On January 23, 2024, the Court of Appeal in England and Wales (the "Appeal Court") upheld a challenge launched by dissenting creditors to overturn the UK Restructuring Plan (the "RP") of the Adler Group previously approved by the High Court under Part 26A of the Companies Act 2006 (Strategic Value Capital Solutions Master Fund LP and others v AGPS BondCo PLC [2024] EWCA Civ 24).
The Bankruptcy Code invalidates "ipso facto" clauses in executory contracts or unexpired leases that purport to modify or terminate the contract or lease (or the debtor's rights or obligations under the contract or lease) based solely on the debtor's financial condition or the commencement of a bankruptcy case for the debtor. It also invalidates state law, rather than a contract, that purports to alter the property interests of the debtor. A more difficult situation arises when those interests are on the outer bounds of "property of the estate."
The Bankruptcy Code provides that, in chapter 11 cases where the court does not find "cause" for the appointment of a trustee, the court "shall" appoint an examiner, upon a request from the Office of the U.S. Trustee (the "UST") or any party-in-interest prior to confirmation of a chapter 11 plan. The examiner's role is to investigate the debtor's affairs or allegations of management misconduct, if either: (i) the court determines that the appointment would be in the best interests of stakeholders and the estate; or (ii) the debtor has qualifying unsecured debt exceeding $5 million.
One of the fundamental goals of a chapter 11 bankruptcy is the maximization of value available for distribution to creditors. The "absolute priority rule" generally applicable in chapter 11 requires that each class of impaired and unaccepting creditors be paid in full before any junior class of claims or interests may receive distributions under the plan. Courts recognize a limited exception to the absolute priority rule, however, allowing prepetition shareholders to retain their interest in the debtor where they contribute new value toward the debtor's reorganization.
Established in 2015 as a trusted neutral forum to meet increasing demand for effective transnational dispute resolution, the Singapore International Commercial Court (the "SICC") is a division of the General Division of the High Court and part of the Supreme Court of Singapore. On January 18, 2024, the SICC handed down its first insolvency-related ruling.
In Short
The Situation: For the first time ever, a court in France has examined the compatibility of the statutory netting safe harbor with the French Constitution. The French High Court of Justice (Cour de cassation) addressed the preliminary question of constitutionality in the context of an insolvency proceeding and handed down its decision on March 6, 2024.
Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ll know that commodity prices are in the doldrums and that the outlook in the near term is not particularly positive. How should Boards prepare? Combine that with current inflation, interest rate and other cost of living pressures that continue to dominate public discourse and you can understand why many Boards and executives in the resources sector are having some sleepless nights. FY24 is also on track to have more insolvencies than FY23. By December FY24 insolvency activity was up 33.79% on the same time in FY23.
In Short
此前我们在《从“License-in”转型“License-out”——你的“自主知识产权”成色几何？》中对企业在开展License-out过程中涉及的知识产权侵权问题进行了梳理，并提出了实操建议供企业参考。此外，在技术许可交易中，还有一个此前常被中国企业在技术交易中忽略的问题，即技术许可方破产对技术许可的影响。随着中国技术类企业正逐步从技术引进（“License-in”）转向技术输出（“License-out”），中国企业也时常碰到境外被许可方提出的“破产保护”诉求。我们将在本文中对该问题进行探讨，并对国外常见的应对方案“技术托管”进行较为详细的介绍。
一、许可方破产对技术许可合同的影响
维好协议还好吗? 前 言 维好协议（KEEPWELL DEED）通常由在中国 1 注册成立的 母 公司签 署，为其 境 外 子 公司的融 资 进 行增信（CREDIT ENHANCEMENT）（见图表），最初常见于债券市场，近年 来也经常出现在贷款交易中。 提供维好承诺的母公司承诺维持其境外债务人子公司的财 务健康，以增强债权人对债务人的信心。 维 好协议 通常包含的承诺有：要求 维 好提 供方维持境外 维好协议与保证的主要区别 维好协议和保证有以下的重要分别 : 1. 仅就本文而言，“中国”或“中国内地”指中华人民共和国，不包括香港及澳门特别行政区和台湾。“境内”及“境外”有相应的意思。 债务人的净资产为正值、为其提供偿还债务的流动资金、 以 及保 持其对该等境 外债务人的管控 权和所有权等。其 中一些承诺或受制于取得相关中国政府部门的审批将资 金 汇出境 外的前 提 条 件，并且 维 好提 供 方必须尽最 大努 力获 得该 等审 批。除 签 署维 好协议 外，维 好 提 供 方通常 还 会 签 署股 权 购买承 诺（EQUITY INTEREST PURCHASE UNDERTAKINGS），即维好提供方承诺购买其境外债务人 子公司持有的若干股权，以便将资金（即购买对价）汇出境外。