Cayman Islands

The Companies (Amendment) Act 2021 (the "Amendment") introduces, with effect from 31 August 2022, a welcome update to the Cayman Islands restructuring regime as is contained in Part V of the Cayman Islands Companies Act (2022 Revision) (the "Act"), Mondaq reported. The amendment introduces the concept of a Company Restructuring Officer (CRO), whose mandate is to oversee and implement a restructuring of the company's debts under the supervision of the Grand Court of the Cayman Islands.

Beleaguered rich-lister Eric Watson will likely remain embroiled in courts for years — and faces the possibility of a tax bill of $200m when penalties are added — after a landmark court decision yesterday saw his businesses ruled to have engaged in $51.5m in tax avoidance, The New Zealand Herald reported. Justice Matthew Palmer said a complex 2002 transaction — involving Cayman Island companies while Watson himself was relocating from New Zealand to the UK for tax purposes — was an avoidance arrangement. The case is one of the largest tax judgments in New Zealand history.

Offshore oil rig operator Vantage Drilling International agreed to disgorge $5 million in a settlement with U.S. regulators related to a corruption probe in Brazil involving Petrobras, The Wall Street Journal reported. Vantage Drilling, based in the Cayman Islands, settled with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission over accounting-control deficiencies at its predecessor company that violated the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.