Cases: $6bn international arbitration

We acted for Tethyan Copper, an Australian company, as BVI enforcement lawyers in an attempt to enforce a US$6 billion ICSID (International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes) award against the Islamic Republic of Pakistan.

We were instructed in this matter by Gibson Dunn & Crutcher (New York and London).

This case became the largest foreign arbitration award enforcement case in BVI legal history, and the second largest award in the history of ICSID.

We designed a model to recover approximately US$1 billion of value reposed in an offshore asset protection holding structure by the award debtor and managed to freeze this US$1 billion of value.

In addition, the court granted an ex parte injunction freezing the shares and assets of three BVI companies.

The court appointed an interim asset preservation receiver over the shares and assets of two of the three companies, and directed the receiver to take charge of the downstream subsidiaries of the two companies which in turn owned hotel properties (the Hotel Scribe in Paris and the Hotel Roosevelt in New York).

The case was heavily contested by Pakistan. In June 2021, the High Court set aside its ex parte orders. Tethyan appealed. The parties were then able to reach an interim settlement agreement and the appeal was adjourned to the first available date in 2023.

In December 2022 a final settlement agreement was approved by the Supreme Court in Pakistan and a consent order discontinuing the appeal signed in January 2023. The settlement agreement was highly favourable to the client.