Our Trainee Solicitor Christy Hui’s article, “Arbitration at the Edge of Insolvency: Hong Kong Offshore Strategy after Guy Lam, Sian and Hyalroute”, has been published in the January 2026 issue of Asian Dispute Review.

Focusing on structures in which an immediate holding company is incorporated in the British Virgin Islands (BVI) or the Cayman Islands, this article highlights how variances in approaches to insolvency are no longer merely theoretical but central to strategies for enforcing arbitration clauses. It focuses on how, over the past two years, courts in Hong Kong, the BVI and the Cayman Islands have adopted diverging approaches to arbitration clauses in cases in which creditors seek to wind up debtor companies.

As helpfully compared by Christy, in Hong Kong, arbitration clauses remain a robust shield against liquidation, whereas in the BVI and Cayman Islands, arbitration clauses offer less protection. This asymmetry encourages forum selection by creditors at the debtor’s jurisdiction of incorporation. Hong Kong and BVI/Cayman Islands courts are now apparently moving in divergent trajectories in reconciling arbitration agreements with insolvency remedies. The key insight is not simply that Hong Kong courts are ‘pro-arbitration’ and offshore courts are ‘pro insolvency’. Rather, arbitration clauses now operate as asymmetric tools that may shift bargaining power.

SFKS practices a wide range of dispute resolution, and advises on the drafting and application of arbitration clauses. SFKS also has a vibrant insolvency related legal practice, with abundant exposure to multinational corporations and listed companies with offshore corporate vehicles in different stages of their business cycle.

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