When a corporate borrower faces financial difficulties, there are a variety of enforcement, restructuring and insolvency options available to creditors. From a creditor’s perspective, the choice of procedure will depend on whether the borrower has granted security. If security has been granted over the shares or the assets and undertakings of a Cayman Islands incorporated company pursuant to a Cayman Islands law governed security document, the most appropriate enforcement choice for any secured creditor may be receivership.

At a glance

The United States District Court for the Southern District of New York recently affirmed a bankruptcy court’s denial of Chapter 15 protection for the U.S. assets of two Cayman Islands hedge funds (the “Funds”) (previously reported in SRZ’s Sept. 19, 2007, Alert, “Cayman Hedge Funds Liquidators’ Request for Chapter 15 Protection Denied by Bankruptcy Court”). See Civ. Case No. 07-8730 (S.D.N.Y. May 27, 2008) (the “Decision”).

In a recent decision,1 Judge Sweet of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York affirmed a bankruptcy court decision and refused to recognize under chapter 15 of the Bankruptcy Code either as “foreign main proceedings” or as “foreign nonmain proceedings” the well-publicized liquidations brought in the Grand Court of the Cayman Islands by two Bear Stearns hedge funds (the “Funds”).

The failed bid of liquidators for two hedge funds affiliated with defunct investment firm Bear Stearns & Co., Inc., to obtain recognition of the funds’ Cayman Islands winding-up proceedings under chapter 15 of the Bankruptcy Code was featured prominently in business headlines during the late summer and fall of 2007.

The Exempted Limited Partnership (Amendment) Law, 2009, which was enacted in March 2009 and is expected to come into effect before the end of April 2009, has made significant changes to the regime for the winding up and dissolution of exempted limited partnerships (“Partnerships”). The opportunity has also been taken to clarify certain other provisions of the Exempted Limited Partnership Law (2007 Revision) (“ELP Law”).  

Winding Up and Dissolution  

The drafting changes just discussed are primarily intended to ensure that funds do not become embroiled in contractual disputes, but in a global recession more and more funds are finding themselves in disputes that threaten to end up, and sometimes do end up, before the courts. In this chapter we analyse the legal issues surrounding key matters in the current litigious environment and cover the following:  

Cayman Islands Court of Appeal, Unreported judgment given 9 September 2009.

As a matter of English and Cayman law, does the court have jurisdiction to appoint a receiver, at the behest of a judgement creditor, by way of equitable execution over a settlor’s power of revocation of a trust?

Facts

In a recent decision, the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware (the “Bankruptcy Court”) granted protection over the U.S. assets of a Cayman Islands exempted company in liquidation. See Revised Order Recognizing Foreign Proceeding (the “Order”), In re Saad Investments Finance Company (No.5) Limited (“SIFCO5”), Case No. 09-13985 (KG) (Bankr. D. Del. Dec. 17, 2009) (Docket No. 47). 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 U.S.

The United States’ Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware has recognised the liquidation of a Cayman company, Saad Investments Finance Company (No5) Limited (“SIFCO5”) (an SPV established to operate as an investment company), as a “foreign main proceeding” under Chapter 15 of the United States’ Bankruptcy Code.

Recognition of the liquidation as foreign main proceedings provides for an automatic stay of proceedings with respect to any assets of SIFCO5 within the United States, amongst other things.