Michael Killourhy

Michael advises on a broad range of British Virgin Islands corporate and corporate finance matters, including mergers and acquisitions, equity and debt capital markets, financings and complex corporate restructuring. Michael is widely recognised as one of the BVI's leading public company experts and its pre-eminent special purpose acquisition company expert. Michael is also a thought leader and key figure in the BVI's embrace of FinTech and other new innovative financial services products.

Background and experience

Michael advises on a broad range of corporate and corporate finance transactional matters, including mergers and acquisitions, equity and debt capital markets, financings and complex corporate restructuring. Michael is widely recognised as one of the BVI's leading public company experts and its pre-eminent special purpose acquisition company expert. Michael's expertise in this area has been recognised internationally with him being invited to take prominent speaker roles in the SPAC industry's premier international convention, as well as being frequently published in leading capital markets journals.

While Michael has been a leading adviser on BVI financial services regulation and investment business for some time, more recently he has led in building Ogier's Tech practice in the BVI to become the pre-eminent one in the BVI. Michael and his team have now advised on newer innovative Tech, Web3 and other virtual asset businesses than any other firm in the BVI. He is the co-chair of Ogier's Technology and Web3 practice group.

Michael is seen as a thought leader and key figure in the BVI's embrace of the digital world. He has also been a member of the BVI FSC's Financial Services FinTech Advisory Board.

Michael's expertise also makes him a key member of Ogier's multi-disciplinary Private Equity team for both the acquisition and exit phases of downstream PE advisory. Complimenting his general acquisitions skills, Michael is a leading BVI practitioner in structuring, investment and shareholder agreements and management and employee incentive arrangements, while his IPO and general capital markets expertise makes him a unique asset on exit strategies. Michael's accomplishments in this area are well illustrated by his role in advising US private equity firm Baupost on its investment in UK prepared foods supplier Bakkavor and its subsequent exit by way of Bakkavor's successful GBP 1 Billion plus IPO on the London Stock Exchange.

Michael is also a market leading adviser on complex corporate and finance reorganisations and reconstructions. He lead the BVI corporate teams on Constellation Overseas' 2019 ground breaking "soft touch" provisional liquidation and subsequent 2020 BVI scheme of arrangement, as well as the mammoth financial reorganisation of UK-Nigerian oil and gas group Severn Energy's note programmes.

With a client list including Coca-Cola, Hyatt Hotels, United Airlines, Western Union and Texas Pacific Group, Michael is highly regarded and respected by both clients and peers in the BVI's legal community. A standing which has led him to be sought out for industry and government advisory appointments in the Territory. Michael is a former member of the board of directors of BVI Finance and the long standing chairman of BVI Finance's Corporate Business Advisory Group. He is a leading adviser to both industry and government bodies in the BVI on the interpretation and application of the BVI's Economic Substance Law. As a thought leader and key figure in the BVI's embrace of FinTech and other new innovative financial services products Michael also sits on the BVI Financial Services Commission's Financial Services FinTech.

Michael studied at BPP Law School in London for his Post-Graduate Diploma in Law (with Distinction) and then for the Legal Practice Course (with Commendation). He was awarded the Blackstone Award for the most outstanding student of the year in 1999. Michael also holds both a Bachelor of Arts and a Master of Arts degree from the University of Oxford (where he read history at St Peter's College) and a Master of Arts degree from Wake Forest University, Winston-Salem, North Carolina.

Admitted in:
2012 - British Virgin Islands
2002 - England and Wales (non practising)