Bio
John Wasty is Head of Bermuda’s Dispute Resolution practice.
In his Bermuda role, John leads the Bermuda Insolvency & Restructuring team and the Regulatory Disputes team. John also leads the Insurance and Reinsurance Disputes practice globally.
He specialises in the areas of commercial litigation, restructuring, insolvency litigation, funds litigation and regulatory matters and has represented clients in a wide variety of commercial disputes in Bermuda, London, the US, Europe and Asia.
John frequently advises on a wide variety of contentious insolvency matters, complex multi-jurisdictional restructurings and all issues arising out of schemes of arrangement. In particular he has experience in Bermuda light touch provisional liquidations accompanying Chapter 11 proceedings in the US. In recent years John has advised on the Noble, Seadrill and C&J restructurings amongst many others.
His complex international and local commercial dispute resolution expertise includes shareholder and joint venture, funds and fund managers, M&A, financial institution, regulatory (particularly Bermuda Monetary Authority, Financial Intelligence Agency and Regulatory Authority of Bermuda) and advisory work. John has extensive experience in a broad range of corporate governance matters. He also regularly advises on sanctions related issues.
He is also frequently involved in major arbitrations in Bermuda and internationally in both commercial and insurance/reinsurance matters.
He advises insurers, reinsurers, policyholders, captives and brokers in disputes in the London Market, the US, Europe and Asia.
In the regulatory sphere, John has an extensive body of experience in dealing with the Bermuda Monetary Authority and the Regulatory Authority of Bermuda in relation to AML/ATF, banking/financial institution, telecommunications, insurance and reinsurance, and fund regulation and enforcement issues including regularly advising Bermuda’s largest companies and their management in connection with On-site Investigations, Warning Notices, Decision Notices and appeals of Bermuda Monetary Authority and Regulatory Authority of Bermuda decisions.
John is consistently recognised by Chambers Global since 2009 and ranked band 1 for Dispute Resolution. He is a well-established litigator who regularly advises clients on insolvency and commercial litigation, as well as debt restructuring and regulatory matters, among others. “He drives cases with considerable brio, tact and knowledge. His ability to achieve the client’s objectives within the legal, practical and procedural demands of large-scale litigation is impressive,” enthused one interviewee.
John is also repeatedly ranked as a ‘Leading Individual’ by Legal 500 Caribbean for his dispute resolution practice where he is described as “a clever strategic thinker with an encyclopaedic knowledge of Bermuda law” and “the weapon of choice for bet-the-farm issues”. Clients praise John as: “A superb litigator and tactician with a keen sense of what will and won’t work. His knack of combining strong leadership, assiduous client care and a supportive approach to colleagues, often under considerable pressure, is truly impressive.”
John is identified as a leading commercial litigator and insurance/reinsurance specialist in the Practical Law Company’s Which Lawyer Guide. He is also recognised as a thought leader in the Insurance & Reinsurance chapter of WWL: Thought Leaders – Global Elite 2021. John is also listed as being among the world’s preeminent lawyers in The International Who’s Who of Insolvency and Restructuring Lawyers, The International Who’s Who of Insurance and Reinsurance Lawyers, The International Who’s Who of Asset Recovery and The International Who’s Who of Business Lawyers.
John is Chair of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators Bermuda Branch and a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators. In addition to being admitted in Bermuda, John has also been admitted in New York, England, Hong Kong, Canada and the British Virgin Islands.
Prior to joining Appleby, John practised extensively in both London and Hong Kong with a leading global law firm.
