《轮回：千年轮回只为你》米莺

39、英 国 律 师 生 涯

　　转眼，周悠然已经在汉米顿律师事务所工作四个月，今日接到一个半路转接米国老牌汽车公司沃其尔破产案件。
　　此时，周悠然已经在办公室开始翻阅相关资料，了解案情：关于破产一，是指公司资不抵债，理论上讲，只要公司为到期清偿欠款，他的债权人都有权利向法院申请破产；关于破产二，破产清算等于宣判一个公司的死刑，而破产重整则是给公司做截肢手术；关于破产三，如果有天你的老板让你去一家小公司担任总经理，千万小心，因为很可能他只是想找一个背锅的……；关于破产四，在法院收到破产申请时，要先请一个专家对案件进行综合评估，通常在案件受理后，该专家即被指定为破产管理人。……通常法院在接到破产申请后的6到10周内作出是否受理的决定。……一般破产案件，一般要进行半年到一年半的时间；关于破产五，破产管理人必须具有独立性，不能与债权人或债务人有代理等利益关系。……破产管理人接受指定后通常有十天的时间了解企业情况，决定是进入重整程序还是进行破产清算。……。
　　第二天，周悠然一进律所，她的助理詹姆斯就告知她：“The company is a publicly traded British state-owned company, and creditors have been asked by the courts to come up with a plan, whether to liquidate or restructure. The bankruptcy notice, issued a month ago, registered 176 creditors, including Banks, companies and individuals.（译文：沃其尔公司是一家米国国有上市公司，债权人那边已经开始组织各种委员会，法院要求他们尽快拿出方案，是破产清算还是重整？破产公告已经一个月前发布，登记的债权人有176个，包括银行、公司和个人。）”
　　“What are the creditor meetings and opinions（译文：都有哪些债权人会议和意见？）”周悠然抿了一口咖啡，问道。
　　“Creditor\'s rights committee, creditor\'s rights holders\' Committee, common shareholders\' Committee and preferred shareholders\' committee, but creditor\'s rights people\'s opinions are very different, some advocate bankruptcy liquidation, some advocate bankruptcy reorganization, so far there is no unified opinion.（译文：债权委员会、债权持有人委员会、普通股股东委员会、优先股东委员会，但债权人们的意见分歧很严重，有的主张破产清算，有的主张破产重组，到现在没有统一的意见出来。）” 詹姆斯回道。
　　周悠然深思一下，挑眉说道：“This can be understood as each party has its own interests, some do not want to waste time and take money to leave, some want to gain more benefits. So who\'s arguing. （译文：这个可以理解为每一方都有自己的利益，有的不想浪费时间拿钱走人，有的想获取更多的利益。那么都是谁在主张。）”
　　“Standard chartered bank, bank and other Banks and winters of motors, creditor meeting, bankruptcy reorganization, the other mean large supply chain companies, attend meeting creditor\'s rights advocate bankruptcy and liquidation, and several Wall Street investment companies preferred meeting, bankruptcy reorganization, but the rest of the small and medium-sized enterprise individual creditors and creditors are not clear.（译文：渣打银行、斯科银行等银行和特斯瑞汽车公司组成债权会议，主张破产重组，另几家下流大型供应链的公司，列席债权会议主张破产清算，而几家华尔街投资公司组成优先股会议，主张破产重组，但其余中小企业债权人和个人债权人目前没有明确表态。）” 詹姆斯详细向周悠然汇报道。
　　“What do the employees think（译文：公司的员工那边是什么意见？）”周悠然看了一下詹姆斯昨天整理出来的资料，问道。
　　“Employees are pushing out unions, demanding unpaid wages and promised benefits, but you know they end up getting nothing.（译文：员工他们推出工会，要求支付拖欠的工资和承诺的福利，但您也知道最后恐怕什么也分不到。）” 詹姆斯冷静回复。
　　“I find it strange that Banks and Wall Street, which have always been in lockstep in bankruptcy, should disagree this time. What kind of claims are they.（译文：我觉得这次很奇怪银行和华尔街之间一向在破产中步调一致，这次怎么会有分歧呢？他们都是什么样的债权。）”周悠然疑惑问道。
　　“The Banks, which own the land mortgages, are the biggest creditors; The investment company owns the collateral on the machinery and equipment, is the second creditor, but they hold preferred stock in the company.（译文：银行这边拥有土地抵押权，是最大的债权人；投资公司这边拥有机器设备的抵押权，是第二债权人，但他们持有公司的优先股。）” 詹姆斯专业地回答道。
　　“Interesting to mortgage land mortgage and machine equipment is not conflict, for their bankruptcy liquidation or bankruptcy reorganization, the difference is not large, but has a preferred stock is different, bankruptcy and liquidation their mortgage priority other creditor\'s rights, can obtain the mortgaged property as payment, if in the process of reorganization, they also can put forward to debt convertible to rule out other creditors, leading company, the remaining assets to yourself slowly, up the market, the company also can come back to life, bring more benefits.（译文：有意思，按理土地抵押权和机器设备抵押权并不冲突，对他们来说破产清算还是破产重整，区别都不大，但拥有优先股就不同了，破产清算他们抵押权优先其他债权，可以获得抵押物作为清偿，如果进入重整程序，他们还可以提出债转股排除其他债权人，主导公司，把剩余资产慢慢转给自己，市场行情上来的话，公司还可以起死回生，带来更多的利益。）”周悠然自言自语低喃。

