The Caribbean is constantly changing as island governments look to the digital economy, financial services, sustainable tourism, new transport models and, greater private-sector investment to transform the region.
We have a long history of advising clients throughout the Caribbean. Our multi-disciplinary team provides specialist advice coupled with a strong understanding of the local markets to help you across a range of legal issues.
Whether you’re a local or international businesses, institution or island government, we can advise you on corporate and commercial transactions, regulatory matters, litigation, and dispute resolution. We also have a specialised team available to support you with international tax reforms, economic substance, and everchanging market access issues.
Our expertise covers several sectors including financial services (both private and corporate), hospitality and leisure, aviation, technology, media & communications, real estate and construction, energy, and natural resources.
Many of our private clients also look to the Caribbean to diversify their wealth internationally. Find out more about our international private client services here.
Our Caribbean team has strong relationships with leading local law firms and other professional advisers to provide an ‘on the ground’ service if you require local advice.
Additionally, we are active members of the Caribbean Council, connecting us to leading business figures, regulators, and governments across the Caribbean and Central America.
British Virgin Islands (BVI)
Our team of BVI qualified partners and associates offers an in-house service drawing, where needed, on our extensive network of local contacts in the BVI. The team typically advises on general corporate transactional, structuring and trust-related advice, economic substance and preparing and issuing BVI legal opinions.
Experience
- The Government of The Bahamas wanted to modernise their communications sector so engaged us to review and re-draft the legislation for the sector, help set up a new regulator and advise them on the privatisation of the monopoly mobile operator, BTC. We were pleased to support The Government of The Bahamas with these projects, as well as the subsequent project to auction a second mobile phone operator licence and the establishment of a 51:49 joint venture between the Government and the successful bidder.
- The Government of The Bahamas also required our litigation and insolvency expertise to help rescue The Baha Mar Project in the Bahamas, a 3.5billion US$ hotel development put into provisional liquidation.
- Barbados National Oil Company Limited has undertaken many projects that we have been delighted to advise on. This work has included various oil and gas joint ventures, as well as offshore licensing and renewable energy advice.
- The AHAB dispute was a complex litigation focussing on multibillion dollar fraud allegation involving multiple international parties centring on Cayman. We were able to co-ordinate the multi-proceeding legal strategy across 4 jurisdictions, manage litigation logistics including appointing local Counsel, specialist English counsel and third party experts in a multitude of law and non-law specialisms around the world, and develop innovative technical solutions to problems including a vast and chaotic dataset of 2.5million documents and a tracing through a transactional database spanning 30 years of transactions across myriad accounts in hundreds of local and international financial institutions.
- ANSA McAL , a majority family-owned Caribbean conglomerate, needed advice in connection with the acquisition of Berger Paints (Caribbean) from Asian Paints and other projects such as a wind farm joint venture. On the Berger Paints acquisition we were able to broker the deal between our Caribbean client and the Indian seller, helping to host negotiation meetings in London.
- A dispute arose between A&V Oil and Gas Limited v Petroleum Company of Trinidad & Tobago Limited (“Petrotrin”) regarding the termination of a contract for exploration of oil for alleged “missing oil”. We acted for A&V oil during the arbitration and Petrotrin alleged that oil paid for was never delivered. The Tribunal after two weeks of listening to evidence, factual and expert, concluded that they had unlawfully terminated the contract.
- A victim of the ‘Windrush’ scandal needed legal advice in judicial review proceedings complaining and seeking redress for the inadequate compensation scheme and the injustices process that people are forced to go through to establish their rights in the UK. We were able to support the individual to challenge the complex scheme in order to help them obtain the redress he and others should be entitled to.
- A Caribbean Government required advice which we have been able to supply on reforms to its corporate tax system and the future of international tax and regulatory standards.
- A Swiss based multi-family office required a comprehensive review of its BVI trustee engagement letters and terms of business (involving integrated in-house Swiss and BVI law advice). We advised the family office and were able to provide the BVI and in-house Swiss advice needed.
