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引　言

Introduction

      随着新冠疫情继续在全球蔓延，企业和各并购交易参与者正努力应对疫情带来的商业风险和不确定性。就跨境交易而言，疫情可能会导致买卖双方调整并重新协商交易文件的条款，包括但不限于估值及定价机制，并可能导致买卖双方推迟交易文件的签署和交割，以减轻疫情对标的公司业务运营的影响，使得交易双方在疫情情况下免受更大的损失。本文将着重分析疫情对跨境交易流程的影响，以及如何从多个角度调整交易文件的相关条款，以促进交易进程。

      As coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19) continues to spread across the globe, companies and transaction participants are grappling with increased risk and uncertainty posed by COVID-19.  In terms of cross border transactions, COVID-19 may cause the buyer and the seller to adjust and renegotiate the terms of transaction documents, including without limitation the valuation and pricing mechanism, and may cause the buyer and the seller to postpone the execution and closing so as to reduce the impact of COVID-19 on the business operation of the target company and mitigate the losses under the current COVID-19 situation. This article will focus on the impact of the COVID-19 on the cross-border transaction process and how to adjust the relevant terms of the transaction documents to promote the transaction process from several perspectives.

尽职调查

Due Diligence

      疫情的蔓延使得商务出行大规模减少，目前看来，对于商务出行的限制在未来较长时间内可能都会持续。因此，在疫情期间，交易各方对于并购交易的尽职调查更多的开始以“虚拟数据室”的方式进行，该等虚拟数据室为交易各方及其顾问提供在安全云环境中对公司文档的受控访问。虚拟数据室在竞价交易中被广泛运用，对于跨境交易而言，仍需通过现场尽职调查了解标的公司的业务情况，例如，第一轮竞价通常是在虚拟数据室中进行的，但第二轮竞价可能还需要现场尽职调查或与管理层进行讨论。买方/投资人在评估是否继续进行交易时，需要在疫情期间，仅根据线上尽职调查或仅依据有限现场尽职调查的情况下的评估投资风险。

      Business travel has been substantially curtailed due to the outbreak of COVID-19 and such limitation is likely to continue well into the future.  Due diligence is now usually conducted through “Virtual Data Room” (“VDR”) that provide the parties and their advisors with controlled access to company documents in a secure cloud environment.  VDR is widely used in auction deals and it is still necessary to learn the business situation of the target company through on-site due diligence for cross border transactions.  For instance, first round bidding normally is in VDR but the second round bidding may further need on-site due diligence or management discussion.  The buyer/investor will have to assess the risk in the case that only online due diligence or limited on-site due diligence can be conducted while assessing whether the transaction can be continued or not.

定义

Definition

      部分关键定义可能需要修改或调整，包括但不限于“工作日”、“重大不利影响”以及“最迟完成日”。一般而言，“工作日”的定义为除周六、周日及任何法定节假日外，银行在各方司法管辖区域内营业的任何日期。但由于新冠疫情的影响，各国政府都采取了不同形式的临时管制措施，为避免对“工作日”计算的歧义而导致的纠纷，交易各方应重新审视交易文件中“工作日”的定义，并就相关管制措施是否影响“工作日”的计算在交易文件中予以明确。

      Certain key definitions may need to be amended or adjusted, including without limitation the “Business Day”, “Material Adverse Effect” (“MAE”) and long stop date.  The usual formulation for the definition of a “Business Day” refers to a day (other than a Saturday or Sunday or other public holiday) on which banks are open for general business in the relevant jurisdictions. Where the government of the relevant jurisdiction has declared temporary lock-down measures due to COVID-19, it is better to revisit the definition of “Business Day” and clarify whether these temporary lock-down measures would impact the definition of “Business Days” in transaction documents.

陈述与保证

Representations and Warranties

      陈述与保证条款是各方对交易有关的各种事实与问题的情况声明。交易各方应重新审视各自做出的陈述与保证在疫情期间是否仍然保持真实及准确。在海外保险市场，陈述与保证保险在并购交易中得到了广泛的运用，用以降低跨境交易的风险。随着近年来中国企业进一步参与到国际并购的舞台，中国企业在并购交易中也开始运用此类保险，降低跨境交易的风险。交易各方及保险公司都需重新评估疫情带来的影响，例如是否在陈述与保证保险产品中引入与疫情相关的免赔情形，是否影响已投保险的范围等。

      Representations and warranties are statements of the facts made by the parties.  A party should carefully consider the wording of each representation and warranty in light of the COVID-19 outbreak to see if such representations and/or warranties are true and accurate. In the overseas insurance market, Representation and Warranty Insurance is widely used in M&A transactions to reduce the risk of cross-border transactions. In recent years, with Chinese enterprises further participating in the cross-border M&A transactions, such insurance has begun to be used by the Chinese enterprises in the M&A transactions to reduce the risk of cross-border transactions.  The transaction parties and insurance companies need to re-evaluate the impact of COVID-19 on such insurance, such as whether to include the COIVD-19 as the carve out for the insurance and whether the insured transactions will be affected etc.

