Category Archives: Client Advisories

In response to the Financial Action Task Force (“FATF”) recommendations to combat money laundering, terrorist financing and the financing of proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, there have been significant changes to the anti-money laundering laws and practices of the Cayman Islands. On 6 April 2018, the Cayman Islands Monetary Authority (“CIMA”) published a Notice further clarifying the recently issued Guidance Notes on the Prevention and Detection of Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing in the Cayman Islands (“AML Guidance Notes”).

The Court of Appeal of the Cayman Islands (“CICA”) has reversed the Grand Court on an important point of principle for determination of the “fair value” of the shares of a shareholder who dissents from a statutory merger under Part XVI of the Companies Law. See Shanda Games (CICA 12 of 2017, unrep., 6 March 2018).

In a Ruling that will be of interest to users of the Cayman courts, the Grand Court has ordered a Cayman fund in liquidation to pay (i) as damages, the costs of foreign proceedings commenced in breach of contract and (ii) on the indemnity basis, the costs of the Cayman anti-suit proceedings brought to restrain the continuation of the foreign proceedings.
The Ruling provides further guidance as to the circumstances in which the Court will order costs of Cayman proceedings to be paid on the indemnity basis and is understood to be the first time that the Grand Court has awarded as damages the costs of foreign proceedings commenced in breach of contract.

The Cayman Islands Court of Appeal has clarified when an official liquidator has the power (and duty) to rectify a company’s share register under section 112(2) of the Companies Law, within the context of a solvent liquidation of a Cayman company that has issued redeemable shares tied to a NAV.

In a judgment delivered on 13 February 2018, the Grand Court of the Cayman Islands granted an anti-suit injunction to restrain liquidators of a Cayman fund from continuing litigation commenced in New York in breach of a contractual dispute resolution procedure. The judgment addresses a number of novel arguments concerning the interpretation of the Cayman Islands’ Arbitration Law, 2012 and will be of particular interest to insolvency practitioners, auditors and other Cayman professional service providers delegating work internationally.

The Privy Council has upheld changes to a BVI company’s Articles of Association despite the changes being motivated by a desire to exclude a minority shareholder.

In A Company v A Funder, the Grand Court of the Cayman Islands has approved third party funding of commercial litigation in a case that falls outside of the typical insolvency context. This decision represents an incremental expansion of the availability of third party litigation funding in the Cayman Islands.

Court of Appeal provides guidance on the scope of an aggreived person for the purposes of section 273 of the Insolvency Act, 2003 and finds that avoidance relief under section 249 of the Insolvency Act, 2003 is not exclusively for the BVI Courts to grant.

Foundation Companies have been introduced as a new legal entity in the Cayman Islands. Similar to civil law foundations, they are likely to be put to diverse uses, including as a flexible wealth management tool.

Sanction granted to four linked schemes of arrangement in Ocean Rig, restructuring over US$3.69 billion of debt – the largest judicially approved restructuring in the Cayman Islands.