Guy Manning

Guy has been involved in most of the Cayman Islands’ highest profile disputes, liquidations and restructurings since moving to the jurisdiction in 2005. He has acted for financial institutions, investment funds, creditors, shareholders, provisional and official liquidators, directors, managers and other professional service providers in relation to the restructuring and liquidation of numerous Cayman Islands companies and partnerships. He also has a busy general litigation practice involving widely varying commercial contexts and structures, but with a particular emphasis on shareholder and investment fund disputes.

Notable recent instructions include:

• Advising the joint provisional liquidators of Luckin Coffee Inc. in connection with the restructuring of approximately US$1bn of debt, following a widely publicized fraud and delisting,
• Acting for the joint provisional and official liquidators of ABRAAJ Investment Management Limited, the investment manager of the Abraaj group.  Prior to its collapse in 2018, Abraaj had been the largest private equity firm operating in emerging markets, with some 40 underlying funds, over 600 investors, and $14bn of AUM at its peak,
• Defending a very substantial investment fund against winding up proceedings brought on the just and equitable ground,
• Advising the Liquidation Committee of SAAD Investments Company Limited, a liquidation involving the longest trial in Cayman Iegal history, and
• Acting for dissenter groups against 58.Com Inc. and Nord Anglia Education, Inc. in the two largest Cayman Islands fair value appraisal proceedings arising from take private transactions.

• Solicitor British Virgin Islands, 2011
• Attorney at Law Cayman Islands, 2005
• Solicitor of the Supreme Court of England and Wales, 1999 (non-practising)

• Cayman Islands Law Society
• INSOL

• Guy is ranked in Band 1 by Chambers and Partners, who report that he “is very bright and accomplished” and “very calm and clear in the courtroom” (2021), has “substantial experience handling high-value cases, in particular liquidations and disputes arising from M&A transactions” (2020); is “an excellent technical lawyer who writes very well, is practically minded and is terrific to work with (2019); “a formidable opponent and smart man” and “his knowledge of Cayman insolvency law and restructuring matters is excellent and he really knows his way around those cases” (2018); “a very bright man who gives useful, fit-for-purpose advice that’s commercially focused,” is widely regarded as “one of the nicest, most personable people in Cayman – a delight to deal with” (2017); “thinks carefully about the case and offers practical, commercial advice to help us get the best outcome” (2016); is “a very considered and technical lawyer; he accommodates innovative thinking and applies the law commercially” (2015), and is “a stupendously clever man… who has quickly established an impressive reputation in the Cayman Islands” (2014).
• Guy is also ranked as a Leading Individual Dispute Resolution Lawyer by Legal 500.
• The International Who’s Who Legal names Guy as a leading Insolvency & Restructuring and Asset Recovery lawyer in Cayman, as well as a Global Elite Thought Leader for the Americas and the Caribbean region.