交割前提条件

Condition Precedent

      在交易文件中，通常会约定在投资人或买方进行交割和付款之前，必须满足一系列的前提条件，除非投资人/买方对该等前提条件予以豁免。疫情期间，交易各方应重新审视交割前提条件是否能够满足，如无法满足，则交易各方需进行协商，在交易文件交割前或交割时，由投资人/买方出具豁免函，以避免违约情形的发生。但需要注意的是，对于包含法定条件的跨境交易，例如根据国有资产相关法律，国有企业需取得的相关批准，或反垄断申报义务，此类条件系强制性规定且无法由交易各方进行豁免。

      It is generally agreed in the transaction documents that a series of conditions precedent shall be satisfied prior to the closing and the payment made by the investor/buyer unless such conditions precedent are waived by the investor/buyer.  Parties to an agreement should consider whether the conditions precedent can be satisfied during COVID-19.  If not, the parties shall negotiate to ensure that the investor/buyer will issue a waiver simultaneously with prior to or upon the closing of the transaction documents to avoid breach of contract.  However, it should be noted that for cross border transactions which includes statutory conditions, such as approvals involving state-owned enterprises in accordance with the state owned assets laws, or those that trigger anti-trust filing, such conditions precedent are compulsory and cannot be waived by the parties.

重大不利影响

Material Adverse Effect

      “重大不利影响”的定义和范围，是影响能否交割的重要条款。在交易谈判过程中，对于投资人/买方而言，希望扩大“重大不利影响”的范围，尽量涵盖对标的公司经营、发展、财务或其他状况、财产（包括无形财产）、管理层、债务或前景有或可能有重大不利的事件、事实、条件、变化或影响。对卖方而言，过广的范围会使得投资人/买方在不承担任何责任的情况下放弃交易的可能性增加，因此卖方会要求缩小“重大不利影响”的定义和范围，比如要求增加“重大不利影响”的除外情形，包括但不限于广泛影响标的公司所处竞争行业的经济情形或其他情形、国家或国际政治或社会条件的变化、交易文件签署后法律法规的变更及其他不可抗力均不应被视为“重大不利影响”。对于在疫情期间进行的并购交易，交易各方最为关心的是，疫情的产生是否构成所谓的“重大不利影响”。投资人/买方可能以“重大不利影响”为理由拒绝交割或终止协议，相反的，卖方则可能主张疫情不被包括在“重大不利影响”的范围内。有鉴于此，交易各方及其法律顾问在疫情期间，应更加重视“重大不利影响”的定义与范围，避免因此影响交易进程并产生纠纷。

      The definition and scope of MAE are critical terms that may affect the closing.  During the negotiation, the investor/buyer expects to expand the scope of MAE, including events, facts, conditions, changes or impacts that have or may have material adverse effects on the operation, development, financial or other conditions, property (including intangible property), management, debts or prospects of the target company.  For the seller, wider scope of MAE will increase the possibility of the investor/buyer giving up the transaction without any responsibility, so the seller expects to limit the definition and scope of MAE, such as adding carve-outs for MAE, including but not limited to the change of general economic conditions or other conditions generally affecting the industry in which the target company competes, changes of national or international political or social conditions, changes in law after the date of the execution of the transaction documents and other force majeure events shall not be deemed as MAE.  For M&A transactions conducted during COVID-19, the most concern of all parties to the transaction is whether COVID-19 is deemed as an MAE.  The investor/buyer may refuse to fulfill the closing or terminate the agreement on the basis of MAE. Conversely the seller may claim that the MAE shall not include COVID-19.  In view of this, the parties and their counsels should pay more attention to the definition and scope of MAE during COVID-19, so as to avoid affecting the transaction process and the disputes.

签署

Execution

      大部分跨境交易都是由各方在现场签署。在疫情期间，代替面对面签署最常见的方案是由各方对文件进行小签，同时通过视频会议的方式进行正式签署。值得注意的是，根据不同国家的法律，此类交易文件的签署可能需要采取契约或公证程序的形式，由于疫情的影响，各方可能需要调整签署流程。

      Most of cross border deals are executed on-site by both sides.  During COVID-19, the most common alternatives for a face-to-face signing was initializing the transaction documents by both sides followed by a simultaneous execution by a video conference.  It is worth noting that under laws of different countries, execution of such transaction documents may need to be in the form of a deed or a notarial procedure.  Each side may have to adjust the execution procedure due to the impact of COVID-19.

      新冠疫情也引起了许多立法机构和国际组织在社会责任标准领域的关注，主要包括环境、社会和公司治理三个方面。疫情迫使跨国集团采取高效和有效的公司治理措施，以应对疫情期间的员工管理和商业运营。同时，每个国家的上市公司都应以足够的社会福利帮助其政府促进社会的安全。

      COVID-19 also brought many legislation organs and international organization’s attention in the area of social responsibility standards, including three main aspects of environmental, social, and corporate governance.  COVID-19 forces cross border conglomerate to adopt an efficient and effective corporate governance to cope with management of employees and commercial operation during COVID-19.  Meanwhile, it is vital that public companies of each country could help its government facilitate community safety with sufficient social welfare.