Mac Mahon Avocats advises companies, groups and investors facing financial difficulties in Ivory Coast. Proceedings there are governed by the OHADA Uniform Act organising collective proceedings for the discharge of liabilities (AUPC), revised on 10 September 2015 and applicable in the seventeen member States of the Organisation for the Harmonisation of Business Law in Africa.
The AUPC applies directly: it requires no transposition or national implementing statute and prevails over inconsistent domestic provisions. It provides four routes: conciliation, a confidential out-of-court procedure available before payments are suspended; preventive settlement, a preventive court procedure leading to an approved composition; judicial reorganisation, opened after payments are suspended where recovery is not manifestly impossible; and liquidation of assets, which organises the realisation of the estate.
The AUPC also provides simplified procedures for small enterprises, a regulated status for insolvency practitioners and a directors' liability regime (action to make good the shortfall, personal bankruptcy) whose time limits are a matter of public policy.
Ivory Coast has had specialised commercial courts since 2012: the Commercial Court of Abidjan and, since 2018, a dedicated Commercial Court of Appeal. Abidjan also hosts the seat of the OHADA Common Court of Justice and Arbitration (CCJA) and the Ivorian Arbitration Centre (CACI).
Court primarily concerned: Commercial Court of Abidjan (and the Abidjan Commercial Court of Appeal). Jurisdiction is determined by the debtor's principal establishment, or by the registered office for legal entities.
The largest economy in the WAEMU zone, Ivory Coast hosts a significant share of the regional headquarters of groups operating in West Africa. The port of Abidjan, cocoa and cashew agro-processing and public construction contracts shape corporate cash cycles.
Matters arising in Ivory Coast mainly concern: agro-processing (cocoa, cashew, rubber), construction and public works, retail, port logistics, telecoms and financial services. These activities involve cash cycles, bank financing issues and subcontracting chains whose analysis determines the choice of procedure.
Ivorian cases frequently have a regional dimension: sister entities in Burkina Faso, Mali or Senegal, syndicated financing denominated in CFA francs, and security interests registered with the trade and personal property credit register (RCCM). The proximity of the CCJA also makes community case law particularly prominent in argument.
The firm acts in an advisory capacity: analysis of the financial and legal position, mapping of liabilities, selection of the appropriate procedure, preparation of the documents submitted to the conciliator or to the expert in preventive settlement, negotiation with banks and trade creditors, and coordination with proceedings opened in France for multi-jurisdictional groups.
Representation before the Ivorian courts is provided by lawyers admitted to the local bars, with whom the firm works in coordination. This arrangement complies with the territorial rules applicable to the legal profession.
For groups present in both France and Ivory Coast, coordination requires identifying each entity's centre of main interests, anticipating the effects of the proceedings on security interests and intra-group guarantees, and addressing recognition of judgments through exequatur. There is no uniform recognition instrument between OHADA and the European Union: each judgment follows ordinary law or the applicable bilateral treaties.
The Common Court of Justice and Arbitration, seated in Abidjan, ensures uniform interpretation and application of the Uniform Acts. It acts as the court of final review for disputes governed by harmonised law.
They are governed by the Uniform Act on secured transactions and are registered with the RCCM. Their ranking and enforceability determine how creditors are treated in the proceedings.
The OHADA AUPC of 10 September 2015, which applies directly and prevails over inconsistent national provisions.
Commercial Court of Abidjan (and the Abidjan Commercial Court of Appeal), depending on the debtor's principal establishment.
No. The firm acts in an advisory capacity only, in coordination with lawyers admitted to the local bars.
It requires an exequatur procedure in France, under ordinary law or any applicable bilateral treaty.
Matters within the OHADA area are handled together with partner lawyers admitted to the local bars. Those colleagues, admitted before the competent courts, carry out procedural steps and appear before the courts. Mac Mahon Avocats works alongside them, providing restructuring advice and coordinating the matter from Paris.
This arrangement complies with the applicable professional rules: the firm does not itself provide court representation before the courts of the OHADA member States.
An initial confidential discussion helps identify the appropriate procedure (conciliation, preventive settlement, judicial reorganisation or liquidation of assets).
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Advisory work only, together with our partner lawyers admitted to the local bars, who provide representation before the competent courts. No outcome can be guaranteed: every situation depends on the facts and on the court's assessment.