Offshore Report | April 2021 Queen’s Gambit: Walkers riding the SPACs wave Focus: Hong Kong at a Crossroads ogier.com We get straight to the point, managing complexity to get to the essentials. Every piece of work is a collaboration. We listen actively, asking the right questions, focused on what really matters. We deliver targeted, pragmatic advice with absolute clarity. To the point. Legal services British Virgin Islands Cayman Islands Guernsey Hong Kong Jersey London Luxembourg Shanghai Tokyo April 2021 | Offshore Report Contents Offshore elite firms thrive despite challenges 4 The SPACs phenomenon 10 Queen’s Gambit – a different kind of SPAC 16 Gibraltar: a hub for crypto entrepreneurs 18 Hong Kong at the crossroads 22 Editor: Designer: Chris Morrish Dominic Carman Creative Director, Pagelab T: +44 (0)7930 644201 www.pagelab.co.uk Reports Legal E:
[email protected] Research Legal Ltd Consultant: Alex Berry Creative Director, Maltin PR Kemp House www.maltinpr.com Business Director: 160 City Road James Air Sub-editor: Laura Air London EC1V 2NX T: +44 (0)7557 258410 Research: Rachel Carman E:
[email protected] Digital Publisher: PageSuite www.pagesuite.com 3 Offshore Report | April 2021 Offshore elite firms thrive online despite challenges Dominic Carman examines how offshore law firms have flourished during the Covid-19 pandemic he offshore market is major OFCs have fared over the ▲ For the divided between the Caribbean complex: each offshore past year, the phenomenal rise of offshore elite, and the Channel Islands. Three it has been financial centre (OFC) has offshore SPACs (special purpose are British Overseas Territories: T business almost unique characteristics although acquisition companies) during the as usual during Bermuda, the British Virgin they still compete with one Covid-19 pandemic, Gibraltar’s the past year Islands (BVI) and the Cayman another in multiple areas of growth as a crypto-friendly Islands; the other two are Crown business.