Introduction
The decision of the Grand Court of the Cayman Islands (‘the Cayman Court’) to grant common law recognition and assistance to liquidators appointed by the High Court of Hong Kong (‘the Hong Kong Court’) over an exempted Cayman Islands incorporated company – without parallel insolvency proceedings in Cayman – is likely to be welcomed widely by insolvency practitioners and lawyers involved in cross-border restructuring and insolvency in common law jurisdictions.
How the recent changes will impact restructurings of listed companies
一、前言
众所周知，如从事《外商投资产业指导目录》项下限制或禁止外商投资业务的境内公司拟于境外上市，其无法完全采用股权架构的方式搭建上市架构，而需采用通过合约安排对其境内运营实体（以下简称“OPCO公司”）进行协议控制的架构（以下简称“VIE架构”）完成境外拟上市公司与OPCO公司的链接。
根据香港联合交易所有限公司（以下简称“联交所”）现行有效的关于VIE架构的上市规定（即联交所于2004年5月23日首次刊发的《有关上市发行人业务使用合约安排的指引》（HKEx-GL77-14，以下简称《VIE指引》）（于2018年4月最新修订）与2005年第一季度刊发的关于合约安排的上市决策（HKEX-LD43-3，以下简称《VIE上市决策》）（于2018年4月最新修订），采用VIE架构的上市申请人应当适用“严格限定”原则（即通常所说“narrowly tailored”规则）。
但根据我们的项目经验以及案例研究，我们注意到联交所上市规定项下“严格限定”原则似乎尚存在一定灵活适用的空间。本文拟对于《VIE指引》及《VIE上市决策》项下“严格限定”原则及其实践情况进行简要分析，以期为相关读者了解如何适用“严格限定”原则提供参考。
The Court of First Instance has recently helpfully summarised the legal position on schemes of arrangement under both Hong Kong law and English law. Notably, it has called for further development in cross-border coordination in order to avoid the trouble of parallel insolvency proceedings and it has raised a red flag in relation to detailed disclosure of restructuring costs: Da Yu Financial Holdings Limited [2019] HKCFI 2531.
The Grand Court of the Cayman Islands granted common law recognition and assistance to the foreign Liquidators of a Cayman Islands company post Rubin v Eurofinance and Singularis Holdings Limited v PwC.
In Re China Agrotech Holdings Limited Ltd (FSD 157 of 2017 (NSJ)), the Grand Court of the Cayman Islands ("Cayman Court") granted Liquidators appointed by the High Court of Hong Kong leave to present and consent to a scheme of arrangement on behalf of China Agrotech Limited (the "Company") based on a common law discretion.
The Bermuda Commercial Court has provided guidance as to the considerations it will take into account when deciding the identity of the JPLs, further to our article on the Up Energy Group Ltd (the Company) restructuring and the circumstances in which Joint Provisional Liquidators (JPLs) will be appointed to monitor the proposed restructuring of a Be
The decision of the Grand Court of the Cayman Islands (‘the Cayman Court’) to grant common law recognition and assistance to liquidators appointed by the High Court of Hong Kong (‘the Hong Kong Court’) over an exempted Cayman Islands incorporated company – without parallel insolvency proceedings in Cayman – is likely to be welcomed widely by insolvency practitioners and lawyers involved in cross-border restructuring and insolvency in common law jurisdictions.
The Grand Court of the Cayman Islands granted common law recognition and assistance to the foreign Liquidators of a Cayman Islands company post Rubin v Eurofinance and Singularis Holdings Limited v PwC.
In Re China Agrotech Holdings Limited Ltd (FSD 157 of 2017 (NSJ)), the Grand Court of the Cayman Islands ("Cayman Court") granted Liquidators appointed by the High Court of Hong Kong leave to present and consent to a scheme of arrangement on behalf of China Agrotech Limited (the "Company") based on a common law discretion.