在《商法》2022年11月刊首发。

医药BD（business development，商务拓展）项目通常指通过授权许可、投资、并购、合作开发/商业化等方式进行产品和技术的商业机会拓展。全球新冠疫情已逾三年，医药行业的市场环境和商业预期亦深受影响，导致医药BD项目面临不同程度的挑战。

折射到法律和履约层面，不可抗力、情势变更与市场变化等因素也逐渐变成医药企业内部会议或与合作伙伴商讨如何继续开展项目时高频出现的词汇。是继续“厮守”，还是友好“分手”，往往成为不可回避的话题。

一、妥善约定退出机制

协议是项目开展的基础，项目因各种原因难以为继而需要终止时，退出机制的设计就成为关键。通道不清、权责不明的终止或解除条款将导致企业退出困难，且通常伴随着高昂的时间与经济成本。

协议的终止/解除可分为法定终止/解除与意定终止/解除的两种情形。

在中国法下，常见法定终止情形包括不可抗力与情势变更，两种情形都具有不可预见性，在双方意见不一时，需由法院或仲裁机构决定适用。相对而言，意定终止基于双方事前合意，意见较易统一，可预见性更强。居安思危，事前规划退出机制，明确双方对于合作终止情形的预期，也是对项目负责的表现。

In a decision that may provide much-needed boundaries around the permissibility of debtors created from “out-of-the-box” prepetition corporate transactions, on January 30, 2023, the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit issued a unanimous opinion dismissing Johnson & Johnson subsidiary LTL Management, LLC’s (“LTL”) chapter 11 case pending in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of New Jersey as not being filed in good faith.¹

The concept of “property of the estate” is important in bankruptcy because it determines what property can be used or distributed for the benefit of the debtor’s creditors. Defined by section 541 of the Bankruptcy Code, “property of the estate” broadly encompasses the debtor’s interests in property, with certain additions and exceptions provided for in the Code. See 11 U.S.C. § 541. Difficult questions can arise in a contractual relationship between a debtor and a counterparty about whether an entity actually owns a particular asset or merely has some contractual right.

In a provocative demonstration that it scrutinizes all types of transactions, no matter their origin, the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (“CFIUS”) has reportedly been vetting the proposed $1 billion sale of bankrupt crypto lender Voyager Digital’s assets to Binance.US. Voyager Digital filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in July 2022, and, after an initial agreement to sell its assets to FTX crumbled, Binance.US provided Voyager Digital with the winning offer for its assets in December 2022. But, after the sale’s announcement on December 30, 2022, the U.S.

A modification of a Chapter 11 bankruptcy plan on the eve of the hearing on confirmation of that plan requires re-solicitation of votes and re-voting if the modification materially and adversely affects a class of claims or interests, i.e., equity holders, according to the Eleventh Circuit’s opinion in In re America-CV Station Group, Inc., 56 F.4th 1302 (11th Cir. Jan. 5, 2023).

１  はじめに

ファクタリングという言葉を聞かれたことがあると思います。ただ，ファクタリングと一口に言っても，複数の形式があり，主  として売掛債権の資金化のために行うもの（債権の売買）と，   貸倒れリスクを軽減するためファクタリング会社が債務保証を する保証形式のものとがあり，前者は担保付きの資金融資

（すなわち，売掛債権を譲渡担保とした金銭消費貸借契約）  と接近する側面があります。

そこで，法的には，債権の売買となるのか，担保付きの資金 融資なのかは重要な問題となります。また，ファクタリングは， 法的倒産手続との関係でも様々な論点が出てきます。本稿では，ある裁判例を題材に，ファクタリングと倒産手続につい  て検討してみたいと思います。

２　裁判例について 

On Monday, January 30, 2023, the Third Circuit in In re LTL Management, LLC¹ ordered debtor LTL Management, LLC’s (“LTL”) chapter 11 petition dismissed for failure to demonstrate that the petition was filed in good faith pursuant to the Bankruptcy Code.² The dismissal of LTL’s bankruptcy will also result in the termination of an injunction staying numerous lawsuits against third-parties—including lawsuits against certain third-party retailers being sued for allegedly having sold certain allegedly contaminated products.

近年来，越来越多的企业面临债务困境，由于该等企业较多成立时间久、体量巨大，且存在经营多元化、债权债务形式多样化的情形，企业资金链的断裂易引发债务风险，实践中迫切需要进行债务重组，使债权人得到受偿，让企业重获新生。从目前情况来看，信托工具越来越多地被应用于债务重组中，包括在破产重整前的债务重组阶段，也包括在破产重整阶段。根据中国信托业协会于2022年12月12日发布的《2022年3季度中国信托业发展评析》，截至2022年3季度末，我国信托资产规模余额约为21.07万亿元。另根据建信信托有限责任公司（“建信信托”）发布的《建信信托2021年年度报告》，截至2021年12月31日，建信信托破产重整服务信托规模超2,300亿元[1]；根据中信信托有限责任公司（“中信信托”）发布的《中信信托二〇二一年年度报告》，截至2021年12月31日，中信信托特殊资产服务信托业务受托规模近160亿元[2]。

In 2022, there were several high-profile crypto bankruptcy filings. A big question in these cases is whether there will be any money to satisfy unsecured creditor claims. If there are funds to distribute, then the creditors’ claims will become more valuable, and the cases will become even more interesting.

Ignorance of the law is no excuse. We all learned that in law school. Still, you don’t know what you don’t know. And when it comes to bankruptcy law, too many of us just don’t know some basics, like how to protect your fee. Non-bankruptcy lawyers routinely represent debtors or their litigation opponents in non-bankruptcy disputes, such as personal injury claims. To comply with your duty to competently represent clients who are in bankruptcy or litigating against a debtor, and to protect your fee, know these fundamentals.