担保是否灭失?“债券场外兑付”的法律性质和法律后果

The Legal Nature and Consequences of Over-the-Counter Bond Repayment

近年来,债券场外兑付已成为发行人存续期间债务管理的一项重要工具,实践中往往伴随债券权利凭证在统一登记系统注销或退出登记,由发行人与持有人对债券本息偿付另行约定。对于第三方担保债券,这一做法会令持有人担心原有的担保安排会因债券场外兑付而灭失,有必要厘清债券场外兑付的法律关系。基于对债券持有人享有的复合性权利的解构和分析,债券持有人享有的债券权利是一个权利集群,包括基础借贷债权以及基于法律法规和监管规则、债券发行文件所派生或约定的证券权利,前者反映借贷债权债务关系,后者具有显著的证券监管特征。从保护债券持有人利益出发,不论债券是否因场外兑付发生注销或退出登记的事实,在债券表征的基础借贷债权不灭失的情况下,场外兑付应视为民法理论上的“债的变更”,债券持有人与债券发行人达成的场外兑付不应影响债券发行人、债券增信机构对债券发行人还本付息义务提供的担保增信的效力。

In recent years,“over-the-counter bond repayment”has become an increasingly important debt management tool for bond issuers.In domestic practice,“over-the-counter bond repayment”is usually accompanied by the cancellation or withdrawal of the bond title certificate and the creation of a separate agreement between the bond issuer and the bondholder on the return of principal and payment of interest.Some bondholders may express concern about whether the"over-the-counter bond repayment"will cause the termination of the original bond guarantee arrangement.Bond rights enjoyed by bondholders are a cluster of rights that combine the underlying loan rights reflecting the legal relationship of borrowing and lending and the securities rights with mandatory supervision characteristics and derived from laws,regulatory rules and the bond offering circular.For the purpose of protecting the interests of bondholders,the"over-the-counter bond repayment"shall be deemed as an"alteration of obligation"under civil law theory.Provided that the underlying loan rights remain intact,the"over-the-counter bond repayment"agreed upon by bondholders and bond issuers shall not alter the effectiveness of the original bond guarantee arrangement provided by the bond issuer or the bond credit enhancement institutions.