HFW expands BVI Corporate & Finance team to meet growing client demand

Global, sector-focussed law firm HFW has expanded its BVI (British Virgin Islands) Corporate & Finance team, enhancing its offering to clients worldwide.

Partner Alex Kyriakoulis, Legal Director Thomas Willan and Associate Grace Serena-Heaton, who are all based in London, were recently admitted to practice BVI law and will be supported by HFW’s network of BVI legal practitioners across the firm’s global offices.

The new team provides a range of transactional services to clients, including advice on corporate structures and company formation, corporate governance, M&A, joint ventures, finance and security arrangements, and other complex, cross-border transactional matters.

The expansion of the firm’s BVI Corporate & Finance team comes at a time of wider growth for the firm’s BVI offering – the number of BVI-qualified lawyers across the firm has increased, particularly in our Hong Kong office  – and to meet client demand following the firm’s recent win in the Eastern Caribbean Court of Appeal, which clarified the duty owed by directors to creditors where the company is facing insolvency.

HFW has acted for clients in offshore jurisdictions for more than 20 years and, in 2022, opened its BVI office to meet the demand of HFW’s international client base, in particular to act on high value, complex, cross-border disputes. Led by Partner Scott Cruickshank, the BVI-based team appears regularly before the BVI Commercial and High courts and works closely with HFW’s offshore teams in London, Hong Kong and Shanghai and with our onshore lawyers across the firm’s global network of 21 offices.

Scott Cruickshank, Partner, HFW: “BVI incorporated companies are one of the most popular and internationally respected offshore holding structures in the world. The BVI is therefore a vital market for many of our global clients. We have expanded our offering for clients by increasing the number of our onshore lawyers who are qualified to advise on BVI-related matters. The expansion of our BVI team will ensure that our global network can more effectively support multinational businesses on their BVI-related corporate and finance activity and to meet client demand around the clock.”

HFW’s international corporate team has extensive experience advising on high value, domestic and cross-border transactions. The firm advises many of the world’s largest companies, private and institutional investors, insurers, governments, private equity funds and investment banks across the full spectrum of corporate and finance transactions.