The requirements for filing of beneficial ownership information for Cayman Islands companies will change with effect from 15 May 2020 in two respects due to international requirements. These changes are expected to affect a relatively small number of companies.
On 22 January 2020, the Court handed down judgment in the matter of Pacific Fertility Institutes Holding Company Limited v Pacific Fertility Institutes (HK) Holding Company Limited.
The Cayman Islands Government has approved and enacted the Labour (Amendment) Law, 2020 and the Labour (Extension of Severance Pay Period) Regulations, 2020 to assist employers during the Covid-19 pandemic.
The BVI was one of the first territories to put in place a regime to prevent the use of bearer shares. From 1 January 2005 the use of bearer shares has largely been eradicated in the BVI but issues still arise particularly in circumstances where the holder of bearer shares has died or is incapacitated in some way.
This article provides a general overview of the procedure for the enforcement of foreign arbitral awards in each of the two jurisdictions.
Guy Manning and Hamid Khanbhai discuss the Privy Council’s first consideration of an appraisal action brought under section 238 of the Companies Law of the Cayman Islands. The Board considered a narrow question of how a dissenter’s shares should be valued.
In Pearson v Primeo [2020] UKPC 3, the Privy Council considered an appeal by a liquidator on the scope of section 112(2) of the Companies Law (2018 Revision) of the Cayman Islands. The provision relates to a liquidator’s power “to settle and if necessary rectify the company’s register of members, thereby adjusting the rights of members amongst themselves”. The power arises only in the context of a solvent liquidation of a company which has issued redeemable shares at prices based upon its net asset value.
The Cayman Islands’ liquidation of Saad Investments Company Limited has inched a step closer to finality, with the Grand Court authorising an ‘in-principle’ interim dividend to unsecured creditors despite the fact that the multi-billion dollar proprietary claim asserted by Ahmad Hamad Algosaibi and Brothers Company (“AHAB”) over the entire Saad estate continues to be litigated before the Cayman Courts.
The Economic Substance (Companies and Limited Partnerships) Act, 2018 (the “Act”) was passed on 1 January 2019, introducing economic substance requirements in the British Virgin Islands (“BVI”) for certain BVI legal entities that are not tax “resident” in countries outside the BVI and carry on a “relevant activity” as further specified in the Act. On 22 April 2019, the International Tax Authority (“ITA”) of the BVI issued a draft Economic Substance Code (the “Code”) to provide guidance and interpretation in respect of the Act (for further information please see our earlier client briefing).
The Data Protection Law, 2017 (the “Law”), currently scheduled to come into force on 30 September 2019, introduces, for the first time in the Cayman Islands, a legislative framework for data protection based on a set of internationally recognised privacy principles. The Law regulates the processing of all personal data in the Cayman Islands and will impact all entities established in the Cayman Islands, including all investment funds whether or not registered with the Cayman Islands Monetary Authority. The Law applies irrespective of where personal data is processed and applies to personal data irrespective of individual citizenship or residency.
This note focuses on the specific effect of the Law for investment funds.