Category: Offshore

While fresh legislation is good news for the Cayman Islands’ insurance and reinsurance markets, BVI funds lawyers welcome a new regulatory regime. LB assesses the response from the Caribbean’s top law firms

Significant legislative changes have brought good news to the thriving Caribbean offshore market. After much anticipation, the Cayman Islands Insurance Law 2010 came into force in November, making significant amendments to the current insurance and reinsurance business regime in the islands. The law brings Cayman’s insurance sector in line with international standards and should attract more commercial reinsurers.

Continue reading “Offshore: branching out”

Guernsey recently passed the world’s first-ever legislation to protect image rights and, following in Jersey and the Isle of Man’s footsteps, the island has introduced a foundations law. LB assesses the reaction from the local legal market

Thanks to new law that came into effect in Guernsey in December, a person or company can now register their image rights. This is the first legislation of its type in the world, allowing individuals to protect voices, expressions, pictures, videos and recordings. A modern, online-specific registry has also been designed for that purpose.

Continue reading “Offshore: new ground”

Groundbreaking decisions continue to emerge from the Channel Islands courts. LB talks to key litigators involved in recent headline cases and assesses their wider impact

Two important judgments have emerged from Jersey and Guernsey this year. In April, in the case In the matter of the Shinorvic Trust (Shinorvic), the Royal Court of Jersey had to consider whether a longstanding principle of English law applies to trusts in Jersey; while in March, Guernsey’s Privy Council awarded the largest ever compensation payout in the UK in the Helmot case, a whopping £14m. This decision profoundly impacts on how damages for future losses in personal injury cases are calculated.

Continue reading “Offshore: Blazing a trail”

UK offshore law firms are increasingly offering British Virgin Islands and Cayman Islands legal services from Caribbean offices or their Crown dependency bases. LB assesses the changing landscape of the Caribbean legal market

UK-based offshore law firms have been enjoying a Caribbean sojourn this year. In June Carey Olsen announced it would be opening an office in the Cayman Islands; Bedell Cristin established its British Virgin Islands (BVI) office at the start of 2012; while Mourant Ozannes launched in the BVI in September.

Continue reading “Offshore: Caribbean calling”

Offshore firms are increasingly building Brazil, as well as other Latin American destinations, into their emerging markets portfolio. LB assesses the varying strategies in tackling the New World.

The opportunities in Brazil for offshore legal advisers are increasingly on the rise. In December 2010, Conyers Dill & Pearman’s São Paulo office managing partner Alan Dickson provided Bermuda law advice to Brazilian investment bank BTG Pactual on its sale of a $1.6bn stake to a consortium of international investors, marking the biggest eversovereign wealth fund commitment in Brazil. Again led by Dickson, in July 2011 Conyers, alongside Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy in New York and Arias, Fabrega & Fabrega in Panama, advised Queiroz Galvão Óleo e Gás (QGOG) – a Brazilian conglomerate involved in developing large-scale projects in various sectors – on a $700m bond issue to refinance the drilling rigs Atlantic Star and Alaskan Star.

Continue reading “Offshore Part 1 – Search for El Dorado”

The Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive, dreaded by the offshore world, has now been agreed. LB finds out why the offshore world’s law firms are still smiling

After laboured negotiations and more than 30 drafts, the Alternative Investment Fund Managers (AIFM) Directive was finally approved by the EU parliament in November 2010. As the terms were thrashed out in the preceding 18 months, the funds industry held its breath, stifling funds activity both on and offshore. The offshore world is now resting a little easier.

Continue reading “Worlds colliding”