Dyoll

Issue:

Dyoll was a Jamaican incorporated insurance company with policyholders and insurance licenses in Jamaica and the Cayman Islands. It faced claims in excess of $70 million following Hurricane Ivan in 2004, which it could not pay.

The Cayman Islands Monetary Authority (“CIMA”) took steps to protect Cayman based policy holders by seeking an order from the Cayman court to appoint a Cayman based joint liquidator to act alongside the Jamaican appointee. This was the first such appointment made over a foreign company.

Resolution:

KRyS Global worked with the Jamaican liquidator to establish a liquidation committee, with representatives from both jurisdictions. KRyS Global oversaw the wind-down of operations and realisation of assets, including pursuing litigation against the Jamaican financial regulator, which had sought to prefer the Jamaican creditors over the Cayman creditors. That litigation was subsequently not pursued following negotiations with the Jamaican FSC, which resulted in all assets being brought into the estate and distributed pari passu. Over 3,500 policyholder claims were adjudicated.

Value Added:

The joint appointment allowed for Cayman policy holders to be directly represented in the proceedings and the co-operation of the joint liquidators resulted in significantly increased asset realisations.
Policyholders have seen a return of more than 83%, almost 3 times the original estimate.