What happens when deals go bad? One aircraft, two engines, and a recovery mission

At the ITFA Americas Annual Conference in Miami, Trade Treasury Payments (TTP) spoke with Eric Alsembach, Director at Monarch Associates, about navigating debt recovery in complex, cross-border scenarios, often in markets where legal remedies alone fall short.

Alsembach said, “We’re not a law firm. We’re a global network of specialists focused on extrajudicial debt recovery, working directly with obligors to understand why a payment default occurred and then trying to solve it. That could mean tracing assets, restructuring obligations, or simply having the right conversations on the ground.”

With associates spanning Africa, Latin America, Asia, and Eastern Europe, Monarch Associates works on behalf of corporates and financial institutions to recover defaulted payments, often in jurisdictions where enforcement is costly, slow, or unreliable. Crucially, their approach relies on flexibility. Some situations call for asset seizure, others for negotiation.

Alsembach said, “We had one case in Central America where the obligor defaulted on a plane. We stripped the aircraft, sold the fuselage, and leased the engines to Turkish Airlines for ten years. In another case in Argentina, we’re working through the courts to agree on a recovery plan involving tolling certificates and potentially future trade flows.”

Trends in the broader trade and credit landscape are also affecting the kinds of cases Monarch takes on. As traditional underwriters become more selective and geopolitical risk increases, more corporates are finding themselves exposed to non-payment. Alsembach noted that sanctions and regime changes (such as in Russia, Belarus, or parts of West Africa) have disrupted trade flows and limited financing options. Where legal recourse is too slow, extrajudicial recovery becomes an attractive alternative.

Alsembach said, “Clients might have financed cocoa in Ecuador or heavy equipment in Guinea. When those deals go wrong, the instinct is often to hire lawyers. But getting a judgment in New York and then trying to enforce it in Mali? That’s not always efficient.”

While much of the conversation at the conference focused on accounts receivable discounting and structured trade flows, Alsembach’s firm operates at the other end of the spectrum, helping clients untangle complex situations, even in non-commodity sectors. This includes franchise defaults, construction disputes, or stalled export contracts where local permits or certificates are missing.

Alsembach said, “Our message is simple: if you’re facing a problem, just give us a call. We’re success-based, so we only take on cases we believe are recoverable. We work with lawyers, but we’re also an alternative to purely legal pathways. Often, a conversation is the best place to start.”

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