Barbara Gayle, Staff ReporterTHE SUPREME Court yesterday granted an order for Dyoll Insurance Company, which has been in existence since 1964, to be wound up.
The decision was due to the fact that claims made by policy holders in the Cayman Islands arising from damage to properties and motor vehicles caused by Hurricane Ivan last September have exceeded the company's reinsurance limits and severely impaired its capital base.
Keith Cooper, the Trustee in Bankruptcy, has been appointed provisional liquidator. He is to convene meetings of creditors and contributors within the next 30 days so that a liquidator can be appointed.
Mr. Justice Patrick Brooks made the orders yesterday when he granted the petition which was brought by the Financial Services Commission (FSC). The company was wound up by the court pursuant to the provisions of the Companies Act 2004.
Dyoll Group, the majority shareholder in the insurance company which was represented by attorney-at-law Dave Garcia of Myers, Fletcher and Gordon, did not oppose the application to wind up the company.
Panton Realty Ltd., a Caymanian company which is a creditor of the insurance company and has an investment of $48 million, supported the winding-up petition. Dwight Panton, a director and shareholder of the company, had suggested that Kenneth Krys, one of the liquidators appointed for the Dyoll Insurance Company portfolio in the Cayman Islands and John Lee, a Jamaican chartered accountant of PriceWaterHouseCoopers should be appointed as provisional liquidators because of their expertise.
Attorneys-at-law Nicole Foster-Pusey and Symone Mayhew from the Attorney-General's Department, who represented FSC, argued that the Companies Act made provision for the Trustee in Bankruptcy to be appointed provisional liquidator, therefore it was not necessary to have any other provisional liquidator.
The judge turned down the realty company's application on the ground that he did not have the powers under the Companies Act to make such appointments.
The FSC appointed Kenneth Tomlinson as temporary manager on March 7 and it is his finding that Dyoll has a deficit of $1.1 billion.