　　“James, can you make an appointment for me to meet with representatives of those Wall Street investment firms at 3 p.m. tomorrow（译文：詹姆斯，你帮我约一下明天下午3点与那几家华尔街投资公司的代表见面。）”周悠然抬头对詹姆斯说道。
　　“All right, Lawyer Zhou.（译文：好的，周律师。）” 詹姆斯说完，转身出去办事了。
　　翌日，詹姆斯敲了敲周悠然的办公室，推门进，会心一笑，言道：“（The Wolf is coming译文：狼来了）。”
　　周悠然了然回以微笑，示意他把人请进来。
　　随后，詹姆斯领进一位穿西装男子，对周悠然伸出手说道：“（Hello, Lawyer Zhou. I\'m a representative from Wall Street. You can call me Becker.译文：周律师，您好。我是来自华尔街的代表，您可以叫我贝克尔。）”
　　“Hello, Becker. Please sit down.（译文：贝克尔，您好。请坐。）”周悠然说完，也伸手跟他握了一下，并示意詹姆斯离开。
　　“Lawyer Zhou, in order not to waste your time, let\'s get down to business and talk about the future of The Walkiehl Motor Company. No matter how the company\'s assets are cleaned up, there won\'t be much money left. And I\'ve just called my friends in the legal profession who haven\'t heard of you in the bankruptcy field. Sorry, I did not say that you are not professional, but in the company\'s bankruptcy, you just contact, some follow-up issues, may not be so understand.（译文：周律师，为了不浪费大家的时间，我们进入正题吧，谈谈沃其尔汽车公司的未来，公司不管资产怎么清理都不会剩下多少钱的。而我刚刚打电话给我律师界的朋友，他们在这破产领域都没有听过你的名字。抱歉，我不是说您不专业，只是在公司破产方面，您才接触不久，有些后续问题，可能不那么了解。）” 贝克尔胜券在握地说道。
　　“Yes, this is my first bankruptcy case. But have you read the latest newspaper…….（译文：不错，这事是我第一次接受破产案子。不过您有看最近的报纸……）”周悠然坦诚回道。
　　“Of course, this has nothing to do with bankruptcy, but I want to stress that I\'m not doubting your expertise, and based on my twelve years of experience in bankruptcy, I\'m offering you some premature advice.（译文：当然，这个与破产案子无关，但我还是要强调一下，我不是怀疑您的专业性，以我十二年来参与破产案件操作经验而言，向您提出我的一些不成熟的建议。）” 贝克尔连忙打断周悠然的话，继续说道。
　　周悠然做出洗耳恭听的表情，问道：“（Go ahead, Becker译文：贝克尔，请讲。）”
　　“Based on my experience and the business research I\'ve done, it\'s clear to us that the average percentage paid by The Two companies should be no more than three percent, even after they complete their asset calculations. If you look at all the creditors of Vogel, will they be satisfied with the compensation plan（译文：根据我的经验以及已做的商业调查，我们很清楚沃其尔汽车公司就算完成资产统计，平均下俩的受偿百分比应该不超过百分之三。您看沃其尔汽车公司这么多家债权人，他们会满意这个补偿方案吗？）” 贝克尔那笔花了债权图，指着图说道。
　　周悠然两手一摊，做出无能为力的样子，回道：“Becker, there\'s nothing you can do about it, even if they\'re not satisfied, that\'s all the money in the company. It\'s better than nothing.（译文：贝克尔，这事无能为力的事情，就算他们再不满意，公司只有这么多钱。总比一分拿不到的好。）”
　　“Lawyer Zhou, I understand all this. In fact, we can have a better plan, from Wall Street, I know many rich friends, I can convince them to capital injection, the car company, and give some out of the money used to pay off some creditors, can\'t wait to part and for company reorganization, cut the staff, to purchase production materials, moving these machines into production.（译文：周律师，这些我都明白。其实我们可以有更好计划，我来自华尔街，认识很多有钱的朋友，我可以说服他们注资沃其尔汽车公司，再给这些钱拿出一部分用于清偿一些等不及的债权人，还有一部分用于公司重整，缩减员工，重新购买生产资料，开动这些机器投入生产。）” 贝克尔装模做样地说道。
　　“Becker, you can\'t expect nothing in return And at what cost（译文：贝克尔，您不可能不求回报的吧？那代价是什么？）”周悠然假装诚恳地求教道。
　　“The friends I introduced acquired a controlling stake in the company. They acquired at least 35% of the company, which was calculated based on the current assets of The Company. If they injected more capital, they would increase the stake proportioned. Those who are not in a hurry to pay off their debts can swap them for equity. Of course, Lawyer Zhou, we will not forget your contribution. During the half-year restructuring period, we will hire you and your team with high salary to maintain the operation of the company, and you can also get bonus according to the percentage of the capital injected by my friend.（译文：我介绍入股的朋友取得公司的控股权，他们获得最少不得低于35%的股权，这个比例按照沃其尔汽车公司目前资产状况计算出来，如他们注入资金更高，则按比例提高股权。那些不着急需要清偿的债权人，可以债转股。当然，周律师，我们也不会忘了您的贡献，在半年重整期内，我们将高薪聘请你和你的团队维持公司运作，您还可以按照我朋友注入资金的百分比获取分红奖金。）” 贝克尔志在必得地说道。
　　“Becker, I see what you mean. I will give you a reply when the assets are counted. （译文：贝克尔，您的意思，我明白。等资产清点完毕，我会给您答复。）”周悠然做出动心样子，说道。
　　“Lawyer Zhou, I\'m looking forward to your reply. （译文：周律师，那我就期待您的答复。）” 贝克尔说完，满意地跟她道别。