BVI to foster stronger ties with Dubai

The British Virgin Islands’ (BVI) international financial center was represented at two recent conferences and a series of high-level meetings in Dubai, attended to discuss potential financial services synergies and drum up funds and wealth management business for the Caribbean territory.

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A small BVI delegation attended the Hedge Funds World Conference at the Jumeirah Beach Hotel in Dubai, and the Society of Trust and Estate Practioners’ “Opportunities for the Flow of New Wealth Conference” event which discussed business and investment possibilities in Dubai, particularly from the Dubai International Financial Center – a leading tax-free zone.

Executive Director of the BVI International Finance Center, Elise Donovan, commented: “We were given a very warm welcome on our return to the United Arab Emirates and it is clear that many investors from across the region recognize the advantages of using BVI structures and services for conducting international business.”

World Trade Center. Dubai has established itself as a prominent regional hub for finance, trade, tourism, and shopping. Picture courtesy of Basil D Soufi.

BVI firms already have a significant presence in the Gulf region. The BVI office of law firm Conyers, Dill and Pearman, for example, was involved in the Mostorod Oil Refinery Project, named “Project Finance Deal of the Year” in the International Financial Law Review’s Middle East Awards. The firm acted for Citadel Capital, a listed Egyptian private equity firm, on the USD3.7bn financing for the redevelopment of an oil refinery near Cairo. The deal was the largest-ever financing project in Africa and among the largest inward-investments into Egypt.

Donovan continued: “The BVI has become an attractive option to investors from the Gulf States looking to acquire BVI company structures for a multiplicity of investing and other cross-border transactions. BVI’s structures are easy to use, flexible, widely accepted and cost-competitive compared to other products being offered in the region.”

“BVI trusts and fiduciary services and funds and investment business are popular in the Middle East for wealth management, investing, structuring ownership and control, and for planning for the succession of assets. Our aim is to strengthen and deepen the relationship the BVI has with the Middle East so that we can work more closely together in the future.”