Sebastian Perry

Saudi and Kuwaiti investors have threatened Pakistan with a US$2 billion claim under the OIC investment agreement for blocking the sale of a Karachi electric utility and interfering with a regulator’s decisions on tariffs.

An Israeli family have made good on their threat to bring an investment treaty claim against Cyprus in response to criminal proceedings over their development of property in the Turkish-occupied part of the island. 

Delaware’s Bankruptcy Court has approved a deal to extinguish a US$115 million ICC award won by a US telemedicine group in return for a payment of just US$10 million from the Indian award debtors.

The owner of Malaysian low-cost airline AirAsia has announced the end of a SIAC arbitration in which the founders of a Singapore fintech company sought a US$183 million buyout of their shares – as a set-aside hearing looms. 

A Spanish mining company is pursuing a billion-dollar investment treaty claim against Equatorial Guinea at the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague, it has emerged.

A UK judge has criticised US financial analyst Brent Kaczmarek and Ukrainian arbitration lawyer Oleg Alyoshin over expert evidence they gave on behalf of an oligarch who was found liable in a US$1.9 billion bank fraud litigation.

The Delhi High Court has restrained a Singapore-seated ICC arbitration relating to work on a border security system in Oman because of an arbitrator’s “deliberate concealment” of a prior appointment by the claimant’s chairman.

Portugal’s supreme court has upheld the recognition of a billion-dollar investment treaty award against Venezuela, rejecting the state’s immunity and public policy defences. 

An Indian multinational says it is facing an ICC claim from a French family-owned industrial group relating to the €520 million sale of an automotive lighting systems business three years ago.

The Czech Republic’s gas transmission system operator says it has won a second arbitration against Gazprom’s exports arm over its failure to make monthly payments under their gas transportation contracts.

Jones Day has taken over as counsel to a subsidiary of the Eurasian Resources Group in an ICSID claim against the Democratic Republic of the Congo over cancelled mining permits, for which a tribunal is now in place.

Romania’s interim prime minister Cătălin Predoiu has opened the Bucharest Arbitration Days by highlighting the uncertainty for investors created by the conflict between EU law and investment arbitration.

Three partners at Ukrainian firm Eterna Law have been acquitted of fraud charges in Switzerland after a former arbitration client withdrew a criminal complaint that they had forged a legal services agreement.

A subsidiary of Russia’s central bank is trying to enforce a US$565 million LCIA award against companies linked to the family of a Russian property tycoon – while a related fraud litigation in the UK has been adjourned.

A Cayman court has allowed a Chinese conglomerate to pursue an “otherwise unmeritorious” appeal over a US$134 million HKIAC award, finding there was a public interest in dispelling doubt about the regime for service of ex parte orders for enforcement of foreign awards.

The former owners of a Dutch agricultural commodities trader have failed to overturn an ICC award that required them to pay US$125 million in damages to a Chinese multinational for committing fraud during a billion-dollar M&A transaction.

A Singapore court has upheld an award relating to the sale of a container vessel despite finding the challenging party was justifiably aggrieved at the award’s “lack of quality”.

London-listed oil company Rockhopper Exploration says it has received an initial payment from a deal to monetise an Energy Charter Treaty award against Italy, resulting in a €26 million payout to the funder that backed the arbitration.

The International Chamber of Commerce has reappointed Claudia Salomon as president of its International Court of Arbitration, also naming seven new vice-presidents.

A North Sea oil and gas driller has agreed to settle a dispute with a Singaporean state-owned shipyard over terminated contracts for the construction of a pair of semi-submersible rigs, which gave rise to two arbitrations.