Introduction
在全球市場資金成本不斷增加的背景下,過去12個月許多開曼群島上市公司已成功採取協商一致的重組措施,以管理其債務水平、現金流和融資需求。
開曼群島《公司法》中的工具,提供了快速且具成本效益的公司重組方式;《2024年公司(修訂)法案》將提出修訂,增強開曼群島金融服務產品,令這些工具今年將進一步簡化。
有爭議的重組
2022年8月31日,開曼群島引入備受期待的重組制度改革(重組修正案),使債務人公司能夠以已經或可能無法償還債務並打算向債權人提出妥協或安排,向法院請求委任重組官。
儘管重組修正案為債權人和債務人公司帶來了許多好處,但推出之際恰逢2008年金融危機以來全球央行最大幅度加息。
英國的利率從2021年12月的0.1%升至2023年8月的5.25%,而美聯儲亦將利率從2022年3月的0-0.25%上調至2023年7月的5.25-5.5% (parliament. uk)。因此,債務重組通常所需的資金成本使許多陷入困境的全球企業無法承受外部融資。
A Court-approved reduction of capital is one of the corporate reorganisation tools that has been successfully deployed by listed companies domiciled in the Cayman Islands in order to manage debt and liquidity.
On December 5, 2022, in In re Global Cord Blood Corp., 2022 WL 17478530 (Bankr. S.D.N.Y. Dec. 5, 2022) (“Global Cord”), the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York (the “Court”) denied recognition of a proceeding pending in the Grand Court of the Cayman Islands (the “Cayman Proceeding” and the court, the “Cayman Court”) because it was more like a corporate governance and fraud remediation effort than a collective proceeding for the purpose of dealing with reorganization or liquidation, as Chapter 15 of the Bankruptcy Code requires.
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On August 5, 2021, the Eighth Circuit reversed a district court’s decision to dismiss a confirmation order appeal as equitably moot.[1] The doctrine of equitable mootness can require dismissal of an appeal of a bankruptcy court decision – typically, an order confirming a chapter 11 plan – on equitable grounds when third parties have engaged in significant irreversible transactions
On October 5, 2021, the Tenth Circuit joined the Second Circuit in concluding statutory fee increases that applied only to debtors filing for bankruptcy in judicial districts administered by the United States Trustee Program (the “US Trustee” or the “UST Program”) violated the U.S.
As a matter of practice, chapter 11 plans and confirmation orders routinely discharge administrative expense claims, including those that arise after confirmation of a plan but before its effective date. The Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit (the “Third Circuit”) recently affirmed the bankruptcy court’s statutory authority to do so in Ellis v. Westinghouse Electric Co., LLC, 2021 WL 3852612 (3d Cir. Aug. 30, 2021).
On July 26, 2021, the United States District Court for the District of Delaware (the “District Court”) affirmed the Delaware bankruptcy court’s order (the “Confirmation Order”) confirming the chapter 11 liquidation plan (the “Plan”) of Exide Holdings, Inc.