INSOL International British Virgin Islands One Day Seminar

INSOL International British Virgin Islands One Day Seminar:

19 May 2011

Venue: Treasure Isle Hotel, British Virgin Islands

To download the British Virgin Islands One Day Seminar registration brochure click here

To register online click here

Educational Programme Outline

Important judicial decisions in cross-border insolvency

The case law on cross-border insolvency has been expanding rapidly in the last twelve months with important new decisions being handed down in the UK, the US and various offshore jurisdictions. Keeping up to date with the developing jurisprudence and assessing its impact and implications are major challenges for all practitioners. This session will highlight the most important cases, discuss their significance and how they relate to one another. There will be presentations covering the important recent cases in the UK, the US and the offshore jurisdictions.

The changing landscape for the practice of international insolvency

The previous session looked backwards and reviewed the important case law of the last twelve months. This session looks forward and considers current trends and themes – in particular the way in which cross-border insolvency law, litigation and practice are likely to develop in the future. The session will provide an opportunity for senior members of the judiciary from the UK, the US and the BVI to offer a judicial perspective on developments in cross-border insolvency cases.

White elephants in the Caribbean – how to realise value from distressed property developments

Easy access to credit in recent years has led to a dramatic surge in property development throughout the Caribbean region and, in particular, projects with often ambitious hotel and residential components. This trend was exacerbated by a seemingly insatiable demand for second homes by wealthy purchasers in North America and Europe. The inevitable consequence of the economic crisis in the second half of 2008 was that many of these projects collapsed. After an overview of the state of the property market in the Caribbean region, this session will look at the issues facing secured lenders to such projects, the practical issues associated with enforcement from the perspective of an insolvency practitioner, the options available to mitigate probable losses and the opportunities available for purchasers of distressed assets and their appetite to transact.

UNCITRAL – friend or foe

This session will debate whether the UNCITRAL Model Law on cross-border insolvency works for the offshore world. Lawyers and insolvency practitioners will address whether the Model Law is necessary or beneficial; whether pre-existing rules providing for assistance to foreign insolvency officeholders were preferable; the impact and merits of the COMI test and what has been learned from recent experiences of using the Model Law in other UNCITRAL jurisdictions.

Asset tracing offshore – don’t stop now you have hit a Caribbean company

For financial institutions, practitioners and advisers, the ability to trace assets into and obtain information from offshore jurisdictions is often critical. This panel will discuss the options available for effective asset tracing and information gathering and why there is no need to give up once an asset recovery exercise leads to an offshore jurisdiction. The panel comprises experts with extensive practical experience of how to locate assets and track down information which are often thought to be inaccessible. Methods and processes by which effective results can be gained will be discussed and experiences shared.