mARCH 2012 www.lawyer-monthly.com Legal Expert Board 43

jurisdictions continuing to be seen as a legitimate alternative to the onshore jurisdictions. We have very strict rules with regard to obtaining client due diligence and source of funds information, with a zero tolerance policy towards non-adherence. This has ensured adverse publicity is kept to a minimum, with the political capital to be made out of targeting the offshore world reduced as a consequence. The Organisation for Economic Cooperation & Development has a white list of compliant jurisdictions conducting financial services business on which all the major offshore centres can be seen and remaining there is an imperative for all of us as the onshore and offshore financial centres seek to retain an alliance beneficial to all.

Q

what are the main legal implications that companies should be aware of when looking to invest in your jurisdiction?

They must analyse the rationale for using an offshore financial centre, the investment profile, the types of investors they are seeking to attract (and where they are based) and their long-term objectives, to ensure that they can legitimately achieve the results they seek. Any tax benefits must focus on tax avoidance, which is perfectly legal, not tax evasion, which is not. They should check the tax and legal position in their home jurisdiction so as to ascertain if there will be any knock-on effects, in tax terms or otherwise, in using an offshore investment vehicle and also to determine the consequences if they choose at some stage in the future to bring their offshore funds back onshore.

My own practice focuses on corporate finance and structured finance, mergers and acquisitions, banking and international real estate finance, as well

Q

what are the main types of cases you deal with?

as regulatory and legislative compliance. My clients include multi-national banks and financial institutions, global corporates, investment advisers, real estate funds, trust companies and fund administrators.

Recent transactions on which I have advised include:

(i) providing Eastern Caribbean Securities Act advice to several financial institutions looking to enter the OECS market;

(ii) drafting and negotiating debt and equity investment documents and related security documentation, for both borrower and lender, in relation to multi-million dollar financings and property and aircraft acquisitions involving Anguilla, Nevis and BVI entities;

(iii)advising on the proposed multi- million dollar acquisition of a major resort hotel; and

(iv) advising on the investment by a major European financial institution into a Caribbean healthcare company.

Q

what are the main challenges your clients face and how do you help them to navigate them?

The biggest challenge facing our clients is, as touched on above, understanding the relationship between their onshore and offshore requirements and obligations, whether legal, regulatory or regarding taxation. We can assist in ensuring all the pieces of a multi- jurisdictional transaction fall into place for a successful completion by the provision of efficient service and accurate legal advice, aided by our appreciation of the whole deal, not just our small part of it, and our ability to interact on the same wavelength with the onshore lawyers, giving the client seamless service and making the other lawyers’ jobs easier not harder. We have contacts globally through our membership of associations such as Lex Mundi and World Services

Group, so we can ensure clients receive quality professional advice in all parts of the world where they may choose to do business.

The offshore world, despite what some politicians and commentators may say, is not a place of suitcases filled with used notes, or bank accounts storing ill-gotten gains opened with no questions asked. The major offshore financial centres offer a sophisticated and advanced environment to do business, a legitimate and legal alternative to structuring a deal onshore in a tax efficient and flexible manner. LM

Q

Is there anything else you would like to add?

Contact:

Jeremy Leese Head of Corporate & Commercial

Webster Dyrud Mitchell Victoria House PO Box 58 The Valley Anguilla

British West Indies

Tel: +1 264 461 2060 ext. 220 +1 264 461 3096

Email: jleese@websterdyrud.com