16/04/20

Jurisdiction in Focus: Hong Kong

Article

Cayman Grand Court Decision Reinforces Effective Cooperation In Cross-border Disputes

James Noble
Carey Olsen
Jeremy Lightfoot
Carey Olsen
Dhanshuklal Vekaria
Carey Olsen
Yang Yang
Carey Olsen
Carey Olsen

In the current economic climate, there is a pressing need for cross-jurisdictional co-operation when it comes to the Courts’ involvement in restructuring and insolvency proceedings. An increasing number of Hong Kong companies are finding themselves in need of urgent assistance with restructuring and insolvency processes; this requires international co-operation where, as is often the case, such companies are incorporated in offshore jurisdictions.

A case in point is the recent decision from the Grand Court of the Cayman Islands, where the Grand Court provided a timely reminder that it was ready and willing to co-operate with the Courts of Hong Kong to ensure that the determination of a winding up petition was conducted so as to minimise the risk of conflicting judgments and to ensure that the insolvency process was conducted as efficiently as possible.

On 16 March 2020, the Grand Court delivered a judgment in Re Altair Asia Investments, FSD 200 of 2019 (RPJ), in which the Grand Court adjourned a creditor’s winding up petition in the Cayman Islands pending the decision to be made in the ongoing Hong Kong proceedings.

The petitioner in this case, Safe Castle Limited, was a BVI company. Safe Castle applied to wind up the Cayman company, Altair Asia Investments Limited as a creditor of Altair. The dispute was concerned with whether Safe Castle was entitled to apply to wind up Altair as a redemption creditor. In order to determine …