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This article answers key questions regarding restructuring and insolvency in Guernsey.

Domestic procedures

Question

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.

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

Domestic Procedures

The Grand Court of the Cayman Islands (the "Grand Court") recently considered the statutory moratorium against commencing proceedings against a Cayman Islands company which has been placed into liquidation. In the case of BDO Cayman Ltd. and BDO Trinity Ltd. v Ardent Harmony Fund Inc.

The last 12 months have seen frenetic changes in the field of insolvency law.  Some of the changes in 2020 were already in the pipeline before we'd even heard of coronavirus but were accelerated by it, some were brought in purely in response to the pandemic and others had nothing to do with it at all. 

CIGA

The majority of the changes to legislation apply UK wide and come from the most important piece of  insolvency legislation that we've see in a generation - the Corporate Insolvency and Governance Act 2020 ("CIGA").

As always, there has been a lot going on in insolvency.  We have highlighted below a few of the more important developments that we have seen in a very busy 2020 for insolvency lawyers. 

Re Tokenhouse VB Ltd (Formerly VAT Bridge 7 Ltd) [2020] EWHC 3171 (Ch)

The challenges facing the businesses of the United Kingdom at the start of 2021 are perhaps greater than any of us have seen in our lifetimes. In addition to the economic consequences of the restrictions on daily life imposed to counter Covid-19, we are now seeing the effects of the exit of the UK from the EU with businesses having had little time to get up to speed on the new regime.