Daily Times

The Grand Court of Cayman Islands has allowed appointment of Simon Conway of PricewaterhouseCoopers Corporate Finance and Recovery (Cayman) Limited and Michael Jervis and Mohammed Farzadi of PricewaterhouseCoopers as joint provisional liquidators for Abraaj Holdings, the corporation announced on Tuesday.

The court directive would ensure that the rights of all stakeholders could be protected as the company and the liquidators promote a consensual restructuring of the former’s obligations.

The court has also approved an application by Abraaj Investment Management Limited (“AIML”) to appoint David Soden and Stuart Sybersma of Deloitte as liquidators of the fund management business.

The decisions made by the court now enables AH and AIML to independently pursue court-supervised restructuring plans in an orderly fashion and for the benefit of their respective creditors. The restructuring of AH will have minimum impact on the day-to-day operations of the management of funds and their portfolio companies.

Further, the liquidators for AH are authorised to take all necessary steps with a view to developing and proposing, in consultation with the company and its advisors, a restructuring plan. The court order grants extensive powers to the liquidators for the protection and management of the company’s assets, including maintaining oversight of board and management activities to maximise the returns to the stakeholders of the company. The company’s secured creditors have provided their full support for them to work alongside the company to formulate and implement the restructuring plan.

Speaking on the occasion, Michael Jervis, a partner at PwC and one of the joint provisional liquidators, said, “Our role is to manage the restructuring in an orderly fashion, to safeguard the assets of the company, and to ensure that the interests of creditors, employees and broader stakeholders are fully served. The court order enables the company to swiftly move into a stable phase of operations whereby restructuring plans and asset disposals can be executed upon in a protected and controlled environment.”

Arif Naqvi, the Abraaj Group founder, added, “We are pleased with this outcome and grateful to the court for its careful consideration of the issues and positive judgement. The court order validates the position consistently maintained by Abraaj that an orderly restructuring, under the guidance of a highly experienced team, can ensure the outcomes we seek for the company and its creditors.”

Published in Daily Times, June 20^th 2018.