was being carried out. Evidence has been produced by the Applicant that Raytheon was prepared to supply cash flow and other assistance necessary to effect the orderly liquidation, and the Chamber sees no reason to question that Raytheon had entered or was ready to enter into such a commitment. Other factors governing the matter however give rise to some doubt. 86. First, for the success of the plan it was necessary that the major creditors (Le., the banks) would be willing to wait for payment of their claims until the sale of the assets released funds to settle them: and this applied not only to the capital sums outstanding, which may not at the time have yet been legally due for repayment, but also the agreed payments of interest or instalments of capital. Though the Chamber has been given no specific information on the point, this is of the essence of such a liquidation plan : the creditors had to be asked to give the Company time. If ELSI had been confident of continuing to meet al1 its obligations promptly and regularly while seeking a buyer for its assets, no negotiations with creditors, and no elaborate calculations of division of the proceeds, on different hypotheses, such as have been produced to the Chamber, would have been needed. 87. Secondly, the management were by no means certain that the sale of the assets would realize enough to pay al1 creditors in full; in fact, the existence of the calculation of a "quick-sale value" suggests perhaps more than uncertainty. Thus the creditors had to be asked to give time in return for an assurance, not that 100 percent would be paid, but that a minimum of 50 percent would be paid. While in general it might be in the creditors' interest to agree to such a proposal, this does not mean in this case that ELSI could count on such agreement. At the date of the requisition, it seems apparent that the banks, while informed of the financial position, had not yet even been consulted on whether they would accept a guaranteed 50 per cent (see paragraphs 28-29 above), so their reaction remains a matter of speculation. 88. Nor should it be overlooked that the dismissed employees of ELSI ranked as preferential creditors for such sums as might be due to them for severance pay or arrears. In this respect Italy has drawn attention to the Sicilian regional law of 13 May 1968, providing for the payment "for the months of March, April and May 1968, to the dismissed employees of Raytheon-Elsi of Palermo of a special monthly indemnity equal to the actual monthly pay received until the month of February 1968". From this it could be inferred, said Italy, that ELSI did not pay its employees for the month of March 1968. Further it was conceded by the former