On March 2, 2015, an arbitral tribunal composed of Professor Piero Bernardini (President), Professor Rudolf Dolzer, and Dr. Hamid G. Gharavi issued an award in ICSID Case No. ARB/10/13, Hassan Awdi, Enterprise Business Consultants, Inc. and Alfa El Corporation v. Romania. The Tribunal awarded Claimants total damages of EUR 7,690,528.59 (plus interest) and legal costs of US$ 1,000,000, arising from Romania’s breach of the fair and equitable treatment standard in the Treaty between the Government of the United States of America and the Government of Romania Concerning the Reciprocal Encouragement and Protection of Investment (US-Romania BIT or BIT). The Tribunal dismissed Claimants’ expropriation claims of more than EUR 400 million.

 

 

In the early 1990s, Claimant Hassan Awdi (Awdi) went to Romania to pursue opportunities presented by the liberalization of the Romanian economy after the fall of Communism.1 In the context of this dispute, Awdi and his co-Claimants, two U.S. companies controlled by him, acquired Rodipet, a privatized press distribution company previously owned by the Romanian State. Claimants also acquired a historical estate called Casa Bucur from a company owned by the Romanian State agency, which they turned into a luxury boutique hotel and restaurant.