include a condition whereby the value of arrears that can be written off, compared to the previous year's EBITDA or the average of the last two positive EBITDA, should not exceed 15.
Additionally, the process will exclude individuals whose property holdings, based objective tax criteria, exceed in value of restructured corporate and business debts by 25 times.
