Bankruptcy Reorganisation, a New Era in Business Environment Optimisation

Bankruptcy Reorganisation, a New Era in Business Environment Optimisation

破产重整，营商环境优化新篇章

2024 marks a pivotal year for the execution of the 14th Five-Year Plan. Bankruptcy reorganisation, as a legal and market-driven solution, is increasingly vital for dragging enterprises from quagmire, mitigating debt risks, and optimising resources allocation, thereby ensuring societal stability. The market for bankruptcy reorganisation is ushering in unprecedented development opportunities.

2024年是深入实施“十四五”规划的攻坚之年。破产重整作为助力企业纾困解危、防范化解债务风险的法治化、市场化手段，对于促进资源优化配置、保障社会稳定发展的重大作用日益凸显。破产重整市场正迎来前所未有的发展机遇。

As a core element of modern bankruptcy law, bankruptcy reorganisation serves a dual purpose: rescuing debtors from predicament and resolving creditors' claims. For enterprises in distress, achieving rebirth through bankruptcy reorganisation carries significant political, economic and social implications. In recent years, there has been a surge in attention from national and local governments towards bankruptcy reorganisation. The revision of the Enterprise Bankruptcy Law has entered a critical moment, and courts nationwide are convening to advance the Government-Court Coordination Mechanism, aiming to protect and balance the rights and interests of multiple stakeholders. The Supreme People's Court, in its 2023 annual report, also underscored that bankruptcy trials can enable enterprises to "emerge from the cocoon and be reborn".

作为现代破产法的核心配置，破产重整具有债务人困境挽救与债权人债权清偿的双重功能。对困境企业而言，通过破产重整实现涅槃再生，具有积极而深远的政治、经济与社会意义。近年来，国家和地方对破产重整的重视程度不断提升，《企业破产法》修改进入关键时刻，多地法院召开破产审判工作会议，推动府院联动机制走深走实，构建多方利益主体权益保护和平衡机制，最高人民法院在2023年度工作报告中亦对破产审判助力企业“破茧重生”予以肯定。

However, affected by macroeconomic and investment climates, the bankruptcy reorganisation process has become increasingly intricate and challenging. Particularly, for large listed companies like HNA Group, which have substantial assets, the bankruptcy reorganisation projects involve enormous debt amounts, numerous subsidiaries, intricate and interwoven types of debt and business lines, making the reorganisation plans extremely complicated and challenging.

然而，受宏观经济及投资环境的影响，破产重整程序日趋复杂和艰难。特别是对于像海航这种体量巨大的上市公司合并破产项目，债务金额巨大、子公司众多，债务种类和业务条线复杂、交叉，重整方案的设计极具挑战。

Therefore, a successful reorganisation plan encompasses the protection of investors' rights, the equitable settlement of creditors' claims, the restoration of distressed enterprises’ profitability, and affects the well-being of thousands of employees and their families, as well as the preservation of financial order and social stability. Consequently, despite a rising trend in bankruptcy cases in Shandong, reaching 2,161 cases by 2024, the scrutiny of bankruptcy case acceptance and reorganisation schemes approval has intensified. There is a heightened focus on the necessity of reorganisation, overall synergy, balancing fairness with efficiency, enhancing resource allocation, and promoting market clearance.

因此，一个成功的重整方案不仅涉及出资人权益保障、债权人公平清偿，困境企业“造血”能力恢复，更关系到成千上万职工和家庭的生计，金融秩序和社会稳定的维护。因此，尽管近年来山东破产案件数量呈现不断增长趋势，至2024年已达2161件，但破产案件的受理、重整方案的审批更加严格，在强调“具有重整价值”的同时，更加注重强化整体协同、兼顾公正效率、提升资源配置、促进市场出清。

The growing demand for bankruptcy reorganisation, coupled with the complexities faced by large enterprises have set new challenges and topics for Shandong's legal services market, particularly in cross-jurisdictional, cross-disciplinary, and cross-specialty areas. The legal profession must accelerate service transformation. On the one hand, the scope of legal services has expanded beyond traditional due diligence, labor employment, and dispute resolution to comprehensive legal services such as financial securities, financial internal control, tax auditing, crisis public relations, corporate governance, and intellectual property. On the other hand, the bankruptcy reorganisation market is witnessing a new phase with a more diverse array of participants. Lawyers are required to enhance their understanding of the economic landscape, industrial dynamics, development trends and opportunities. Meanwhile, legal services should be able to quickly embrace and implement new methods, new models and new rules.

日益增长的破产重整市场需求和日益复杂的大型企业困境破局，对山东法律服务市场也提出了新要求、新课题，特别是跨法域、跨学科、跨专业等细分领域，律师行业必须加快服务转型。一方面，法律服务范围从传统的尽职调查、劳动用工、争议解决，扩展至金融证券、财务内控、税务稽核、危机公关、公司治理、知识产权等综合性法律服务。另一方面，破产重整市场由更加多元化的参与者搭建全新舞台，律师需要进一步提升对经济环境、产业布局、行业发展趋势和机遇的感知、掌握能力，法律服务应能快速拥抱和落地新方法、新模式、新规则。

Looking ahead to 2025, Shandong's bankruptcy reorganisation market is poised to expand and mature further. The reorganisation investment market will become more dynamic, cross-border bankruptcy co-operation will continue to deepen, bankruptcy reorganisation of listed companies will become more normalised and market-oriented, and the team of managers will continue to grow. These changes present new challenges and directions for the future reorganisation market, legal service needs, industry self-discipline and performance of duties, as well as the unification of economic and social effects through the restructuring process. We anticipate that through the steadfast implementation of legal and market-oriented bankruptcy practices, Shandong's legal services market for bankruptcy reorganisation will reveal greater potential and vitality, and contribute new strength to the integration into the new landscape and the promotion of high-quality development.

展望2025年，山东破产重整市场将进一步扩大并走向成熟，重整投资市场日益活跃，跨境破产合作不断加深，上市公司破产重整日益常态化、市场化，管理人队伍持续壮大。这些变化对未来的重整市场、法律服务需求、行业自律与履职，以及通过重整程序实现经济与社会效果的统一，均提出了新挑战、新导向。我们期待在坚定实施法治化、市场化破产的道路上，山东破产重整法律服务市场将展现更大的潜力和活力，为融入新发展格局，推动高质量发展贡献新质力量。