Arbitration agreements in insolvency proceedings

• This article takes a comparative look at the common law jurisdictions of England and Wales, the British Virgin Islands, the Cayman Islands, Hong Kong and Singapore, particularly in light of recent cases including the Privy Council decision in Sian Participation Corp v Halimeda International Ltd, and a recent decision of the Singapore High Court which departed from Sian.

The intersection of arbitration agreements and insolvency proceedings, particularly in the context of winding-up petitions, remains an area of significant legal complexity. The question often arises: if a creditor seeks to wind up a company based on an alleged debt, but there is an existing arbitration agreement between the parties, can the creditor’s petition be stayed or struck out on the grounds that the dispute should be resolved through arbitration? If so, what threshold must the debtor meet for such an application to succeed?

This article examines how five prominent common