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Walkers expands in BVI to meet M&A demand

Posted: 06 May 2008

Walkers, the global offshore law firm, has added three lawyers in its BVI office in response to increased corporate finance, mergers & acquisitions, investment funds, and private equity work the firm is seeing in the jurisdiction.

"The new BVI Business Companies Act has given the jurisdiction a favorable statutory merger regime," explained Jack Boldarin, the head of Walkers Corporate and Finance Department.

In the past year, Walkers has seen an increase in M&A activity as international corporations take advantage of the new Act. "We've also seen an increase in instructions coming from emerging jurisdictions such as Russia, Asia and Dubai," said Boldarin. "Additionally, the New York and London marketplaces have become increasingly aware of the modern, flexible and user-friendly merger regime afforded under the new regulations, and we are seeing more work from those regions as well."

The new BVI legislation allows for an extremely quick merger arrangement to be concluded between the relevant merging entities, and, unlike other jurisdictions, without any requirement to get a court sanction or for the directors of the merging entities to provide personal certifications as to the fairness of the merger. The legislative framework introduces a large amount of flexibility into the merger process and is available for both domestic mergers as well as for international mergers involving foreign companies.

As a result of this increased flexibility, Walkers' BVI office has recently been involved in groundbreaking corporate deals for major global companies including Apax Partners, Tommy Hilfiger Corporation, German Media Partners, ABN Amro, and two major Russian corporations, Russian Copper Company and ZAO JFC Group, the largest fresh-fruit supplier in Russia.

Walkers has also seen a marked increase in BVI investment funds activity. In response, Walkers established an Investment Funds and Private Equity Department in its BVI office earlier this year, doubling the number of funds lawyers in the BVI office, with plans to add more lawyers before the end of the year.

BVI investment funds and private equity funds are also taking advantage of the flexibility of the provisions of the BVI Business Companies Act, which provides some unique features particularly favourable to investment funds and private equity funds, such as the ability to incorporate companies which have the power to issue an unlimited number of shares. Such statutory provisions are contributing to the popularity of the BVI as a jurisdiction for the establishment of hedge funds and private equity funds.

The growth of fund formations in the BVI in recent years has resulted in the BVI now being recognised world-wide as the most popular offshore jurisdiction for the establishment of fund vehicles behind the Cayman Islands.

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