The number of insolvency petition filings in the Isle of Man dropped to just seven in 2014, according to Appleby, one of the world’s largest providers of offshore legal, fiduciary and administrative services.
The information is contained in a new report from the firm’s Snapshot: 2014 Petition Filings & Orders, which examines the petition filings and resulting court orders in Bermuda, the British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Guernsey, the Isle of Man and Mauritius.
According to the report, the number of insolvency petition filings in most offshore jurisdictions fell in 2014 when compared to 2013, reflecting positive changes in economic conditions over the course of the year.
It found that the Isle of Man has the lowest number of petitions and orders out of all the jurisdictions measured, despite its company registry being bigger than Bermuda, Guernsey or Mauritius.
There are various reasons why the Manx insolvency filing figures are comparatively low including the creditor friendly legal system that allows the out of court appointment of receivers by secured creditors; the ease and cost effective alternative of voluntary winding up and; the absence of a government funded Official Receiver to wind up companies with no assets from which to fund a liquidation.
In total, there were 233 petitions filed across four categories of petitions measured in the report, including winding up petitions, conversion of voluntary liquidation to court supervised liquidation, schemes of arrangement and capital reduction. As a result of those petitions, 102 court orders were made.
Mark Holligon, Partner at Appleby (Isle of Man) LLC, said: ‘These figures suggest that the darkest days of the last recession are now behind us. Companies will always continue to fail for a variety of reasons, no matter what economic conditions then prevail; however, investor confidence in the offshore world has clearly now returned and formal insolvency filings are becoming increasingly rare, as investors focus on new investment opportunities alongside the restructuring of historic businesses.’
Photo - Mark Holligon.
