In appointing restructuring provisional liquidators ("RPLs") to the Cayman Islands incorporated company, CW Group Holdings Limited ("CW"), in the face of opposition from a creditor seeking a remedy that may have led to CW's liquidation, the Cayman Islands court has reinforced its reputation in (i) putting company rescue first and (ii) seeking to ensure that returns to creditors are maximised. A significant step has also been taken in applying a more commercial and pragmatic reality to the question of officeholder independence.

In Ctrip Investment Holding Ltd v eHi Car Services Limited the Cayman Islands Court delivered a warning to shareholders seeking to use the winding up jurisdiction to advance their own individual commercial interests.

The timing of the commencement of the voluntary liquidation of a Cayman Islands company was often driven primarily by the desire to avoid incurring the following year’s annual government fees. To avoid those fees, the liquidation had to commence by December, with the final meeting being held before the end of January. This timetable resulted in an effective dissolution date into the next calendar year, while still avoiding the government fees for that year.

From next week the much hyped stay on ipso facto rights in certain contracts will be law. The relevant Legislation, Regulations and Declarations1 commence this Sunday, 1 July 2018.

On 6 February 2018, the Irish Supreme Court agreed to hear an appeal in ACC Loan Management Limited v Rickard1 ("Rickard") in relation to the appointment of a receiver in aid of execution on the basis that the issue was one of general and public importance.

Background

The entitlement to recover remuneration and costs for work performed in conducting an external administration is an ever-present fundamental concern for insolvency practitioners.

Key Summary

The Full Court of the Federal Court of Australia has held that the Commissioner of Taxation’s (Commissioner) formal information gathering powers override the obligation imposed on a party to litigation not to use information or documents disclosed by another party for any other purpose outside the proceedings in which they were disclosed (commonly known as the ‘Harman obligation’1).

As annual invoices are being generated for those BVI companies that are registered in the first half of the year, it is time to start planning the liquidation of those entities that have reached the end of their life cycle, to ensure that unnecessary fees are not incurred.

In order to prevent the expense of annual 2018 government registration fees, an appointed voluntary liquidator will be required to file the final notice for a company on or before 31 May 2018. In order to meet this deadline, we recommend that the voluntary liquidation commence prior to 30 April 2018.

In a decision that does much to reassert legal certainty for investors in Cayman Islands funds the Cayman Islands Court of Appeal ("CICA") has overruled a decision of the Grand Court concerning the circumstances in which an official liquidator of a solvent company could rectify the register of members, in In the matter of Herald Fund SPC (in official liquidation).

JWS has achieved an excellent result for the liquidators of the Gunns Group, with success in the Federal Court’s judgment in Bryant (Liquidator) v L.V. Dohnt & Co Pty Ltd, In the Matter of Gunns Limited (In Liq.) (Receivers and Managers Appointed) [2018] FCA 238.