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A secured creditor with a hypothec (charge) over a specific immovable property can enforce against that property without having to put the debtor through a full-blown bankruptcy process. That was one of the key outcomes of the Royal Court's decision in Representation of Prospect Holdings Limited[2025] JRC 164.

What happened?

This briefing note provides an outline of the different processes of voluntary winding up and striking off under the Companies (Guernsey) Law, 2008 (as amended) (the “Law”).

Voluntary winding up

The Cayman Islands team obtained what may be the first instance of a permanent stay of an official liquidation of a Cayman Islands company.

Few would disagree that when a company is placed in official liquidation, that is the penultimate step before the company's death. Official liquidators will realise the company's assets and distribute them to stakeholders, before the company's eventual, but inevitable dissolution.

But does official liquidation have to be the end of the company? Can anything be done to halt the march towards dissolution?

1. Montague Goldsmith AG v Goswick Holdings Limited and Ors [2024] JRC 170

What happened?

By a notification dated 14 June 2023 (read here), the Ministry of Corporate Affairs has exempted petroleum assets leased by a company undergoing insolvency proceedings from the moratorium provisions of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016.

The Ministry of Corporate Affairs by notification dated 03 October 2023 (read here) exempted transactions, arrangements or agreements relating to aircraft, aircraft engines, airframes and helicopters under the Cape Town Convention and Protocol from the moratorium provisions of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016.

On 18 September 2023, the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India (IBBI) introduced the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India (Insolvency Resolution Process for Corporate Persons) (Second Amendment) Regulations, 2023 (CIRP Amendment Regulations). Here is a summary of the key changes made through these regulations:

The Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (Code) provides the right to a financial creditor to make an application to the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) for initiation of corporate insolvency resolution process (CIRP) against a corporate debtor in the event the debtor fails to repay its debt owed to the creditor. The Code as well as precedents developed by insolvency courts have consistently held that the test for admission of an insolvency application of a financial creditor is twofold, existence of a debt and default on that debt.