Rangecroft v. Lenox: Statutory Demands, Arbitration Clauses And S.18 Of The Arbitration Act 2013

The recent first instance decision in Rangecroft Limited v. Lenox International Holdings Ltd BVIHC (Com) 37 of 2020 (unreported, 6 July 2020) is an interesting and potentially far reaching one. If followed by other Commercial Court judges (and upheld by the Court of Appeal), it would substantially alter the way in which liquidation applications are approached in the jurisdiction, particularly where there is an arbitration clause in the agreement from which the petition debt is said to arise. It is a decision of which all commercial practitioners with practices including the BVI should be aware.

In summary, the case concerned an application to appoint liquidators over Lenox (a BVI company) by Rangecroft (a Cypriot company). The underlying petition debt was said to have arisen under the terms of a loan agreement ("the Loan Agreement") between Rangecroft and Lenox (the debtor). That agreement contained a standard form arbitration clause providing that any dispute