Catherine Wong

Experience

Litigation

• Acted for a group of minority shareholders of a pharmaceutical company in a BVI derivative action against the company’s Hong Kong based directors for damages caused to the company, as a result of an alleged grossly undervalued sale of its assets to its majority shareholder.
• Acted for a BVI company holding a business aircraft in opposing to the continuation of a freezing order and payment into Court of US$4 million.
• Acted for a BVI company in discharging a freezing injunction and opposing a rectification claim concerning a loan agreement and a deed of share charge entered into between the applicant and the former sole director of client pursuant to HK$200 million borrowed by the then sole director.
• Acted for a construction contractor in securing a Norwich Pharmacal Order from the Cayman Islands Courts against a bank account maintained by a Cayman Islands exempted company and its sole director in connection with a fraud totalling over US$28 million.
• Acted for two Cayman limited partnerships, as successful parties in an arbitration, in seeking a validating order in respect of the transfer of certain shares from a Cayman fund (in official liquidation) to the two limited partnerships.
• Acted for the joint official liquidators of a large iron ore mining company in Mongolia in an appeal filed by the controlling shareholder and the former director of the mining company against the dissolution order made against the mining company in the Cayman Islands.
• Acted for a NASDAQ listed company that operates real estate information and analytics service platform in the PRC in a section 238 appraisal proceeding in the Cayman Islands determining the fair value of two dissenting shareholders’ shares upon merger.
• Acted for a Hong Kong listed company which is a leading property developer and one of the top private construction companies in the PRC in opposing an application appointing joint liquidators over the company relying on a statutory demand served on the company depending payment of US$7 million, pursuant to the terms of a New York law governed indenture in the BVI.
• Acted for a Hong Kong listed company engaged in the vocational education business in the PRC in opposing an injunction in aid of ongoing CIETAC and HKIAC arbitrations in the Cayman Islands.
• Acted for the sole shareholder of a company engaged in the manufacturing and packaging business in seeking an order that the liquidation of the company be terminated on the basis that it is just and equitable to do so pursuant to section 233(2) of the BVI Insolvency Act 2003.
• Acted for an individual whose late husband was the sole director of three BVI companies in opposing applications to appoint joint liquidators over the three BVI companies. The applications were made by the applicant as a purported judgment creditor of proceedings in the PRC, and the matter required involvement of Taiwan lawyers to advise on the deceased director’s estate and the contentious probate position in Taiwan.
• Advised a minority shareholder in a BVI shareholder dispute in respect of an aqueous cleaning technologies and traditional chemistries company.
• Acted for a beneficiary of the estate of a deceased businessman who was the founder of one of the largest polystyrene specialist and manufacturer in the world in an application to appoint independent administrators in Asia and in the BVI over the estate in place of the beneficiary’s mother.
• Acted for an international leading provider of corporate trust and agency services in defending claims filed in Bermuda involving an alleged breach of duty as chargee relating to a US$250 million pre-export finance facility agreement and two share charges in satisfaction of conditions precedent set out in the agreement, as well as alleged unlawful means conspiracy.

Insolvency / restructuring

• Acted for a Hong Kong listed company engaged in property development, investment and management activities in making applications for appointment of “light touch” provisional liquidators in Bermuda for the group’s intended debt restructuring.
• Acted for three BVI companies in opposing to an application made by a purported PRC judgment creditor to appoint joint liquidators to the BVI companies.
• Acted for a Hong Kong listed company engaged in forestry management and biomass fuel business in respect of its debt restructuring involving appointment of “light touch” provisional liquidators in the Cayman Islands.
• Acted for an investment manager in making a Court application in the Cayman Islands for the appointment of receivers to facilitate the receivership of a segregated portfolio of a segregated portfolio company.
• Acted for an investment manager in issuing a statutory demand and making an application to appoint official liquidators over the investment advisor of a segregated portfolio company in the Cayman Islands.
• Acted for a crypto derivatives exchange platform incorporated in the Cayman Islands in relation to debt and liquidity issues, including advising on voidable transactions and directors’ duties during insolvency.
• Acted on behalf of a BVI incorporated investment company in relation to a statutory demand issued against the company and in proceedings in the High Court of BVI for enforcement of an arbitral award against the company.
• Advised a BVI incorporated venture capital company in relation to winding up proceedings in the High Court of the BVI concerning a US$14.8 million debt and the company’s intended debt restructuring.
• Advised the board of directors of a Cayman Islands incorporated processing and trading company on corporate governance issues, including the power of the board and the delegation of its powers.
• Advised an SFC licensed asset manager, which is one of several minority shareholders of a Cayman Islands incorporated company which also has a nominated director on the Cayman Islands company’s board, on the feasibility to pursue a restructuring with the assistance of a Cayman court appointed restructuring officer, as some facilities extended to the operating subsidiaries are in default. The scope of advice included directors’ duties, the global moratorium, as well as the responsibilities and powers of the restructuring officer candidates and liquidators.
• Advised a PRC state-owned enterprise that provides supply chain management services on enforcement of a HKIAC arbitral award in the BVI and anti-avoidance provisions under the BVI insolvency regime.
• Assisted various companies / partnerships / funds / unit trusts in their audit waiver, CIMA de-registration, voluntary liquidation / dissolution processes in the BVI and the Cayman Islands.

