The Court of Appeal of the Cayman Islands Reaffirms Ruling of the Grand Court of the Cayman Islands and Provides Further Guidance on the Interpretation of Section 54 of the Arbitration Act

On March 28, 2024, the Right Honourable Sir John Goldring, President of the Court of Appeal of the Cayman Islands; the Honourable Sir Michael Birt, Justice of Appeal of the Court of Appeal of Cayman Islands; and the Honourable Sir Anthony Smellie, Justice of Appeal of the Court of Appeal of Cayman Islands (the Cayman Court of Appeal), delivered a judgment unanimously dismissing the appeal and reaffirming the ruling made by the Honorable Mr. Justice Segal of the Grand Court of the Cayman Islands on August 3, 2023, which imposed an interim quia timet injunction order against Minsheng Vocational Education Company Limited (Minsheng), a wholly owned subsidiary of the Hong Kong-listed Minsheng Education Group Company Limited (Minsheng Parent), restraining Minsheng from, inter alia, enforcing certain share charges over the 49 percent shares of Leed International Education Group, Inc. (Leed International), a Cayman subsidiary of Minsheng. 

The Cayman Court of Appeal also provided further guidance on the interpretation of Section 54 of the Arbitration Act of the Cayman Islands on an application for interim relief in support of foreign arbitrations.

Wilson Sonsini collaborated with legal teams from Stephen Moverley Smith KC and Walkers to assist clients Leed Education Holding Limited, National Education Holding Limited, and Hyde Education Holding Limited in successfully opposing the abovementioned appeal lodged by Minsheng against the granting of the injunction against Minsheng.

The Wilson Sonsini team counseling on this matter and the ongoing related arbitrations in Hong Kong and Beijing is led by partners Weiheng Chen and Matthew Reed, and includes senior counsel Draco Ng and associates Ava Shelby, Athena Yu, and Yang Liao.

For more information, please see the judgment.