Hart Publishing Court-Supervised Restructuring of Large Distressed Companies in Asia: Law and Policy (Contemporary Studies in Corporate Law)

Product Description This book provides an in-depth analysis of 4 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. The study argues that any reforms must go beyond professionalising the insolvency professionals and the judiciary but must be designed to address fundamental issues of corporate governance, bank regulation and enforcing non-bankruptcy rules. It offers invaluable insights for academics and policy makers alike. Review In this excellent new book Professor Wan critically analyses the development of corporate restructuring law in four Asian jurisdictions: Hong Kong, Singapore, Mainland China, and India. Her controlling argument is that all of these jurisdictions have borrowed ideas from corporate restructuring law in the US and the UK, but that the organisational and institutional environment is very different in each of them so that adaptations are necessary for the legal transplants to flourish in their new soil. The book makes a highly significant contribution to the literature ... What emerges is a fascinating, readable, rigorous, and highly compelling piece of research.<br> --Sarah Paterson, Professor of Law, London School of Economics and Political Science, UK Professor Wan’s new book provides a fascinating deep dive into the insolvency regimes of China, Hong Kong, India, and Singapore. Professor Wan traces the evolution of each regime and highlights the influence that American and English systems had on that evolution. In doing so, she develops a new framework for measuring the success of restructuring laws and persuasively challenges the idea that American and English principles of restructuring can simply be transplanted to any jurisdiction regardless of local institutions and laws.<br><br>This book is a must read for anyone interested in the law of corporate restructuring or comparative law more generally.<br> --Anthony J Casey, Donald M Ephraim Professor of Law and Economics, University of Chicago, USA In this masterful monograph, Professor Wai Yee Wan combines economic analysis with detailed institutional knowledge to assess the application of American- and British-style business reorganization law to the economies and legal environments of Mainland China, Hong Kong, India, and Singapore. Her book is rich in comparative information on these four Asian legal regimes, and she offers insightful conclusions and persuasive recommendations. Of particular importance is her original analysis of the challenges of the employment of an Anglo-American reorganization model in jurisdictions whose businesses are, as contrasted with those in the US and UK, characterized by concentrated share holdings.<br> --Richard Squire, Professor of Law & Alpin J Cameron Chair in Law, Fordham Law School, USA About the Author Wai Yee Wan is Ass