Enforcement and recognition

• Acted for a leading Chinese financial investment services company in relation to the recognition and enforcement of a Hong Kong International Arbitration Centre arbitral award in the Cayman Islands.

Arbitration

• Acted in an SIAC arbitration for a construction and engineering group concerning the continuous revision of programs and quality of work arising out of the sub-subcontract for the delivery of steel for a large-scale construction project in Sydney.
• Acted in a HKIAC arbitration for a construction company in Hong Kong concerning the continuous changing of construction designs and quality of work and progress for a project in relation to the conversion of a block of flats into serviced apartments.

Expertise

• Asia Disputes & Restructuring
• Dispute Resolution & Insolvency

Qualifications

Professional Background

• Associate, EY Law, Hong Kong
• Associate, Allen & Overy, Hong Kong
• Trainee Solicitor, Norton Rose Fulbright, Hong Kong

Education

• Chinese University of Hong Kong, PCLL, 2016
• London School of Economics and Political Science, LLB, 2015

Bar Admissions

• Hong Kong, Registered Foreign Lawyer, 2023
• British Virgin Islands, Solicitor, 2023
• Bermuda, Registered Associate, 2023
• England and Wales, Solicitor, 2022 (not currently practising)
• Hong Kong, Solicitor, 2019 (not currently practising)

Awards & Accolades

• Recognised as “Recommended Individual – Key Lawyer 2024” by The Legal 500
• Recognised as “Hong Kong Rising Star 2023” by Asian Legal Business
• Individual Gold Award issued by the Law Society of Hong Kong under the Pro Bono and Community Work Recognition Programme, 2022 (and since 2020)
• Grand Leadership Award issued by the Law Society of Hong Kong, the Hong Kong Council of Volunteering and Agency for Volunteer under the Professional Volunteer Service Accreditation Recognition Programme, 2022 (and since 2019)
• Special Award issued by the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region under the Recognition Scheme for Provision of Pro Bono Legal Services, 2022 (and since 2018)

Associations

• Committee Member, Insolvency Law Committee, Law Society of Hong Kong
• Certified Affiliate Member, Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners (STEP)
• Certified Member, International Women’s Insolvency & Restructuring Confederation (IWIRC)
• Certified Member, INSOL International
• Certified Associate Member, Hong Kong Institute of Arbitrators
• Certified Member, Chartered Institute of Arbitrators
• Certified Associate Member, Hong Kong Mediation Centre
• Certified Member, Hong Kong Mediation and Arbitration Centre
• Committee Member, Pro Bono Committee, Law Society of Hong Kong
• Committee Member, Pro Bono and Community Work Recognition Committee, Law Society of Hong Kong
• Committee Member, Law Week Organising Committee, Law Society of Hong Kong

Languages

• Chinese
• English
• Mandarin

Publications

• Recoverability of foreign lawyers’ fees for winning litigants, Author
• Offshore Trust and Estate Litigation Update Series – Part II – BVI: In the Matter of the Estate of Sheikh Saoud Mohamed Al Thani – BVIHCVAP 2021/0001, Author
• Offshore Trust and Estate Litigation Update Series – Part I – Cayman Islands: In the Matter of The X Trust and The Y Trust – FSD 57 of 2022 (IKJ), Author
• Directors: “What shall we do?” – Interplay between the Sequana decision, HSBC v NewOcean Energy Holdings Ltd and the new Cayman restructuring regime, Author
• BVI Shareholders disputes in the context of a feuding family, Author