A statutory demand is a formal demand for payment of a debt made by a creditor to a debtor. It may be used as the basis for an application for a petition to wind up a Cayman company.
Service and content of Statutory Demand
The Companies Winding up Rules 2008 (as amended) provide guidance as to the form and content of a statutory demand as well as the mode of service within the Cayman Islands.
A statutory demand should be in the format of CWR Form 1 and must be signed by:
In a decision that will reassure investors in Cayman Islands investment funds and other vehicles, the Grand Court has shown its willingness to facilitate the investigation of legitimate concerns raised during a voluntary liquidation.1
The decision is the first written ruling on the Court's power to defer the dissolution of a Cayman Islands company in voluntary liquidation under section 151(3) of the Companies Law and also considers the Court's power to bring a voluntary liquidation under the Court's supervision in the context of an investigation into possible wrongdoing.
This guide outlines the procedure for a voluntary liquidation of a solvent Cayman Islands exempted company and the duties of its liquidator. It also sets out the process for striking an exempted company off the Register of Companies in the Cayman Islands.
Voluntary liquidation
A Cayman Islands exempted company can be wound up voluntarily:
The recent judgment of the Cayman Islands Court of Appeal ("CICA") in Asia Pacific Limited v ARC Capital LLC1 explains the approach that the Court will take when considering an application to strike-out a contributory's just and equitable winding up petition which is based on an offer to purchase the petitioner's shares at fair value.
On 5 October 2022, the UK Supreme Court delivered its judgment in the case of BTI 2014 LLC v Sequana SA & Ors [2022] UKSC 25. This judgment arose from an appeal brought by BTI 2014 LLC against a decision of the English Court of Appeal in 2019.
A fundamental principle of insolvency law in the Cayman Islands is that upon the commencement of a liquidation of a company, a line is drawn in the sand and the assets of an insolvent company should be distributed on a pari passu basis (e.g. each unsecured creditor should share equally in the available assets of the company). While subject to some exceptions (like any good fundamental principle of law), the concept that all unsecured creditors should be on “equal footing” is the basis for a wide array of insolvency legislation and case law.
“the new restructuring officer regime and the other amendments to the Companies Act … address certain of the challenging issues previously experienced by practitioners with the restructuring provisional liquidation regime”
Introduction
The Cayman Islands continues to be at the forefront of developments in restructuring and insolvency law in the offshore world and one of the premier jurisdictions of choice to facilitate complex and high-value cross-border restructurings.
A recent decision of the Cayman Islands Court of Appeal has confirmed its jurisdiction to hear an appeal of a decision of the Grand Court made pursuant to section 152(1) of the Companies Act (2021) Revision to dissolve a Company following its official liquidation.
Background
Adopting the analysis of the United Kingdom Jurisdictional Task Force ('UKJT") on the proprietary status of crypto currencies, a recent decision of the English High Court, AA v Persons Unknown,[1] has found that crypto assets such as Bitcoin are "property" and therefore capable of being the subject of a proprietary injunction or freezing order.
In a ground-breaking decision for the Cayman Islands as a restructuring centre, the Cayman Islands court has handed down judgment sanctioning four highly complex inter-linked schemes of arrangement.
The schemes result in the compromise of US$3.69 billion of New York law governed debt for the Cayman Islands registered parent of the Ocean Rig group and three of its Marshall Islands incorporated subsidiaries.