Cayman Islands

Two Platinum Partners hedge funds have sought U.S. Chapter 15 bankruptcy protection as part of an ongoing liquidation effort, according to court documents filed in New York federal court Tuesday. In August, a Cayman Islands court ordered that an outside expert unwind the so-called offshore versions of its flagship hedge fund, Platinum Partners Value Arbitrage, which, along with the firm, is also being investigated by U.S. authorities. That liquidator, RHSW Caribbean, filed the Chapter 15 bankruptcy petition which seeks to protect Platinum's U.S.

Worldview Capital, the dissident shareholder in Petroceltic International that has battled its board for more than a year, has emerged in prime position to gain control of the troubled exploration company after doing a deal with its banks to buy a majority of its $232 million debts, the Irish Times reported. The Cayman Islands-registered fund, run by former investment banker Angelo Moskov, has told the stock market it bought has 69.44 per cent of the senior debt at at “a significant discount to face value”.

Offshore driller Vantage Drilling Co said it reached a support agreement with lenders and noteholders holding more than $1.6 billion in debt to reduce interest expense but one of its units will file for U.S. bankruptcy on Dec. 3. The agreement and bankruptcy will help its subsidiary Offshore Group Investment Ltd to ride out a downturn in the energy sector. The company said the deal with lenders calls for deleveraging the unit, which holds the contracts for some of its rigs.

The drawn-out period of forbearance agreements between LDK Solar and US bondholders looks over and the heavily indebted PV manufacturer could start insolvency proceedings in the Cayman Islands should bondholders not agree on a settlement, PV-Tech reported. LDK Solar said that it had made considerable progress with its key offshore creditors in line with two options, both proving hard for creditors of its convertible notes to bear. The company said that it remained optimistic about reaching a settlement in the next few days.

Insolvency petition filings in the Cayman Islands spiked more than 30 per cent in 2013 when compared with 2012, resulting in the highest number of filings in the past three years, according to Appleby, Hedgeweek reported. The increase reversed a downward trend in the number of petitions filed in 2011 and 2012 that had followed high numbers in 2009 and 2010 driven by the global financial crisis, according to the firm’s Snapshot report on petition filings in the Cayman Islands going back to 2008.

The Cayman Islands are poised to break with decades of secrecy by opening thousands of companies and hedge funds domiciled on the offshore Caribbean territory to greater scrutiny. The British overseas territory, which wants to shed its reputation for clandestine financial activity, is introducing sweeping reforms that will make public the names of thousands of previously hidden companies and their directors.

Defense attorneys want a federal judge to throw out a $24 billion predatory lending lawsuit filed against Credit Suisse Group by investors in broke resorts in the West and the Bahamas, The Associated Press reported. The investors contend Credit Suisse set up a branch in the Cayman Islands to skirt U.S. rules and appraised the resorts at inflated prices as part of a scheme to later foreclose on the properties. In court documents filed Monday, attorneys for Credit Suisse said the legal action was based on absurd claims by people who never borrowed money from the bank.

The US Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware has granted protection over the US assets of a Cayman Islands exempted company in liquidation, Hedgeweek reported. The company, SIFCO5, is subject to official liquidation proceedings in the Cayman Islands, which the Bankruptcy Court found was eligible for relief under chapter 15 of the US Bankruptcy Code.

A Saad Group subsidiary says it is unable to make payments on a US$650 million (Dh2.38 billion) Islamic bond maturing in 2012, The National reported. Saad Trading, Contracting and Financial Services, part of the struggling family-owned conglomerate based in Saudi Arabia, said yesterday it was “impossible for the issuer to perform its payment obligations under the sukuk”. It made the disclosure in a statement to the Bahrain Stock Exchange, where the Golden Belt 1 sukuk is listed.

The Foreign Office has forced the Cayman Islands' government to investigate the possibility of introducing direct taxes on businesses and residents based there, The Guardian reported. An independent assessment of diversifying the Caribbean tax haven's revenue base is the main condition stipulated by the Foreign Office for allowing the Caymans to borrow from banks. The Cayman government has also agreed to make significant cuts to its public expenditure programme.