Compass Lexecon Client Smurfit Holdings Awarded $473 million by ICSID Tribunal

Compass Lexecon was retained by Smurfit Holdings B.V.—the Dutch affiliate of Smurfit Westrock, a global supplier of paper-based packaging products—to provide expert testimony on the economic impact of Venezuela's expropriation of its Venezuelan subsidiaries and other breaches of the Netherlands-Venezuela bilateral investment treaty.

The claim had four distinct sources of damages related to the expropriation of forestry assets, limitations imposed on the repatriation of historical dividends, the loss of VAT credits, and ultimately the expropriation of Smurfit’s Venezuela business in 2018.

The Tribunal adopted the valuation methodology proposed by Pablo López Zadicoff and Dr. Manuel Abdala and awarded total compensation of $473.2 million (inclusive of interest and of $4.5 million in legal costs). The nominal sum awarded represents 80% of the nominal damages calculated by Mr. López Zadicoff and Dr. Abdala.

Mr. López Zadicoff and Dr. Abdala presented two expert reports and were cross-examined at a hearing in November 2022. They were supported by a team that included Helena Croce, Matheus Carlos, and Evan Rodriguez. Compass Lexecon worked with a legal team led by Nigel Blackaby and Caroline Richard of Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LLP.