Long-awaited amendments to Guernsey's corporate insolvency legislation will come into force on 1 January 2023.

Introduced by the Companies (Guernsey) Law, 2008 (Insolvency) (Amendment) Ordinance, 2020, the provisions are aimed at further improving and updating Guernsey's corporate insolvency regime. The amendments stem from a wide-ranging consultation finalised in 2017 and represent the most significant development of Guernsey's insolvency law since 2008.

The amendments introduce a number of key changes to the law:

Liquidation

In the recent judgement of In the matter of SPARC Group Limited (en désastre) [2022] JRC 194 (SPARC Group), the Royal Court of Jersey considered the appropriate test for the making of a disqualification order against a director, with the stark nature of the facts justifying a lengthy term of disqualification.

Background 

The application for a disqualification order was made by the Viscount, in respect of Andrew Jeremy Mills (Mr Mills), who was the sole director of SPARC Group Limited (the Company), a property development business. 

In Sian Participation Corp. (In Liquidation) v- Halimeda International Limited BVIHCMAP2021/00171 ("Sian"), the Eastern Caribbean Court of Appeal again had occasion to consider (amongst a number of other things) the interrelationship between an arbitration clause in a loan agreement and the Court's jurisdiction to appoint liquidators to a company under the Insolvency Act 2003.

Two decisions handed down on the same day – one by the Eastern Caribbean Court of Appeal and the other by the Commercial Division of the High Court – illustrate the approach of British Virgin Islands Courts to applications to appoint liquidators in circumstances where the subject matter of a dispute as to the existence of a debt falls within the scope of an arbitration agreement.

Introduction

BVI Business Companies (Amendment) Act revisions effective 1 January 2023

A summary winding up is the procedure used to wind up a solvent Jersey company under the Companies (Jersey) Law 1991 (the 1991 Law). 

This guide examines the procedure for carrying out a summary winding up. 

Steps

The steps necessary to carry out a summary winding up are as follows:

Introduction

Introduction

After much anticipation, the UK Supreme Court has handed down its judgment in BTI 2014 LLC v Sequana S.A. [2022] UKSC 25 - and has authoritatively set the baseline for how directors’ duties evolve as regards shareholders and creditors’ interests when a company is in the zone of insolvency.

Background

The Grand Court of the Cayman Islands (Kawaley J) handed down a recent decision appointing receivers over a segregated portfolio, in the case of In the Matter of Green Asia Restructure Fund SPC[1].