Guy Cowen - Senior Associate, Campbells Grand Cayman - Insolvency & Restructuring

Overview

Guy is a partner in our Litigation, Insolvency and Restructuring Group. He completed his training and qualified as a solicitor at the global law firm DLA Piper, before moving to the Cayman Islands and joining Campbells in July 2011. He specialises in advising stakeholders, financial institutions, independent directors and insolvency practitioners in relation to solvent and insolvent liquidations, shareholder disputes and other financial services litigation. He is a Fellow of INSOL International.

Expertise

  • Contentious restructuring matters – Guy regularly acts for distressed hedge funds, insolvency practitioners, stakeholders and financial institutions in relation to solvent and insolvent liquidations.
  • Insolvency litigation – Guy advises on creditor and/or shareholder disputes and remedies, antecedent transactions and enforcement actions.
  • Guy also advises office holders, stakeholders and financial institutions in relation to more general commercial disputes.

Work Highlights

Guy has appeared before the Grand Court and the Cayman Islands’ Court of Appeal on numerous occasions. Some examples of his recent cases are:

  • Acting for the Joint Liquidators of CL Financial Limited, one of the largest privately held corporate groups in the Caribbean. The company has over 90 subsidiaries and, prior to its collapse in 2017, controlled assets in around 30 countries with a combined value in excess of US$100 billion.
  • Acting for Wells Fargo Bank, the successful petitioning creditor of Vantage Drilling Company, with a claim (in its capacity as trustee) exceeding US$1.7 billion in value. The case is significant due to the size of the debt owed, and the fact that the Cayman liquidation is part of a multi-jurisdictional group insolvency, involving concurrent Chapter 11 proceedings in the United States.
  • Acting for various creditors of Platinum Partners Value Arbitrage Fund LP (In Official Liquidation), with aggregate claims against the company of approximately US$70 million. Prior to its liquidation, the company is believed to have had total assets in excess of US$1.1 billion.
  • Acting for the successful petitioners in the the winding-up of ASEAN Tower Holdco Limited, whose ultimate subsidiary is the third largest telecoms tower company in Vietnam.
  • Acting for the Joint Receivers appointed over the operating companies of the Green Dragon Gas group, the largest producer of Coal Bed Methane gas in China.
  • Acting for the joint provisional liquidators of Bona Film Group Limited, one of China’s largest production and film distribution companies.
  • Acting for three bondholders of China Shanshui Cement Group Ltd, with claims against the company of more than US$100 million. The case had dramatic and significant ramifications for directors of Cayman Islands’ companies and the jurisdiction’s restructuring community more generally.
  • Acting for DPM Mellon (an affiliate of BNY Mellon) in connection with substantial claims arising from the US$500 million liquidation of the SPhinX group of funds.
  • Acting for three Louisiana pension funds, with claims totalling US$100 million, in successful winding-up proceedings against FIA Leveraged Fund (and the subsequent appeal upholding the liquidation).

Qualifications and Admissions

  • Attorney at Law, Cayman Islands, 2011
  • College of Law Chester, Diploma in Restructuring, 2010
  • Solicitor of the Supreme Court of England and Wales, 2004 (non-practising)
  • College of Law Chester, Legal Practice Course, 2002
  • University of Manchester, BA (Hons), 2000

Prior Career History

  • DLA Piper UK LLP, Manchester

Professional Associations

  • Fellow, INSOL International
  • Legal Practitioners Association, Cayman Islands
  • Restructuring and Insolvency Specialists Association (RISA), Cayman Islands
  • Law Society of England & Wales

Publications and News

News

Articles

Client Advisories