Virtual Book Launch:

Court-Supervised Restructuring of Large Distressed Companies in Asia   [access to the book]

About the book:

This book provides an in-depth analysis of four economically significant Asian jurisdictions: Mainland China, India, Hong Kong and Singapore. These jurisdictions have recently either reformed – or are considering reforming – their corporate restructuring laws to promote regimes conducive to restructuring financially distressed, but otherwise economically viable, companies. Mainland China, India, Hong Kong and Singapore continue to adhere to a framework that requires the court’s final approval but draw references from Chapter 11 of the Bankruptcy Code 1978 in the United States and/or the schemes of arrangement in the United Kingdom. However, the institutional and market structures are very different in Asia; in particular, Asia has a far higher concentration in shareholdings among listed firms, including holdings by families and the state, and a different composition of creditors. The book explains how, notwithstanding the legal transplantation, corporate restructuring laws in these Asian jurisdictions have adapted and evolved due to the frictions in shareholder-creditor and creditor-creditor relationships, and the role of the state in resolving non-performing loans and financial distress of state-owned enterprises which are listed, or which issue public debt.

Discussants

Dr. Andrew Godwin is a Principal Fellow at Melbourne Law School and Honorary Associate Director (Commercial Law) of the Asian Law Centre. He is also Special Counsel at the Australian Law Reform Commission and a member of the Advisory Board of the Asian Business Law Institute in Singapore.

Prof. Jingchen Zhao is a Professor of Law and Co-director of the Centre for Business and Insolvency Law at Nottingham Law School. He is the Grant Champion for the Law School.

Date: 5 August 2022 (Friday)

Time: 16:00 – 17:15 HKT (18:00 – 19:15 AEST; 9:00 – 10:15 BST) Language: English

Format: Real-time seminar via Zoom

Zoom Meeting Link: https://cityu.zoom.us/j/95460551614 

For enquiries and further details about this book launch, please email to lwrccl@cityu.edu.hk. 

CityU Law 35th Anniversary Public Lecture Series

10 March 2022 (Thursday) 5:30pm – 6:40pm in English

Governmental Responses to Mitigate the Impact of COVID-19 on Small and Medium Sized Enterprises: the case for a Simplified Insolvency Regime in Hong Kong

Abstract

The COVID-19 crisis has triggered unprecedented governmental responses around the world to mitigate the effects of the pandemic. Particular attention has been placed on small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) due to their vulnerability in the crisis and the impact of their wide-spread failure on societies. These measures can be broadly divided into three categories, some of which may be targeted at SMEs: economic measures in the form of direct subsidies or loans guaranteed by the governments, insolvency and restructuring law reforms and mandatory modification of contractual obligations to relieve performance.

Unlike many of the other advanced economies, Hong Kong has only concentrated its responses on economic measures, in the form of the Anti-epidemic fund that provides employment payouts and other subsidies to affected industries and a government-guaranteed loan scheme. Using new survey data on SMEs in Hong Kong, the talk provides evidence that financially fragile SMEs, which have challenges in obtaining bank financing during the crisis, are more likely to be unable to turn to informal trade credit and more importantly, to be unable to access economic measures under the Anti-epidemic fund, with the effect being more pronounced for obtaining the guaranteed loans. This study explains the implications of the findings on why a simplified insolvency regime for SMEs is necessary to address the gap.