Bär & Karrer Team Successfully Represents Areva in High Profile ICC Arbitration

An ICC tribunal chaired by Dutch arbitrator Albert Jan van den Berg has ordered German conglomerate Siemens to pay French energy company Areva SA an amount of EUR 648 million for breaching a nuclear joint venture agreement. In 2009, Siemens had sold its 34 per cent stake in joint venture company Areva NP - the world's biggest maker of nuclear reactors - to its French partner, and announced it was in negitiations with Rosatom, a Russian state-owned company, to set up a rival venture. Siemens must now pay back nearly half of the money from the sale after van den Berg and his co-arbitrators Pierre Tercier (appointed by Siemens) and Pierre-Yves Tschanz (appointed by Areva) accepted Areva's claim that the talks with Rosatom were a breach of a non-compete clause in the joint venture agreement. In addition, Siemens remains bound by the non-compete for four years.

In the ICC proceedings, Areva was represented Gide Loyrette Nouel (Paris) and Bär & Karrer. The B&K team included Daniel Hochstrasser, Cédric Chapuis and Karin Beyeler.