Ogier's team continues to be at the forefront of Restructuring and Insolvency law, acting in two matters that have broken new ground in Guernsey recently.

Partner Mathew Newman appeared before the Guernsey Royal Court for the applicants in two matters which raised several legal issues, some of which have not been addressed previously by the court.

In order to proceed against a debtor's personal property in Guernsey, customary law remedies are used which start with the arrest of a debtor's goods but which allow all creditors to share in the proceeds in the event that the monies owed are greater than the debtor's assets.

Arrêts

Once judgment is obtained against a debtor, the 'arresting creditor', will either:

The recognition of the powers of an English trustee in bankruptcy in Guernsey is generally pursued either by way of a letter of request issued by the foreign court pursuant to section 426 of the Insolvency Act 1986 (Insolvency Act) or by way of an application via the common or customary law.

Saisie (meaning "to seize") is a court driven, Guernsey customary law process, governed by the Saisie Procedure (Simplification) (Bailiwick) Order, 1952. It is a three stage post judgment process which enables a creditor to enforce their rights against the debtor's realty in Guernsey.

Alex Horsbrugh-Porter is Counsel in Ogier's dispute resolution group in Guernsey, specialising in insolvency. Alex is qualified in England and Wales, Cayman and Guernsey, and has experience of working in a corporate insolvency firm and taking appointments as a liquidator. In this piece, Alex runs through a checklist of ten things for directors to consider when insolvency looms…

This article first appeared in Business Brief magazine, May 2021 edition.

Across the world, government support has kept insolvency rates down but as jurisdictions look to loosen restrictions and ease back into some kind of normality, governments can't foot the bill forever.

As financial support is withdrawn, restructuring, insolvency and corporate recovery practitioners will likely see a spike in activity, and offshore firms in the Channel Islands are braced for an increase in demand from clients.

Introduction

On 24 October 2014, the Commerce & Employment department published its consultation paper on various options for reforming Guernsey's insolvency regime, both for personal and corporate insolvency.  Responses to the consultation are due by 31 December 2014.  The consultation paper proposes some fairly wide-ranging reforms and seeks responses from industry to a number of questions which, by and large, seek to augment, develop and regularise the insolvency regime in the Island. 

Q4 2020 and Q1 2021 saw some significant developments in offshore restructuring, insolvency and corporate recovery, with the passage of new legislation and the handing down of judgments providing welcome clarification on laws relevant to practitioners in this area.

Hopefully you have received previous updates from us in relation to the Channel Islands Stock Exchange (CISX) and the proposed restructuring of the CISX.

Guernsey scheme of arrangement

I am pleased to confirm that we now have confirmation that the restructure of the CISX by way of a scheme of arrangement was approved by the Royal Court in Guernsey last Friday.

In a recent case1 the High Court held that the purported out of court appointment of administrators over a Guernsey registered limited partnership was void because the appointor used the incorrect form when giving notice of its intention to appoint.

Background