Introduction

Ever since mankind exists, there has been trade between people, giving away something in order to get something in return. As such, they oblige themselves. It is also inherent to human nature to default on these obligations.

No big deal if it happens in a society, structured in such a way that the defaulting party sooner or later has no choice than to live up to its commitments or when the system takes matters in its own hands like during bankruptcy procedures.

But what if these social guarantees do not exist and the debtor shows no intention to pay? What if the government of a country is corrupt? What if the judicial system is not working? What opportunities remain then to a creditor?

East-West Debt is one the world leaders specialised in helping out governments, banks, companies, insurers and even individuals when they find themselves confronted with defaulting entities in emerging markets. In short, East-West Debt starts to offer its services when others stop doing so.

East-West Debt is able to provide solutions for the recovery of overdue trade or bank debts in high risk countries. As such, East-West Debt is currently active in :

- Africa
- Eastern Europe
- Latin America
- South-East Asia
- The Middle East

The company policy of East-West Debt is to satisfy its clients as much as possible. It is obvious that a creditor, who is owed a serious amount of money, is not very keen on investing an additional amount to recover his claim.

East-West Debt acknowledges this and, therefore, makes it possible for its clients not to invest an additional amount of money without having any guarantee that it will solve the existing problem. East-West Debt gives its clients the chance to get the claim solved without any additional cost and without spending a lot of time.

This means that East-West Debt does all the work and takes all costs on its behalf. If possible, East-West Debt leaves it up to the client to sell the claim or to work on a "no cure no pay" collection mandate. Whereas the former is simply a purchase of the claim by East-West Debt, the latter means that East-West Debt only gets paid on the basis of what is actually recovered on behalf of the client.

The client can be convinced that way that East-West Debt will do its utmost to solve the claim in the most profitable way for its client.

Based on its longlasting expertise in the field, its outstanding local contacts and its perfect network of in-house counsellors and external lawyers, East-West Debt is able to provide a variety of solutions such as :

- Debt equity swaps
- Debt for counter trade
- Debt for debt swaps
- Fiscal swaps
- Amicable settlements through local contacts
- International litigation

For the benefit of its clients, East-West Debt tries in first instance to provide a non legal solution. This guarantees that the client does not jeopardise its future commercial relationships in an area or country. The network of local contacts plays a crucial role in the implementation and acceptance of solving schemes by the local authorities and central banks.

However, if there is no possibility for a non legal solution, East-West Debt can also rely on its outstanding litigation team to start judicial collection procedures based on the knowledge of the whereabouts of the foreign assets of the debtor in question.

Last but not least, apart from the spectrum of possibilities and the cost friendly aspect, East-West Debt guarantees its clients the greatest cautiousness and confidentiality.