One of the largest bankruptcy orders ever made in the English courts (in the region of £870 million) has been set aside to allow a creditors’ meeting to take place in order to consider an individual voluntary arrangement. In (1)Gertner (2) Laser Trust v CFL Finance Ltd [2020] EWHC 1241 (Ch), Mr Justice Marcus Smith has held that unless a breach of the good faith rule can be established, it is inappropriate for the court to refuse an application supported by a majority of creditors to stay a bankruptcy petition.
——新修订将如何影响上市公司重组
作为打击壳股活动的一系列举措之一,香港联合交易所有限公司(以下简称“联交所”)修订了《香港联合交易所有限公司证券上市规则》(以下简称“《上市规则》”)中的大量条文,并发布了相关指引信。最新修订的条文于2019年10月1日生效,修订主要关于借壳上市和持续上市准则有关。其他已于2018年开始生效修订的条文与除牌机制和融资规则有关。除此之外,联交所逐渐加强了对新上市申请人的上市适合性审查。尽管这些修订主要针对壳股活动,但是也会影响其他重组活动,包括上市公司破产重组。
我们将在本文中分享对上述修订及其对上市公司破产重组的影响的看法。本文不讨论《上市规则》中所有经过修订的条文,仅关注某些会影响上市公司重组的特定条文。
除牌制度
在2018年8月以前,根据《上市规则》第17项应用指引的规定,除牌程序由三阶段组成。但在2018年8月以后,除牌程序简单化,上市公司持续停牌18个月,联交所即可将其除牌。
How the recent changes will impact restructurings of listed companies
Under the 1992 ISDA Master Agreement, following an event of default, there is either an automatic termination or the non-defaulting party can serve a notice designating an Early Termination Date. There then has to be a determination by the non-defaulting party of the compensation that is owed by one party or the other. This is done by closing out the transactions, which involves determining gains or losses in replacing or providing the economic equivalent of the terminated transactions. Once that is done, a statement is served setting out the calculations.