2022年8月31日、ケイマン諸島のリストラクチャリング・オフィサー制度が施行されました[1]。この制度は、ケイマン諸島における支払不能状態会社の再建に関して、更に柔軟な再建方法を導入するものです。これは、リストラクチャリング請願の提出日から自動支払猶予期間が開始するというという特色もあります。
リストラクチャリング・オフィサー制度導入前において[2]、法定支払猶予の効果を有する再建方法は、ケイマン諸島における裁判所監督形式である再建手続において「ライトタッチ」（訳注：一時的な関与のみの想定）ベースの暫定清算人が選任される場合に限定されていました[3]。リストラクチャリング・オフィサー制度は、その手続面を見直し、さらにその利用に際して障害となるものを取り除いています。これには、(a)暫定清算人選任前に会社清算請願を提出しなければならない点（これは社会的信用を毀損する結果もたらします。）[4]、および、(b)暫定清算人が選任されるまでの間は支払猶予が認められない点[5]が含まれます。
2022年8月31日より前、ケイマン裁判所は、会社法（Companies Act）第104条(3)に基づく会社清算請願が提出された場合、以下の両要件を満たすときに、ライトタッチの暫定清算人を選任することができました。
The recent Grand Court decision of Ltd. (Unreported, 19 June 2024, Kawaley J) has reiterated and further clarified the principles to be applied to the remuneration of court-appointed receivers. Given the limited Cayman case law on the topic, the decision provides useful guidance and certainty to Receivers, and to those advising them.
What is a court-appointed 'Receiver', and what is 'remuneration'?
We have published a series of articles dealing with directors’ duties in the zone of insolvency.
Is it possible for a debtor company to issue debt (such as bonds) and contractually agree for that debt to rank lower in priority than debts owed by a company to other unsecured creditors? This article examines the commercial uses of subordinated debt agreements, and considers how courts in the offshore jurisdictions of the British Virgin Islands, the Cayman Islands and Bermuda would treat a subordinated debt agreement in a winding-up.
A Court-approved reduction of capital is one of the corporate reorganisation tools that has been successfully deployed by listed companies domiciled in the Cayman Islands in order to manage debt and liquidity.
A Cayman Islands scheme of arrangement is a court approved compromise or arrangement between a company and its creditors or shareholders (or classes thereof). A scheme of arrangement is frequently used to implement a financial restructuring by varying or cramming in the rights of the relevant creditors and/or shareholders of a company but may also be used to complete corporate transactions such as a group restructuring or reorganisation, acquisitions, mergers and take-private transactions.
The Grand Court of the Cayman Islands recently confirmed expressly for the first time that it has jurisdiction to wind up a segregated portfolio company ("SPC") on the insolvency of one or more, but not all, of its segregated portfolios, and to appoint restructuring officers over those segregated portfolios. The judgment is In the matter of Holt Fund SPC
Background
Many will have waited for a bus only for two to come along at once. So it is in the Cayman Islands, with the ongoing saga as to whether a shareholder can make a claim for misrepresentation in a liquidation and, if so, where such a claim ranks in the order of priority. The rule in Houldsworth barring such claims has been in existence for over 140 years. However, two liquidations have, within weeks of each other, sought to overturn this longstanding rule.
In the Matter of Holt Fund SPC (Unreported, 26 January 2024) is the first occasion where an application has been made to appoint Restructuring Officers over portfolios of a segregated portfolio company. At first glance the judgment appears uncontroversial. However, it highlights a lacuna in the law which readers should be aware of.
Background
The Petitioner sought the appointment of Restructuring Officers (ROs) in respect of two segregated portfolios of the Holt Fund SPC.
Many jurisdictions offer a process for distressed companies to seek the protection of the Courts from enforcement action while they try to put a restructuring plan in place. England and Wales has the administration regime, and the USA has Chapter 11. Historically, the Cayman Islands has addressed this issue by means of the ‘light touch’ provisional liquidation, by which an insolvency practitioner could be appointed to supervise the company while a restructuring plan was formulated and considered, with a breathing space from creditor actions by way of a court-imposed moratorium.