Compass Lexecon Client Glencore Wins $254 Million in Damages

Compass Lexecon experts, Dr. Manuel A. Abdala and Ms. Carla Chavich were retained by Glencore Finance Limited (Glencore) as quantum experts in a PCA treaty arbitration against the State of Bolivia. Dr. Abdala and Ms. Chavich assisted in the Tribunal’s finding of a $254 million award for Glencore after Bolivia nationalized the company’s tin and zinc mining assets. The assets involved Colquiri’s tin and zinc mine, tin and antimony smelters, and tin inventories.

The Tribunal endorsed Dr. Abdala and Ms. Chavich's opinions on the use of a DCF methodology and on the appropriate discount rate to value the mine and the tin smelter, finding that the EMBI proxy to compute the country risk premium was adequate without having to scale it up with a multiplier, as proposed by the opposing expert. Further, the Tribunal also ruled out any premium on the discount rate related to illiquidity or size – elements that Dr. Abdala and Ms. Chavich found to be inadequate in this case.

Dr. Abdala and Ms. Chavich were supported by a Compass Lexecon team led by Andrés Barrera. Claimants were represented by Noiana Marigo, Nigel Blackaby, Thomas Walsh, Natalia Zibibbo, Santiago Gatica, and Diego Rueda of Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LLP, and Sandra González, Diego Villarroel and Martín Rosati of Ferrere Abogados.