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受疫情影响,英国越来越多的企业出现运营困难。虽然英国政府出台了多种补救措施,但仍会有很多企业将不可避免地面临破产。对因各种原因可能受到英国公司破产影响的中国公司或个人,本文将从英国破产法角度简要介绍英国公司破产程序、这些程序对于公司和普通债权人的保护,以及担任破产公司董事需要关注的问题。

一. 公司什么时候算破产?

英国的破产法规定主要来源于《1986年破产法》(Insolvency Act 1986)和《1986年破产规则》(Insolvency Rules 1986)。虽然《1986年破产法》没有给破产以明确的定义,但采用了"无力偿还债务"的概念。因此,在英国公司破产一般包含两种情况:一是公司没办法支付债务(现金流量破产 – Cash-flow insolvency),二是公司负债大于资产(资产负债表破产- Balance-sheet insolvency)。

现金流量破产一般表现为公司没办法支付其现有的债务。值得注意的是,即使公司可以支付现有债务,但如果没办法支付其在不远的未来产生的债务也将被视为破产。

The CFTC proposed amendments intended to "comprehensively update" its bankruptcy regulations (Part 190 of the CFTC regulations) to "reflect current market practices and lessons learned."

In the proposal, the CFTC provided:

In recent weeks, a number of transactions have come across our desks involving levered feeders set up as an investment vehicle for insurance-related investors. For regulatory reasons, these vehicles are established such that each such investor’s commitment is comprised of both a loan commitment (the “Debt Commitment”) and an equity commitment (the “Equity Commitment”). This structure presents a challenge for lenders trying to balance the requested borrowing base treatment for investor commitments of this type against the potential bankruptcy implications that this structure poses.

On December 19, 2019, the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit (the “Second Circuit”) affirmed a ruling of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York (the “District Court”) dismissing constructive fraudulent conveyance claims brought by representatives of certain unsecured creditors of Chapter 11 debtor Tribune Company (“Tribune”)

The National Economic Research Associates ("NERA"), an economic consulting firm, demonstrated in a recent article how economic analysis can be used to assess allegations related to credit default swaps ("CDS") and the creditworthiness of a company.

On August 9, 2019, in a unanimous decision (written by a former bankruptcy judge), the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the confirmation of the Peabody Energy Chapter 11 plan (“Plan”)1 with a prominent backstopped rights offering component.

On June 19, 2019, the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit (the “Third Circuit”) affirmed a ruling of the United States District Court for the District of Delaware (the “District Court”) dismissing challenges by certain first lien creditors of Texas Competitive Electric Holdings LLC (“TCEH”) to the plan distributions and adequate protection payments made during TCEH’s bankruptcy case.