证券发行保荐人的合理信赖及免责抗辩

Reasonable Reliance and Defense of Exemptions of Sponsor in Securities Issuance

保荐人在证券发行尽职推荐工作中应有权合理信赖证券服务机构出具的专业意见并在民事诉讼中主张免责,但这一抗辩在我国较早期的证券司法和监管环境下难以落地。成熟市场已广泛承认保荐人(承销商)的合理信赖抗辩,近期则有强化信赖前置义务的趋势。保荐人应主动评估专业意见中的关键事项,以自有信息比对复核,审核专家资质、专业意见的前提假设、分析方法和程序合规性,发现其中有无“重大异常”,但该复核义务应严格限制在确有必要的情况下。我国司法机关和证券监管机构近来已逐步承认保荐人的合理信赖抗辩,值得肯定。今后的司法和执法实践宜坚持个案分析的方法,避免“后见之明”,适度放宽保荐人合理信赖抗辩的空间。

Securities sponsors should be entitled to reasonably rely on professional opinions provided by securities service institutions and exercise defense of exemptions in civil litigation.However,this defense was difficult to exercise in China’s earlier securities judicial and regulatory environment.In mature capital markets,the defense of reasonable reliance of sponsors(underwriters)has been widely recognized.There is a trend to strengthen pre-reliance obligations,recently.The sponsors should actively evaluate the key issues in the professional opinions,compare and review them with their own information,review the qualifications of experts,the premise of professional opinions,analysis methods,and procedural compliance,and identify any“significant anomalies”among them.However,the above reviewing obligations should be strictly limited to necessary situations.Recently,the judicial and securities regulatory authorities in China have gradually recognized the defense of reasonable reliance of sponsors,which is worthy of recognition.In future,in terms of judicial and law enforcement practices,it is advisable to adhere to the method of case analysis,avoid“hindsight”,and moderately relax the regulation of the defense of reasonable reliance of sponsors.