The Insolvency Service (in reply to a letter from R3) has confirmed that it will be reframing its view of the term "creditor". This follows the cases last year of Pindar and Toogood where the court was asked to consider whether a paid secured creditor should have consented to an administration extension and therefore, in the absence of consent, whether the extensions were valid in both cases, the judges confirmed that the consent of paid secured creditors was not required.

Restructuring Plans (RPs)

2024 was a year of firsts for RPs, and as case law in this area continues to evolve, there is little doubt that this will carry through into 2025.

It would be remiss not to expect to see more RPs in 2025. News of Thames Water's restructuring is "splashed" all over the press and Speciality Steel's plan might see the first "cram up" of creditors, but there seems a long way to go to get creditors onside.

The below sets out key considerations when dealing with an extension of an administration at the end of the first-year anniversary.

Categorisation of a charge as fixed or floating will have a significant impact on how assets are dealt with on insolvency and creditor outcomes.

Typical fixed charge assets include land, property, shares, plant and machinery, intellectual property such as copyrights, patents and trademarks and goodwill.

Typical floating charge assets include stock and inventory, trade debtors, cash and currency, movable plant and machinery (such as vehicles), and raw materials and other consumable items used by the business.

このたび、森・濱田松本法律事務所アジアプラクティスグループでは、東南・南アジ ア各国のリーガルニュースを集めたニュースレター、MHM Asian Legal Insights第160 号（2024 年 2 月号）を作成いたしました。今後の皆様の東南・南アジアにおける業務 展開の一助となれば幸いに存じます。 ※本レターに記載した円建て表記は、ご参照のために、各現地通貨を現在の為替レー トで換算したものとなります。

マレーシアの Income Tax Act 1967 が改正され、2024 年 1 月 1 日より、一定の会社 の株式の譲渡益はキャピタルゲイン課税の対象となりました。改正後も個人による譲渡 については課税対象外とされていますが、会社等の法人による譲渡の場合は一定の課税 が生じます。 2024 年 1 月 1 日からの譲渡益課税の対象となるのは、以下の会社の株式の譲渡益で す。

スタートアップ（ベンチャー企業）において重要なエクイティ・インセンティブであ るストックオプション（SO）のうち、税制適格 SO の要件の一つとして、1 株当たりの 権利行使価額として、その新株予約権に係る契約（付与（割当）契約）を締結した時に おける発行会社の 1 株当たりの価額に相当する金額（時価）以上であることが必要とさ れています2。この点につき、従前、種類株式（優先株式）を発行しているスタートアッ プが、普通株式を目的とする税制適格 SO を発行する際の普通株式の 1 株当たりの価額 に相当する金額（時価）の算定ルールが明確ではありませんでした。

With the passage of several years since the outbreak of COVID-19 and additional external factors such as the soaring prices of various goods and services and the sharp depreciation of the Japanese yen, companies' financial conditions have deteriorated, while others are considering filing for restructuring proceedings, which is why the reduction of excessive debt has become a major issue as of late.

In an increasing number of restructuring cases of globally-operating companies, companies or funds outside Japan are becoming strong sponsor candidates, and even more foreign players are expected to be actively selected as sponsor candidates in the future.

In this article, we focus on the sponsor selection process in out-of-court restructurings and legal insolvency procedures in Japan, based on recent actual cases.

FTX Trading Ltd. ("FTX") and its affiliates (collectively, "FTX Group"), which operated one of the largest crypto-asset exchanges in the world through the FTX.com platform, filed for Chapter 11 in the United States on November 11 last year.

The high-profile Chapter 11 case of the FTX Trading group involves its Japanese affiliates including FTX Japan, which operated a registered cryptocurrency exchange in Japan and has been ordered by the Financial Services Agency of Japan to suspend its business upon the filing for Chapter 11. Recently, a motion was made for entry of orders approving, among other things, the group to sell FTX Japan's business through so-called “363 sale”.