报社如何转企改制？（中英文版）

前言
中共中央办公厅、国务院办公厅《关于深化非时政类报刊出版单位体制改革的意见》于2011 年颁布后，行业报等报刊出版单位开始了转企改制工作。
所谓转企改制，就是报刊出版单位由事业单位转变为企业，将体制改变为有限责任公司或者股份有限公司，从留在体制 内旱涝保收转变为进入市场自主经营、自负盈亏。
同时，《意见》积极推动行业报刊出版资源进行整合：鼓励和推动以实力雄厚的行业性报刊出版单位为龙头，对本行业的报刊出版资源进行整合，培育形成一批大型专业性报刊出版传媒集团公司。
我们作为律师参加了行业报的转企改制工作，其间体会到，行业报出版资源的整合，主要方式之一就是将地方性行业报移交给中央级行业报，以实现行业报出版资源的统筹优化安排。
这种资产的转移本属于我们常规的并购类业务，但行业报转企改制开始以后，其中出现了一些新内容，引出了被移交报社资产是划转还是转让的问题，形成了我们在并购工作中应当注意的一个新情况。
划转与转让的区别
划转与转让都是转移资产归属的方式，但二者存在很大不同。
关于划转和转让，各有一个管理办法。国有资产监督管理委员会（国资委）发布的《企业国有产权无偿划转管理暂行办法》（239 号文）指出，企业国有产权无偿划转，是指企业国有产权在政府机构、事业单位、国有独资企业、国有独资公司之间的无偿转移。
国资委、财政部发布的《企业国有产权转让管理暂行办法》说明，这份文件适用于国有资产监督管理机构、持有国有资本的企业将所持有的企业国有产权有偿转让给境内外法人、自然人或者其他组织的活动。
简要概括这两部规定的内容，即：划转为无偿，转让为有偿；划转的主体只限于国有单位，而转让的主体几乎没有限制。
在转企改制工作开始之前，行业报系统内都是传统的国有单位，或为事业单位，或为国有独资企业，以划转形式转移资产没有障碍。
而转企改制工作开始之后，行业报系统内出现了有限责任公司等现代企业，一律无偿划转的大环境发生了变化。
但是，这种变化最初并没有被人们认识到。负责接收地方性行业报的中央级行业报通常会采取分散难点的做法，选择先进行转企改制，然后再接收划转来的报社资产。但是，如果真的按照这个程序进行，一旦报社完成了转企改制，无偿划转一般就难以实现，因为根据前述239 号文的规定，报社转企改制而成的有限责任公司已不能作为无偿划转的主体了。
澄清误会
有人曾提出，239 号文把国有独资公司列为了划转的主体，而报社转企改制，多由主管单位、主办单位或中央文化企业国有资产监督管理领导小组办公室等一家国有单位做股东，变成的也是国有独资公司，应该可以作为划转的主体。但事实上，这是一个误会，只有一个国有股东的有限责任公司可未必是国有独资公司。
要分清这几个概念，我们需要认真读一读《公司法》。中国《公司法》对公司的各种形式进行了定义。
其中第64 条规定：“国有独资公司，是指国家单独出资、由国务院或者地方人民政府授权本级人民政府国有资产监督管理机构履行出资人职责的有限责任公司”。
第57 条规定：“一人有限责任公司，是指只有一个自然人股东或者一个法人股东的有限责任公司”。
笔者想进一步说明的是，前文中所说的各级政府国有资产监督管理机构指的是各级国资委。对比这两个定义可以看出，国有独资公司必须由国资委做股东；而报社转企改制而成的有限责任公司，即使只有一个国有股东，也只是国有一人有限责任公司，而不是国有独资公司。对于这一点，239 号文还专门说明：国有独资公司作为划入或划出一方的，应当符合《公司法》的有关规定。
笔者建议
我们律师需要注意向报社的相关负责人说明划转与转让的区别，以及国有独资公司与国有一人有限责任公司的异同。在体制改革中如有划转安排的，建议尽量在转企改制之前完成，避免因为不得已采用转让方式而增加体制改革的成本
“划转与转让都是转移资产归属的方式，但二者存在很大不同”
English Reading
Transfer your assets prior to concludinga newspaper restructuring process
Professionalpapers and other pub-lishing entities began restructuringafter the State Council and CommunistParty Central Committee promulgated theOpinions on Deepening Structural Reformof Non-Current Affairs Newspaper andPeriodical Publishing Units in 2011.
Restructuring here refers to thepublisher restructuring from a work unitinto an enterprise, structurally becominga limited liability or joint stock limitedcompany. The publisher’s profit model,which previously enjoyed security from apart of the state system, would also betransformed into an independent and self-financing model.
