British Virgin Islands: Insolvency/Bankruptcy/Re-Structuring

The UK Supreme Court's landmark decision in Drelle v Servis-Terminal LLC fundamentally reshapes cross-border insolvency practice by confirming that creditors may rely on unrecognised...

The UK Supreme Court's landmark decision in Servis-Terminal LLC v Drelle has overturned the English Court of Appeal's controversial ruling, clarifying that unrecognised foreign judgments can form the basis of insolvency proceedings without prior recognition. This briefing examines how the Supreme Court's restoration of the common law 'obligation principle' impacts creditors seeking to enforce foreign judgment debts in the BVI, particularly following the uncertainty created by the first instance decision in

The BVI Commercial Court has issued conflicting first instance decisions on whether liquidation orders should restrict liquidators' powers to act without court sanction. Two recent judgments—Guangzhou Leyi Investment Development Co., Ltd. v SZE Ming Limited and Jin Yao Holdings Ltd v Forever Winner International Ltd—adopt fundamentally different approaches to the "discretionary sanction regime" under section 186(3) of the BVI Insolvency Act 2003, creating uncertainty for practitioners and liquid