Publications:
- The Insolvency Review – Edition 10 – The Law Reviews, October 2022
- Advising Directors – Corporate Live Wire, Litigation & Dispute Resolution – Expert Guide, October 2022
- Bermuda: a restructuring destination – Bermuda Business Review – June 2022
- Digital assets in a crypto winter – The Royal Gazette, Legally Speaking – June 2022
- Provisional Liquidation in Bermuda – Corporate Live Wire, Bankruptcy & Restructuring – Expert Guide, May 2022
- Defining digital assets in insolvency proceedings – The Royal Gazette, Legally Speaking – April 2022
- Americas Restructuring Review 2022 – Global Restructuring Review, December 2021
- Provisional liquidation in Bermuda and the selection of provisional liquidators – Corporate Live Wire, Bankruptcy & Restructuring – Expert Guide, November 2021
- A Bermuda perspective: Conflict of laws in multi jurisdictional (re)insurance disputes – Corporate Live Wire, Litigation & Dispute Resolution – Expert Guide, October 2021
- The Insolvency Review – Ninth Edition – The Law Reviews, October 2021
- Bermuda: An introduction to Dispute Resolution – Chambers and Partners Global Practice Guide – July 2021
- Americas Restructuring Review 2021 – Global Restructuring Review – December 2020
- The Insolvency Review, Eighth Edition – The Law Reviews – December 2020
- Restructuring & Insolvency 2020 – Lexology Getting the Deal Through – January 2020
- Americas Restructuring Review 2020 – Global Restructuring Review – December 2019
- The Insolvency Review, Seventh Edition – The Law Reviews – December 2019
- Bermuda’s rescue culture in action: Noble Group Limited – The Bankruptcy & Restructuring Expert Guide – May 2019
- Restructuring & Insolvency: Bermuda – Getting The Deal Through – January 2019
- Bermuda Chapter – The Insurance Disputes Law Review Edition 1 – December 2018
- The Winding-up of C&J Energy Limited in Bermuda in 35 Days: A Case Study of Accelerated Winding-up in Bermuda – International Corporate Rescue – 2017
DEALS:
- GASLOG LTD., Acting as Bermuda counsel to the Special Committee of Gaslog Ltd. in relation to its entry into an agreement and plan of merger, resulting in the sale of common shares to BlackRock’s Global Energy & Power Infrastructure team;
- SEADRILL, Advised the coordinating committee representing a bank group holding USD 7.4 billion in secured debt, on Seadrill Limited’s successful completion of its USD 10 billion restructuring plan pursuant to its chapter 11 plan of reorganisation. This high profile restructuring was one of the most complex restructurings in history and the largest ever in the offshore drilling sector;
- VIRGIN GROUP INVESTMENTS, Advised the Virgin Group Investments Ltd, the investment arm of billionaire Richard Branson’s family, in connection with new cruise industry venture by designing and constructing two new world class cruise ships;
- TRITON CONTAINER INTERNATIONAL LIMITED, Advised on TCIL’s merger with TAL International Group, Inc., a NYSE-listed, US company (TAL). The transaction will create the world’s largest lessor of intermodal freight containers with revenue generating assets of $8.7 billion;
- AFRICAN RISK CAPACITY INSURANCE COMPANY LIMITED, Advised on the Bermuda incorporation and registration of African Risk Capacity Insurance Company Ltd, valued at USD$135 million, intended to help participating African Union member states become more resilient to extreme weather;
- LARGE MULTINATIONAL TRANSPORTATION AND SHIPPING COMPANY, Provided Bermuda law restructuring advice in a matter involving the restructuring of numerous internationally governed debt facilities. The proposed restructuring involves a number of new proposals novel to Bermuda law;
- LARGE INTERNATIONAL FINANCIAL INSTITUTION, Acted as Bermuda law expert in defending a large class action brought against the financial institution;
- VERY LARGE GLOBAL MULTINATIONAL OIL AND GAS COMPANY, Provided Bermuda law advice relating to potential restructuring plans and Bermuda schemes of arrangement in a complex group wide multi-national debt restructuring matter;
- C&J ENERGY SERVICES LIMITED, Advised and represented C&J Energy Ltd and C&J Corporate Services (Bermuda) Ltd in respect of parallel provisional liquidation proceedings in Bermuda and chapter 11 proceedings in the United States of America;
- L.F. WADE INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT – THE FINANCIAL INVESTORS, Advised on the Bermuda law relating to the financing of the redevelopment of the L. F. Wade International Airport in Bermuda (Redevelopment) pursuant to which the clients subscribed for USD 285 million of fixed coupon notes;
- KEYTECH LIMITED, Advising in connection with a multi-layered transaction that included the acquisition of the remainder of Bermuda Digital Communications Ltd. (CellOne) and the acquisition by Atlantic Tele-Network, Inc., of a controlling interest in Keytech;
- AFRICAN RISK CAPACITY INSURANCE COMPANY LIMITED, Acted in connection with the expansion of the existing business (drought insurance coverage) to parametric risk models to underpin new parametric insurance programmes to cover tropical cyclone and flood risk for African Union member countries.
Education:
University of British Columbia (Canada) (JD)
Osgoode Hall Law School, York University (Canada) (LLM)
“[John] is one of the best litigators around, providing excellent technical yet business-savvy legal advice and jumping in with both feet to do all he can to support his client’s position.”
