Mambilla project: Nigeria wins $2.35bn arbitration battle against Sunrise Power - Vanguard News
Nigeria has won an arbitration dispute against Sunrise Power over the Mambilla hydropower project, with an International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) tribunal in Paris dismissing the company’s $2.35 billion claim against the country.
The tribunal on Thursday also ordered Sunrise Power and its promoter, Leno Adesanya, to reimburse Nigeria 75 percent of the legal fees and expenses incurred during the arbitration.
In its decision, signed by the three-member panel, the tribunal dismissed Sunrise’s claim that Nigeria breached its contractual obligations under a settlement agreement and an addendum entered into by both parties.
The panel also rejected the company’s request for an order directing Nigeria to pay $400 million, comprising a $200 million settlement sum and another $200 million default sum.
The tribunal further ruled that Adesanya is bound by the arbitration agreement with Nigeria under the settlement agreement and addendum.
It also held that it has jurisdiction over Nigeria’s counterclaim against Adesanya and his firm.
The tribunal put Nigeria’s legal fees and expenses at $11,819,506.51 and ordered Sunrise and Adesanya to reimburse 75 percent of the amount.
Of the sum, $2.5 million will be paid directly from funds held in escrow by the ICC, which will be released following notification of the final award.
Sunrise and Adesanya were ordered to pay the remaining $9,319,506.51, plus interest at an annual rate of 10 percent, “compounded annually, from the date of the notification of this Final Award until such amount is paid in full”.
The tribunal also directed that the arbitration costs be shared, with Sunrise and Adesanya responsible for 75 percent and Nigeria covering the remaining 25 percent.
The total arbitration cost was fixed at $1,656,500.
The panel was chaired by Melaine van Leeuwen, with Stavros Brekoulakis and Simon Nesbitt serving as co-arbitrators.
Nigeria was represented by a legal team led by Elizabeth Oger-Gross and Tolu Obamuroh, now of Paul Hastings LLP.
Sunrise commenced arbitration proceedings against Nigeria at the ICC International Court of Arbitration on October 10, 2017, seeking a $2.354 billion award for “breach of contract” over a 2003 agreement to construct the 3,050MW Mambilla hydropower plant in Taraba State.
The project, valued at $6 billion, was to be developed under a “build, operate and transfer” arrangement.
In a second arbitration, Sunrise sought $400 million under the terms of a settlement agreement reached with the Nigerian government in 2020 to end the initial dispute.
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