Category Archives: Client Advisories

First Weavering preference claim upheld by Court of Appeal: In a judgment delivered on 18 November 2016, the Cayman Islands Court of Appeal unanimously dismissed the appeal of Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB (Publ) against the Grand Court’s finding that payments it had received from Weavering Macro Fixed Income Fund Ltd were voidable preferences that must be repaid to the fund’s liquidators. The Court also took the opportunity to comment on a number of principles of Cayman insolvency law in a way that is likely to have implications far beyond the world of voidable preferences. SEB will be appealing this decision to the Privy Council.

In a recent judgment in Primeo Fund (in official liquidation) that will be of concern to liquidators of Cayman Islands companies, and of interest to auditors and other persons from whom liquidators seek information, the Grand Court has clarified and arguably restricted the scope of liquidators’ statutory powers to collect documents under sections 103 and 138 of the Companies Law.

In a judgment delivered on 16 November 2016 in Primeo Fund (in Official Liquidation) v Bank of Bermuda (Cayman) Ltd & Anor., the Court of Appeal of the Cayman Islands (“CICA”) held “not without hesitation” that litigation privilege ceases to have any application to signed witness statements at the time they are exchanged by the parties to litigation in advance of trial.

In the latest installment of the Herald v Primeo litigation, the Grand Court of the Cayman Islands has ruled upon how liquidators should exercise their statutory powers to restate the historic NAVs of a fund where those NAVs have been misstated due to fraud; in this case, the Madoff Ponzi scheme. Our client briefing explains the Court’s decision, its impact on the scope of liquidators’ powers, and the implications for investors.

On 15 July 2016 the Governor of the Cayman Islands assented to the repeal of the longstanding Confidential Relationships (Preservation) Law (the “CRPL”). In this client briefing we highlight the key distinctions between the now repealed CRPL and the newly enacted Confidential Information Disclosure Law, 2016 (the “CIDL”), which are: it is no longer a criminal offence to disclose confidential information; and there is now a “whistle-blower” defence for those disclosing confidential information in certain circumstances.

In a recent judgment,[1] the Cayman Islands Court of Appeal (the “Court”) has upheld the decision of the Grand Court which found that investors who have redeemed their shares but remain unpaid at the commencement of a company’s liquidation are entitled to prove in the liquidation for their redemption proceeds as a creditor. This is the case irrespective of whether or not the company could lawfully have distributed the redemption proceeds to them prior to the commencement of the liquidation.

Further to our previous advisories, we are pleased to announce that the much anticipated Limited Liability Companies Law, 2016 will come into force on Wednesday 13 July 2016 as the Cayman Islands Government gazetted the commencement order for the LLC Law last Friday 8 July 2016.

The Cayman Islands Shipping Registry (“CISR”) has issued a new alternative set of requirements for yachts that wish to operate commercially in the Caribbean under Shipping Notice No. 02/2016 Rev 1 (the “Shipping Notice”).

The Cayman Islands Government published the Limited Liability Companies Law, 2016 (the “LLC Law”) by way of Extraordinary Gazette on 8 June 2016 and it is expected to be brought into effect toward the end of June. As readers will be aware from our previous briefings on this topic, the LLC Law allows for the introduction and establishment of limited liability companies (“LLC’s”) similar in structure to that of the Delaware LLC.

A recent decision of the Grand Court may affect role of developers of strata corporations in the Cayman Islands, particularly where the strata development forms part of a larger resort complex, perhaps incorporating timeshare apartments or a hotel.