Topic: Attachments and freezing orders

Bahamian oil company Perenco has frozen Luxembourg bank accounts used by Ecuador to make coupon payments associated with sovereign bonds, with the ICSID award holder claiming this raises the possibility of the state defaulting to creditors.

01 August 2022

A fuel importer that won a US$23 million award of security against Haiti last year has sought to attach state assets held by American Airlines until the arbitration is concluded.

25 July 2022

A French court has granted Malaysia a stay of a US$15 billion award won by heirs to a sultanate on the island of Borneo after finding its enforcement could infringe on the country’s sovereignty – as the heirs secure an attachment over Luxembourg subsidiaries of the Malaysian national oil company.

12 July 2022

The Hague Court of Appeal has lifted a US$5.2 billion attachment order imposed on Kazakhstan’s sovereign wealth fund as part of efforts to enforce an Energy Charter Treaty award against the state – as the Moldovan creditors instruct a new counsel team in the long-running dispute.

23 June 2022

Albania is facing an Energy Charter Treaty claim by an Austrian engineering company over a failed power plant project – as the state sees a Belgian court issue attachments in relation to an ICSID award won by a group of Italian investors.

05 May 2022

US President Joe Biden’s proposals to make it easier to sell off assets of Russian oligarchs in response to the war in Ukraine could lead to investment arbitrations against the United States, but practitioners are doubtful that such claims would succeed.

29 April 2022

A French court has lifted attachments on assets of the Libyan Investment Authority worth several hundred million euros – following a European Court of Justice ruling that practitioners say is also likely to complicate enforcement against Russian assets.

20 April 2022

Peter Ferrer of Harneys considers a recent British Virgin Islands freezing injunction granted in aid of a foreign arbitration against non-signatories and how it departs from English principles.

25 February 2022

A Kuwaiti company’s efforts to collect on a billion-dollar award against Libya may have been dealt a blow after the European Court of Justice ruled that EU law precludes the attachment of assets that have been frozen as a result of international sanctions.

11 November 2021

A Hong Kong court has granted an injunction in aid of a CIETAC claim over a share transfer that was terminated on the grounds of covid-19 and “deteriorating Sino-US relations”.

20 October 2021