浅析新形势下上市公司并购重组方向与路径——以上市公司在子公司融资后实施并购重组之案例为视角

引言

2024年3月15日，中国证券监督管理委员会（以下简称“证监会”）发布《关于加强上市公司监管的意见（试行）》，明确“支持上市公司通过并购重组提升投资价值”，鼓励“上市公司综合运用各类工具提升对长期投资的吸引力，积极吸引长期机构投资者”，并提出“多措并举活跃并购重组市场，鼓励上市公司综合运用股份、现金、定向可转债等工具实施并购重组、注入优质资产”。

2024年4月12日，国务院发布《关于加强监管防范风险推动资本市场高质量发展的若干意见》，原则性提出“严把发行上市准入关”“严格上市公司持续监管”“大力推动中长期资金入市，持续壮大长期投资力量”等指导意见，进一步提高IPO标准，严格再融资审核把关，鼓励上市公司聚焦主业，综合运用并购重组、股权激励等方式提高发展质量，倡导长期资金入市，鼓励长期资金投资。

The recent Privy Council decision in Sian Participation Corp (In Liquidation) v Halimeda International Ltd[2024] (SPC) has overturned a principle of English law relating to the interaction between a contractual agreement to arbitrate and traditional insolvency measures where a debt is said to be disputed without substantial grounds.

10 years after the publication of Revision 6 (2014 edition) of the Model Form of Contract for the design, supply and installation of electrical, electronic and mechanical plant (MF/1), the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET) has released Revision 7 (2024 edition), shortly followed by an erratum containing a summary of corrections.

Regular users of the MF/1 may be comforted to know that the risk profile of the contract has not changed though the door has been opened to extending the duration of liability for latent defects, as discussed below.

Buying parts of a distressed company may offer great opportunities for buyers. When a company is struggling but not yet insolvent, external financing might dry up and the sale of non-core activities may be a last resort to generate fresh cash.

The Abu Dhabi Global Market (the “ADGM”) courts have recently handed down their decision in NMC Healthcare Limited & Others v Shetty & Others ([2024] ADGMCFI 0007). The decision deals with several important principles in relation to fraudulent/wrongful trading liabilities under ADGM law. Given the ADGM re-domiciliation (or continuation) regime, enabling companies incorporated elsewhere to be redomiciled to ADGM with relative ease, the decision is likely to be of interest beyond the borders of the ADGM.

Another groundbreaking judgment from the ADGM Courts in the NMC matter 📢🇦🇪👨🏻⚖️ and another example of the ADGM Courts drawing important parallels between ADGM and English law.

English proceedings re NMC Health Plc are also ongoing. In his judgment at CFI on 8 July 2024, Sir Justice Andrew Smith found that:

1. The ADGM Courts can make an order in respect of the fraudulent carrying on of the business of a company prior to the time at which that company was continued in the ADGM.

Introduction

What happens when monies are loaned for a specific purpose but that purpose fails? Should those monies fall within the general assets of the recipient upon bankruptcy or insolvency?

Question

In the recent decision Sian Participation v Halimeda (Sian), the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council (the Privy Council) held on a BVI appeal that a winding-up petition should not be stayed or dismissed merely because the underlying debt is subject to a generally-worded arbitration agreement.

In the most significant decision of the decade on a matter of U.S. bankruptcy law, the U.S. Supreme Court rendered its highly anticipated decision in Harrington v. Purdue Pharma L.P., 603 U.S. ____ (2024) on June 27, 2024, striking down the non-consensual third party releases that were the cornerstone of Purdue Pharma's Chapter 11 Plan of Reorganization by a vote of 5-4. In doing so, the Court said: