Introduction

On 24 October 2014, the Commerce & Employment department published its consultation paper on various options for reforming Guernsey's insolvency regime, both for personal and corporate insolvency.  Responses to the consultation are due by 31 December 2014.  The consultation paper proposes some fairly wide-ranging reforms and seeks responses from industry to a number of questions which, by and large, seek to augment, develop and regularise the insolvency regime in the Island. 

Q4 2020 and Q1 2021 saw some significant developments in offshore restructuring, insolvency and corporate recovery, with the passage of new legislation and the handing down of judgments providing welcome clarification on laws relevant to practitioners in this area.

Hopefully you have received previous updates from us in relation to the Channel Islands Stock Exchange (CISX) and the proposed restructuring of the CISX.

Guernsey scheme of arrangement

I am pleased to confirm that we now have confirmation that the restructure of the CISX by way of a scheme of arrangement was approved by the Royal Court in Guernsey last Friday.

What are the principal insolvency procedures for companies in your jurisdiction?

Domestic Procedures

Introduction

The Guernsey Royal Court recently handed down judgment which brought to an end an important chapter in a long-running dispute regarding control of the exploration and exploitation of the oil and gas reserves of Georgia. The case involved a rare blessing application under section 426 of the Companies Law in an insolvency context, enabling the liquidator to get their decision blessed by the Royal Court.

In September 2012, Grant Thornton were appointed by the Royal Court of Guernsey as joint administrators of a Guernsey company called Montenegro investments limited (MIL) - a Guernsey property Investment Fund..  The joint administrators then appointed Ogier.

Current Status of MIL

As many readers will know, Guernsey has recently approved a significant set of reforms to our insolvency legislation, to bring it in line with comparable jurisdictions such as England. A rules committee is also working on a set of corresponding rules to deal with the finer procedural points that affect a Guernsey insolvency. You can read Ogier's briefing on the new reforms here.

This client briefing provides a general overview of schemes of arrangement for Guernsey companies under the Companies (Guernsey) Law, 2008 (the Companies Law).  A scheme of arrangement can involve almost any kind of corporate reorganisation, merger, acquisition or restructuring so long as the appropriate approvals and court sanction are obtained. In the context of restructurings, there is limited precedent in Guernsey, although such schemes of arrangement can be used to assist in insolvent/quasi-insolvent restructurings. 

In a recent case1 the High Court held that the purported out of court appointment of administrators over a Guernsey registered limited partnership was void because the appointor used the incorrect form when giving notice of its intention to appoint.

Background