The opinions also actively promoteresource integration in industry paperpublishing. They encourage and promotepublishing units with enormous potentialto take the lead and integrate resourcesfrom other papers within their field tofoster the formation of large specializednewspaper publishing media groups.
The authors have participated in theserestructurings in our capacity as lawyers.One of the main integration methodswitnessed at that time was transferringa regional industry paper to a state-levelone, thereby optimizing the availablepublishing resources overall.
This transfer of assets – the localnewspaper to the top-level paper – is anormal aspect of an M&A transaction.After the publisher restructured, however,there were some developments resultingin the issue being raised of whether theassets were to be transferred or assigned.This is a situation that ought to be notedduring M&A work.
Transfer vs assignment
Transfer and assignment are bothmethods of moving the ownership ofassets, but there is a big distinctionbetween the two.
Each has its own administrativerules. For transfers, the State-ownedAssets Supervision and AdministrationCommission's (SASAC) ProvisionalMeasures for the Administration ofGratis Transfer of State-owned Propertyof Enterprises set out that the gratistransfer of state-owned property refers tothe movement of state-owned propertybetween government agencies, institutions,entities and state-owned enterpriseswithout payment.
By contrast, the SASAC and Ministryof Finance’s Provisional Measures on theAdministration of Assignment of State-owned Property of Enterprises set outthat the measures are applicable to theassignment, at an agreed price, of state-owned assets by state-owned assetssupervision authorities and enterprisesholding state-owned assets to enterprises,individuals and other entities located inChina or abroad.
In brief, the gist of the two measuresis that transfer is not compensated andis limited to an assets transfer betweenstate-owned entities, while assignment iscompensated and lacks restrictions as towhere the assets can be assigned.
T he indus tr y new sp ap e r s we reall conventional state-owned entities,institutions or wholly state- ownedenterprise s prior to re structuring,so adopting a transfer model to moveassets presented no obstructions. Afterrestructuring commenced, they weremodern enterprises such as limitedliability companies within the industrypaper system, which all changed theenvironment for the gratis transfer method.
At first, this change was not recognized.Central-level industry papers whichwere tasked with receiving the regionalindustry papers often took the approach ofdispersing with the difficult aspects of theprocess by choosing to first restructure,then transfer the regional paper’s assets.
Were papers to truly adopt thisprocedure, however, it would be difficult totransfer the assets gratis once the publisherhas been restructured into an enterprise.According to the provisions of the gratistransfer measures, the limited liabilitycompany resulting from the restructuringis not an entity to which assets can betransferred for free.
Clearing up misunderstandings
It has been raised by some that the gratistransfer measures include wholly state-owned companies as the subjects of gratistransfers. And the restructured newspapershave governing bodies and organizers,the office of the central culture leadinggroup state-owned assets supervision andadministration and other state-owned unitsas their shareholders. The restructurednewspaper companies thus are also whollystate-owned enterprises, it is argued, so theytoo can be subjects of this gratis transfer.
This is, however, a misunderstanding. Alimited liability company with state-ownedshareholders cannot be a state-ownedenterprise. One must look to the CompanyLaw to gain an understanding, as it sets outdefinitions of the various forms a companycan take. Article 64 stipulates that whollystate-owned company refers to “a limitedliability company of which the State is thesole investor and the State Council or a localpeople’s government authorizes a state-owned assets supervision and administrationauthority of the people’s government at thesame level to perform the responsibilities ofthe investor”. Article 57 further stipulatesthat a one-person limited liability companyrefers to “a limited liability company thathas only one natural person shareholder orone legal person shareholder”.
It should be noted that the “state-ownedassets supervision and administrationauthority” quoted in the legislationabove refers to SASAC offices at everygovernment level.
It is evident from the two definitions thatwholly state-owned companies must havethe SASAC as shareholders. If a newspaperrestructures itself into a limited liabilitycompany and has only one shareholderthat is a state-owned entity, it is but astate-owned limited liability companyrather than a state-owned company. Thegratis transfer measures have languageon this, specifying that “the transfer ofassets into or out of a wholly state-ownedcompany shall comply with the relevantprovisions of the Company Law”.
Proposal
Lawyers must be sure to explain to therelevant party in charge of the newspaperthe difference between transfers andassignment of assets. They must alsotake effort to explain differences betweenwholly state-owned companies and state-owned limited liability companies.
It is suggested that firms who intendto include an assets transfer duringrestructuring execute the transfer prior tocompleting the restructuring process, so asto avoid incurring higher restructuring costsdue to being forced to assign assets.
“Transfer and assignmentare both methods of movingthe ownership of assets, butthere is a big distinction”