Homburger and Lenz&Staehelin in Alpiq arbitration proceeding
Alpiq and Bouygues Construction initiated arbitration proceedings against each other in 2019 to resolve their disputes regarding the post-closing purchase price adjustment and alleged breaches of representations and warranties, with a total amount in dispute of approximately CHF 320 m. The matter was placed before a Swiss arbitral tribunal constituted under the Swiss Rules of International Arbitration comprising Prof. Sébastien Besson (Chairperson), Dr. Roberto Dallafior and Dr. Urs Weber-Stecher. It involved the analysis of complex accounting and valuation issues. On December 22, 2020, Alpiq announced that the parties had reached a settlement under which Alpiq agreed to refund CHF 54.5 m to Bouygues Construction.
The teams
Homburger’s arbitration team was led by partner Mariella Orelli (pictured left) and included counsel Kirstin Dodge, associates Bénédict Thomann, Dilber Devitre, Okan Uzun, Pietro Meineri and junior associate Magdalena Stock (all Arbitration). Homburger’s arbitration team was assisted by Homburger’s Corporate M&A partners Hansjürg Appenzeller and Daniel Häusermann and Real Estate partner Stefan Gäumann, as well as expert teams from BDO London led by Nick Andrews and David Mitchell. On the clients’ side the matter was dealt with by Peter Schib, Head Group Legal, and Martin Schindler, Head Corporate M&A and Infrastructure.
Lenz & Staehelin with Rudolf Tschäni (pictured right) and Harold Frey advised and acted as second counsel (in addition to Homburger) to Alpiq and its board.
