The High Court has sanctioned the Part 26A restructuring plan of E D & F Man Holdings Limited (the Plan) on which Freshfields has advised the E D & F Man Group (the Group). The Plan represents the first full-scale financial restructuring to utilise cross-class cram-down in respect of a financial creditor class and to amend articles of association. This scenario represents the paradigm use case practitioners and commentators envisaged when Part 26A was introduced in 2020.
It begins with an awkward mouthful. Outside a bankruptcy brief, is “unimpairment” even a word? (No, per Merriam-Webster.) Inside Chapter 11, it’s much more: a trend.
Want to refinance your bonds cheaply? Are you an otherwise sound and solvent business, forced into bankruptcy by a massive fire (PG&E), persistent low commodity pricing (Ultra Petroleum), or a pandemic (Hertz, whose airport rental business was shuttered in 2020 by COVID-19)?
Or would you just prefer to boost your stock value by lowering your coupon?
Francis Tregear QC was instructed to act as an expert in English law for the successful party (“JPA”) in a dispute heard by Hon. David S Jones a judge in the Bankruptcy Court in the Southern District of New York.
The case turned on English law relating to mortgages and equitable principles which are applicable to mortgages. The relevant English law fell to be applied in the context of aircraft finance for the purchase of two Airbus 350-941 aircraft.
一、はじめに
新型コロナウイルス感染症の長期間にわたる流行や経 済構造の転換・調整の影響を受けて、中国の経済にも停 滞感が見え始め、経済成長のスピードが鈍化しています。 日本企業や日系企業（以下「日系企業等」といいます。） が中国で取引を行う中で、取引相手による支払遅延、不 良債権の増加等の発生リスクに注意すべき局面も出てき ています。
取引相手に一時的な資金繰りの問題が発生しただけで あれば、債権者はまだ債権の回収を期待できます。しか し、もし取引相手の経営状況が引き続き悪化し、破産や 清算のリスクが存在するといった状況に直面した場合、 債権者は、債権をできる限り回収するにはどうすればよ いかを考える必要があり、更には、もし取引相手が破産 手続に入ったときには同手続の中で、自らの利益を最大 限守るための方法を、事前に考える必要があります。
今月のニュースレターでは、破産・清算のリスクがあ る取引相手を目の前にして、債権者が債権回収の可能性 をどのように高めるかという問題について、企業破産法 の規定にも触れつつ、検討を行います。
二、破産・清算リスクがある債務者による債務弁済行為 が取り消される可能性
Re Chan John Loong Fai[2021] HKCA 1834
Superpark Oy v Superpark Asia Group Pte Ltd and others[2021] SGCA 8
The Financial Conduct Authority v Carillion Plc[2021] EWHC 2871 (Ch)
The Respondent company was put into compulsory liquidation on 15 January 2018 and the Official Receiver was appointed as the liquidator.
Section 130(2) of the UK Insolvency Act (which is in the same wordings as section 186 of the Companies (Winding Up and Miscellaneous Provisions) Ordinance (Cap 32)) provides that:
Silver Starlight Limited v China CITIC Bank Corporation Limited, Tianjin Branch &Others[2021] HKCA 1248
Re Hsin Chong Construction Co., Ltd.[2021] HKCFA 14
The Company and Build King Construction Limited (“Build King”) entered into a joint venture agreement (the “JV Agreement”) in November 2013 to form and operate a joint venture (the “JV”). The JV was subsequently awarded a government contract for a major project in June 2016 with the Company taking a 65% interest and Build King the remaining 35%.
Stanford International Bank Ltd (in liquidation) v HSBC Bank PLC[2021] EWCA Civ 535
Stanford International Bank Limited (“SIB”), which collapsed into liquidation in 2009, held multiple accounts with HSBC between 2003 to 2009 (“Accounts”). SIB had debts in excess of US$5 billion arising from its being used as the vehicle for one of the largest Ponzi schemes in history. The liquidators of SIB (“Liquidators”) made two claims against HSBC as follows: