BVI

HFW in the British Virgin Islands

The British Virgin Islands (BVI) is an important market to many of our global clients. It is an internationally respected financial centre and offers one of the most popular offshore holding structures in the world. Litigation remains the most popular mechanism of resolving high-value, complex disputes in the BVI, with the final court of appeal being the Privy Council in London.

Seamless service that follows the sun

We are uniquely positioned among international law firms to provide timely, strategic advice to major users of BVI across all time zones – Greater China, the Middle East, South America, the UK and Europe.

The BVI team of choice for multi-jurisdictional disputes

HFW has been litigating for clients in offshore jurisdictions for more than 20 years, including in the BVI, the Bahamas, Bermuda, the Cayman Islands, Dominica, St. Kitts & Nevis, St. Lucia, and the Turks & Caicos Islands.

To support our global client base, our team of specialist BVI lawyers work closely with our offshore litigation teams in London and Hong Kong and across all time zones to advise our clients on complex, corporate and commercial litigation.

We are regularly instructed on high value, commercial litigation and contentious insolvency and are the firm of choice in respect of multi-jurisdictional disputes. We have a proven track record of achieving victories for our clients and results in a timely, cost-efficient manner, at all stages of litigation and throughout the Eastern Caribbean Courts, as well as in the Privy Council.

We act for:

Liquidators and receivers
Creditors (including secured creditors, bond-holders and note-holders)
High net worth individuals
Trustees and protectors
Listed and privately held companies
Financial institutions and SOEs

We also work closely with many leading law firms and accountancy firms to support clients on their complex BVI cases.

Our team’s specialist litigation experience includes:

Shareholder and joint venture disputes
Contentious insolvency
Restructuring and insolvency
Fraud and asset tracing
Trust litigation
Urgent interlocutory relief (including freezing injunctions, disclosure orders and the appointment of receivers)
Claims against directors
Claims against auditors
Enforcement of judgments and arbitration awards in the BVI

Our BVI Corporate & Commercial Services

Our global transactional practice advises clients on inbound and outbound matters across equity and debt capital markets, including corporate structures and company formation, corporate governance, director duties, mergers & acquisitions, joint ventures, IPOs, finance and other complex corporate and commercial matters across the BVI, Hong Kong and Greater China.

We act for:

Private limited companies
Public companies
Partnerships
Directors and legal representatives
Shareholders and partners
Investors and founders
Hedge funds and investment managers
Banks and other financial institutions
Liquidators and receivers

Our team’s specialist corporate and commercial experience includes:

Formation and operation of BVI corporate vehicles
Due capacity and enforceability Opinions
Mergers and acquisitions
Advising on director duties, shareholder rights and other aspects of BVI company law
Joint ventures
Public listing of companies and initial public offerings involving BVI entities
Asset finance (and re-financing)
Secured and structured finance
Enforcement of security, re-financing and workouts
Voluntary winding up of BVI companies
BVI fund structures and distressed funds
Private equity fund raising