The adoption of new international guidelines on cross-border insolvency matters by the BVI courts has been welcomed by Ogier insolvency law specialist Nicholas Brookes.
The Judicial Insolvency Network guidelines – drafted in 2016 by ten insolvency judges from international jurisdictions, including a BVI Commercial Court Judge – aim to create co-operation and communication between courts on cross-jurisdiction proceedings, and to minimise the time and expense involved in litigation.
After the decision of the Privy Council in April 2014, the Fairfield Sentry saga continued recently with the new judgment of Justice Leon concerning the status of related US Bankruptcy Court proceedings.
Facts
Further to our update in November 2014, there has been a further decision in relation to Fairfield Sentry Limited, the largest feeder fund that invested into the fraudulent Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities.
This is a short guide to solvent voluntary liquidations of companies incorporated in the British Virgin Islands. It is not intended as a substitute for full legal advice but more as an aide memoire to the procedures involved.
1. Why is the company being put into solvent voluntary liquidation/being "wound up"?
A BVI company generally has no limit on its duration. However, like all good things, a company may come to the end of its useful life. This may be because the assets it held have been transferred out or sold.
Since The Insolvency Act 2003 (the Act) was enacted, there has been some confusion as to whether it provided a basis for liquidators to draw fees on account before having formal approval from either a creditors' committee or the Court. On 20 September 2016, the BVI Commercial Court clarified the position and specifically provided that newly appointed liquidators could draw payments of up to 80% on account of their reasonable remuneration and expenses on an interim basis without the need to obtain prior approval from the creditors' committee or the Court.
The office of the Registrar of Corporate Affairs (the “Registrar”) in the British Virgin Islands (the “BVI”) has responsibility for the incorporation, striking-off and restoration of struck off companies to the register of companies (the “Register”).
ADMINISTRATIVE STRIKE OFF OF A BRITISH VIRGIN ISLANDS COMPANY
The Registrar may strike a company off the Register on a number of different grounds, including:
The office of the Registrar of Corporate Affairs (the “Registrar”) in the British Virgin Islands (the “BVI”) has responsibility for the incorporation, striking off and restoration of companies to the Register of Companies (the “Register”). There are two restoration processes in the BVI;
In the October 2016 edition of our dispute resolution and insolvency bulletin we will be focusing on six recent cases from the BVI Court of Appeal and BVI Commercial Court.
OVERVIEW
The cases, include:
In UVW v XYZ (27 October 2016), the BVI Court gave an important judgment in relation to the obligations of a registered agent to provide third party disclosure to assist a foreign judgment creditor trace assets. This judgment is a broadening of the Norwich Pharmacal jurisdiction. It will enable a judgment creditor who has no evidence of misuse of a specific corporate structure but who can evidence a general pattern of wilfully evasive conduct by the judgment debtor, as opposed to a mere failure to pay, to obtain third party disclosure in support of asset tracing or execution.
Insolvency law in the British Virgin Islands is almost entirely codified in the Insolvency Act 2003 and supplemented by the Insolvency Rule 2005. The Insolvency Act was modelled largely on the UK Insolvency Act 1986, but with a number of key differences. This update summarises its features.