The Personal Insolvency Bill published today represents a radical overhaul and modernisation of Ireland’s personal insolvency law. The Bill introduces a comprehensive and balanced regime to address personal insolvency as required by Ireland’s IMF country programme. It envisages the creation of an Insolvency Service of Ireland to oversee the legislative regime.
Introduction
The Court of Appeal of the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court sitting in the British Virgin Islands today began hearing arguments in the greatly anticipated appeals involving claims brought by the liquidators of Fairfield Sentry Limited ("Fairfield").
Redemption of shares and consideration
Discounted valuation
Restoration
Finality of foreign judgments
Redemption of shares and consideration
As we reported in a client mailshot earlier this week, the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court has made important amendment to its rules. The amendments are immediately in force and deal with a number of areas including appeal procedure, costs capping and costs orders.
A primary aim of the regulatory amendments included in UCITS IV was to facilitate the creation of more efficient structures within the UCITS framework.
The three key aspects of UCITS IV designed to assist in achieving this result are the new management company passport, provisions permitting the creation of master-feeder structures and the terms specifically enabling cross border fund mergers.
In an application to wind up a BVI company the BVI Court re-stated the rules on when a foreign judgment creates an issue estoppel. Following The Sennar [1985] 1 WLR 490 the Court found that there would be an estoppel where a foreign judgment is (1) of a court of competent jurisdiction; (2) is final and conclusive; and (3) on the merits.
In a decision of interest in a number of jurisdictions where these types of claims have been made, the BVI Commercial Court handed down judgment today in the claim brought by the liquidators of Fairfield Sentry Limited, a BVI fund which invested in Bernard Madoff’s investment vehicle.
By virtue of his appointment, a liquidator steps into the shoes of the company and so the usual contractual, tortious and equitable remedies are actionable by the liquidator, acting in the name of the company. Claims are most likely to be based on the following:
First published in The Lawyer on July 18, 2011
Western economies, many With recoveries stalling in investors and creditors are considering carefully which jurisdictions will govern their interests in the event of insolvency and what, if anything, can be done to influence the process.
Many investment funds and other vehicles, attracted by tax-neutrality and stability, are incorporated in jurisdictions such as the Cayman Islands and the British Virgin Islands, but with their managers, operations, assets and investors often dispersed globally.