British Virgin Islands

…with the addition of senior associate Joanna Dinning to the team. Joanna deals with a wide variety of corporate and commercial law including mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, corporate, banking and finance transactions.

Joanna joined Maples and Calder in 2006 and has worked in both our British Virgin Islands and Cayman Islands offices prior to moving to London. She has experience across abroad spectrum of structured finance and asset financing transactions, including aircraft and yacht financings as well as advising on establishing and administering offshore investment vehicles.

Chris McKenzie, head of the British Virgin Islands practice group in London, commented: "We are delighted that Jo has joined our team here in London. She is a first class lawyer with particularly relevant experience and will make a valuable and timely addition to our growing practice here in London."

Richard May, formerly partner and head of investment funds group for another firm practising British Virgin Islands law, joined our British Virgin Islands office as a partner and head of investment funds in June 2011.

Commenting on Richard's recruitment, Global Head of the firm's British Virgin Islands law practice, Kieran Walsh, said "Richard is extremely well respected in the investment funds arena, both for his work on hedge funds and private equity funds. Clients appreciate his practical approach to problem solving and sound technical advice. His addition to the team makes yet another improvement to the strength in depth of our British Virgin Islands law offering that is hard to rival."

Richard said, "Joining Maples was the right choice for me. A law firm with an international client base like Maples requires the teams in its different offices to work seamlessly together to provide its client base with consistent and quality legal advice. With its one-firm approach and global reach, Maples achieves these goals and provides the ideal platform for provision of the highest quality legal services to our client base."

...the British Virgin Islands Global group. Commenting on the promotion, Global Managing Partner of the firm, Henry Smith, said "As co-head of our Latin American practice group, Kieran has gained invaluable experience in assessing client needs on a regional basis in addition to by reference to specific legal disciplines.  That meant that Kieran was a natural choice for this role."

Kieran confirmed "I am delighted with the promotion, which gives the firm the commercial advantage of positioning itself in an even more co-ordinated manner than before to service our clients' British Virgin Islands law needs from our different offices.  In today's market, legal and financial trends spread across regions quickly and, in order to best serve clients needs, global co-ordination is key."

Michael Gagie, formerly managing partner for Asia for another firm practising British Virgin Islands law, joined our Hong Kong office as a partner in late 2010. 

Commenting on his move, Global Head of the firm's British Virgin Islands law practice, Kieran Walsh, stated "We are delighted with Michael's decision to join us.  Michael is renowned for his expertise and insight on matters of British Virgin Islands law.  Clients and colleagues alike respect him for his sound commercial advice and technical ability, making him an excellent complement to our team." 

Michael said "I am delighted to have joined the pre-eminent firm practising British Virgin Islands law.  We have by far the largest team of British Virgin Islands and Cayman Islands law practitioners in the region and the firm's footprint in Asia provides a fantastic platform from which to provide clients with appropriate legal advice."

Litigator, Aisling Dwyer moved to our Hong Kong office in early 2011.  Aisling has a wide range of experience in respect of insolvency proceedings, corporate disputes and other areas of international commercial litigation. She has worked on various matters involving distressed funds and has advised shareholders, creditors, liquidators and directors in this regard.

Arabella di Iorio, head of our British Virgin Islands litigation group commented that "Aisling will be sorely missed in our British Virgin Islands office.  She is a barrister with considerable court experience, but given our global reach and strong Asian client base, her relocation is a sound commercial decision from which clients will undoubtedly benefit."

Hong Kong based Partner, John Trehey, who specialises in commercial litigation said "The loss of Aisling from our British Virgin Islands office is a gain for our Hong Kong office.  Aisling has excellent credentials and first hand practical experience of litigating in the courts of the British Virgin Islands, which makes her an invaluable asset to our Hong Kong based team."

Advised Eco Oil & Gas Ltd., an integrated oil and gas exploration company incorporated in the British Virgin Islands, on its business combination with Goldbard Capital Corporation, a company listed on the TSX Venture Exchange which is focused on pursuing exploration and development opportunities within the resource sectors. Goldbard Capital Corp has changed its name to Eco (Atlantic) Oil & Gas Ltd. following the merger.

Advised DnB NOR Bank and Crédit Agricole as mandated lead arrangers on British Virgin Islands law in connection with a US$1.8 billion project financing for the construction, acquisition and operation of four ultra-deepwater drillships by subsidiaries of Pacific Drilling Limited.

Advised former special purpose acquisition company Plastec Technologies, Ltd. (formerly GSME Acquisition Partners I) on British Virgin Islands law and Cayman Islands law on its business combination by way of merger with Plastec International Holdings Limited, an integrated plastic manufacturing services provider operating in the People’s Republic of China.

Represented Arcos Dorados Holdings Inc. ("Arcos"), the world’s largest McDonald’s franchisee in terms of systemwide sales and number of restaurants, in connection with its intra-group spin-off restructuring and its U.S.$1.25 billion listing on the New York Stock Exchange.  The IPO was more than ten times oversubscribed and was the first Latin American IPO to price above target during 2011. Arcos is a British Virgin Islands Business Company based in Buenos Aires with 1,755 McDonald’s branded restaurants in 19 countries and territories in Latin America and the Caribbean.

Advised CNOOC Limited, the largest offshore oil explorer in China, on its joint venture with Bridas Energy Holdings Ltd (an oil exploration company operating in Argentina, Bolivia and Chile) in Bridas Corporation (the British Virgin Islands joint venture company) for a consideration of approximately US$3.1billion.

Advised Camelot Information Systems on its US$150m IPO on the New York Stock Exchange and American depositary shares (ADS) offering, marking the largest US IPO from a PRC company so far in 2010. The Beijing-based company helps to install and maintain business management software, particularly for businesses in China, Japan and Taiwan. Camelot will receive 69% of the proceeds of the sale.