When Part 26A of the Companies Act was introduced in 2020, the Government deliberately modelled the legislation on Part 26, with the view that the new regime (and the advisers and judges seeking to navigate it) would benefit from piggy-backing on over a century’s worth of case law relating to schemes of arrangement.

Following its acquisition of the Regal cinema chain in the US in 2018, Cineworld, with its English-incorporated parent company, London premium listing and status as a household name in the UK cinema industry, became a truly transatlantic business. Add that to its businesses in Central and Eastern Europe and Israel, and Cineworld is one of the largest cinema chains in the world, operating in 10 countries with 672 sites and 8,181 screens.

The Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal (CFA) has recently in Re Guy Kwok-Hung Lam^[1] confirmed that, where a dispute in respect of a petition debt is subject to an exclusive jurisdiction clause (EJC), the Hong Kong court should gen

债权人该如何策略追讨欠款及清盘行动

客户简报

2022 年 7 月 19 日

关于香港法院就境外公司清盘和承认境外清盘的权力的最新案例

如果呈请人会因提起法院的清盘程序而获益，而不是从颁布清盘令中获益，那么香港法院是否应该对境外公司行使清盘的司法管辖权？香港终审法院（终审法院）近期对这一问题作了阐明¹。

原讼法庭亦阐述了评估是否应承认境外清盘以及是否应向境外委任的清盘人提供协助的正确做法²。

The Court of Final Appeal (the CFA) has recently clarified whether a Hong Kong court should exercise its winding-up jurisdiction over foreign companies if the petitioner would derive benefit from the invocation of the court’s winding-up process but not from the making of a winding-up order [1].

Corporate Update is our fortnightly bulletin highlighting the latest legal and regulatory developments which we consider to be of relevance to in-house corporate counsel.

In certain sectors, in particular in technology and life sciences, it is common for companies to combine forces in order to maximise business opportunities. Only rarely can a single company undertake every aspect of (for example) invention, development and exploitation by itself. A company may decide to contract out such activities, or to collaborate with a third party with different skills or resources. Such a collaboration may take the form of a joint venture.

经营本地业务之香港注册公司的清盘呈请个案现时占少数。此外，我每周都会收到一些在离岸司法管辖区注册成立并且在本地上市的公司的“温和”临时清盘人在申请认可和协助时拟采用 Z-Obee 一案的技巧…”

--- 夏利士法官（中国汇源果汁集团有限公司案 [2020]HKCFI 2940 at [55]）（裁决日期：2020 年 11 月 19 日）

跨境破产在香港日益活跃。以上引述的一段话说明了香港公司法院原讼法庭处理的清盘和破产程序案件很大部分源于申请承认及向外国清盘人提供协助。

早前发布的客户简报（原文见此处）探讨了向香港法院申请将外国公司强制清盘的问题。本客户简报考虑另一个问题， 就是香港法院对该外国公司注册成立的司法管辖区所发出的清盘令可以给予的承认和协助。

一般原则 香港並非《联合国国际贸易法委员会国际商事仲裁示范法》(UNCITRAL Model Law)的签署方，也没有制定该法例。承认和协助外国破产程序的权力源自普通法。

以下为典型的事实例子：一家无力偿债的公司在香港境外（通常为热门的离岸司法管辖区）注册成立但其资产位于香港。该公司的海外注册地批准就清盘呈请颁布清盘令，并任命临时清盘人。临时清盘人随后向香港法院申请“承认”该海外命令，使该清盘令通过香港法院授予的“协助”在香港具有域外适用性。

“Since the court resumed hearings in May [2020] more than half the petitions I have heard have involved listed companies. Remarkably petitions to wind-up Hong Kong incorporated companies operating domestic businesses are currently a minority. In addition I have received weekly applications for recognition and assistance by soft-touch provisional liquidators of companies incorporated in one of the offshore jurisdictions and listed here intending to use the Z-Obee technique …”

Responses to the HM Treasury call for evidence on the Review of Solvency II

On 1 July HM Treasury published a summary of the responses received to its autumn 2020 call for evidence on the Review of Solvency II.

HM Treasury comments