In Peakwave Investment Management Ltd v Energy Evolution GP Ltd [2026] CIGC (FSD) 7, the Cayman Islands Grand Court has provided further guidance on the interplay between arbitration and winding up proceedings.
In this case, the Court appointed provisional liquidators to protect company assets pending the outcome of foreign arbitration proceedings, despite having stayed the winding up petition. The decision shows that arbitration and insolvency proceedings can operate as complementary parts of the overall dispute-resolution process.
With the Cayman Islands being a preferred jurisdiction for the incorporation of investment vehicles, inevitably cases will arise where non-controlling shareholders complain that they are being unfairly prejudiced by conduct of those in control, and necessarily pursue those complaints by way of proceedings to wind up the subject company on the just and equitable ground.
In its recent judgment in Re Atlas Capital Markets LLC [2026] CIGC (FSD) 19, the Grand Court considered itself bound to make a supervision order pursuant to s.131(b) of the Companies Act, notwithstanding that the company was the subject of a pending just and equitable winding up (J&E) petition when its voluntary liquidation was commenced; and rejected an attack on the joint voluntary liquidators’ (JVLs) independence, which was principally based on a misreading of the JVLs’ evidence and lacked any objective foundation.
Broadly, the dissolution options for a solvent Cayman Islands company are either a voluntary liquidation or a strike-off. The appropriateness of either method will depend on the business history of the particular company and its current financial position.
Preliminary steps
Before commencing the formal dissolution process, it may be necessary to take some preliminary steps, including ensuring that:
Aquapoint LP v Fan [2025] UKPC 56
Introduction
The Judicial Committee of the Privy Council in CL Financial Ltd (in Liquidation)[1] has provided helpful guidance on applications for approving liquidators’ remuneration.
This article first appeared in Volume 22, Issue 6 of International Corporate Rescue.
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