ANNUAL CONFERENCE: NEXTGEN
The Next Generation Takes the Stage: Highlights from the III NextGen Day 2026
By Gemma Bellfield
On June 14, 2026, the International Insolvency Institute( III) opened its Annual Conference with the NextGen Day, a flagship program designed to spotlight the next generation of insolvency and restructuring practitioners from around the world. The day featured five dynamic panels and concluded with a celebration of the success of the NextGen Program over the last 15 years, and a toast to the future of the Program and the dynamic, engaged and enthusiastic individuals who make up its membership.
Comparative Analysis of Restructuring Proceedings
The day’ s opening panel brought together practitioners from five jurisdictions: the United States, Canada, the Netherlands, Brazil, and
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Japan, to examine how each system approaches restructuring. The discussion revealed that while every jurisdiction aspires to efficient rescue of viable businesses, the routes they take differ dramatically.
Rahman Connelly pushed back against the narrative that Chapter 11 is“ old and expensive,” noting the resurgence of liability management exercises( LMEs), out-of-court restructurings that have surged to the point where 2025 was dubbed“ the year of the LME.” Sebastiaan van den Berg offered the Netherlands’ WHOA framework as a counterpoint:“ young and cheap,” just five years old, and already proving a nimble alternative. Midori Yamaguchi explained Japan’ s strict division between out-ofcourt workouts requiring unanimous consent
and formal court restructuring, highlighting the recent Early Business Recovery Act aimed at bridging that gap. Caitlin McIntyre noted that Canadian prepacks remain rare, largely because the country’ s banks have historically resisted them, while Victoria Vaccari Villela Boacnin described Brazil’ s rapidly evolving landscape: higher approval thresholds, growing prepack use, and a DIP financing market dominated by a handful of players.
The panel found common ground on the challenge of DIP financing and adequate protection but diverged sharply on priorities in distribution, which is worth bearing in mind for practitioners who may have a choice of jurisdiction in which to restructure. In Brazil, panelists described flexibility in the order of payments as reorganization plans can set their own waterfall. The Netherlands’ WHOA introduces a“ 20 % catch-out rule,” requiring that dissenting secured creditors receive at least 20 % of what they would have received in a liquidation. Third-party releases drew perhaps the sharpest contrast: routine in Canada, virtually unknown in Japan( where personal guarantee obligations by management remain a cultural fixture), and
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