Areas

i. Investment Arbitration.

• Continuous legal advice in arbitrations, litigations and other alternative means to solve disputes, referred to low, medium and highly-complex international and local conflicts.
• Advice under the Bilateral Investment Protection Treaties and concessions, referred to an important dispute that set Vivendi against the Argentine Government, regarding matters of jurisdiction at a provincial, national and international level. In 2002, a nullifying arbitration award in favor of Vivendi was obtained from a Court of the ICSID, (the fourth one in its 35 years of existence) that conferred upon the French investor and its subsidiary in Argentina the effective exercise of the protection rights contemplated in said Treaty.
• Legal advice and representation of Total as regards the analysis, preparation and presentation of an international claim before the ICSID under the Bilateral Investment Treaty, considering all the questions of law and formalities, the background information of the case and the impact of government measures. The claim comprises interests in natural gas (exploration permits and concessions for exploitation, natural gas purchase and sale agreements and regulatory intervention thereof) exploration, production and transportation (interests in local and international natural gas pipelines), thermal energy and generation of hydroelectric energy.
• Legal advice to Gaz de France for the analysis of a possible arbitration before the ICSID, with respect to the public utility company in charge of the distribution of gas in Argentina, Gas NEA.
• Legal advice to Electricité de France referred to the ratification and performance of international arbitration awards in Argentina.
• Preliminary opinions with respect to an eventual international arbitration under the ICSID’s regulations with respect to the service of a power plant in an Argentine province.
• Preliminary opinions with respect to an eventual international arbitration under the ICSID’s regulations related to unpaid debt bonds, issued by the Argentine Republic.

ii. Commercial Arbitration.

a) ICC Rules

• Advice in cases of international arbitration before the International Chamber of Commerce –ICC-), including:
• Legal advice in an arbitration of the ICC, seated in the City of Geneva, representing an Argentine company in a conflict for the joint acquisition of an important construction enterprise, especially regarding several joint venture agreements.
• Legal advice in an arbitration of the ICC, seated in the City of Miami, representing an Argentine company that was sued by its New Zealand counterparty, as a result of an alleged non-performance of certain shareholders’ agreements, accessory to a joint venture agreement, with respect to an Argentine company.
• Legal advice in an arbitration of the ICC, seated in the City of Buenos Aires, representing a Mutual Fund in a conflict raised against an important foreign state-owned oil company, for the defense of the validity of certain stock acquisitions agreed upon in the receivership proceedings of an Argentine oil and gas company which discussion comprised the validity and extent of pre-emptive rights under Temporary Unions of Companies (UTE) agreements. In said arbitration, the existence of matters not subject to arbitration and lack of jurisdiction were raised, which were favorably sustained by the Courts and said matter reached the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation. Mandatory discovery measures were obtained also and caused the abandonment of the claim by the counterparty.
• Legal advice in an arbitration of the ICC, seated in the City of Geneva, representing a multinational pharmaceutical company that sued its counterparty, an Argentine pharmaceutical company, t require the specific performance of a contractual obligation not to compete. Precautionary measures were applied for and obtained supporting the arbitration proceeding filed.
• Legal advice in an arbitration of the ICC, seated in the City of Buenos Aires representing an Argentine oil company and its shareholders in a dispute raised by two foreign companies requiring the performance of a stock purchase agreement that had been terminated by the selling party and the relief for the damages that the purchasing party argued to have suffered. In said arbitration the issues related to the purchasers’ rights under the purchase agreement were analyzed, as well as the pre-emptive rights contemplated in different stockholders’ agreements, valuation of oil areas and discoveries occurred in areas under exploration permits and concessions for oil exploitation. Likewise, said arbitration was related to ad-hoc arbitration, pending under the Regulations of Arbitration of the Stock Exchange of the City of Buenos Aires, in which this Firm also took part, in which other companies claimed the performance of certain pre-emptive rights.
• Legal advice in an arbitration of the ICC, seated in the City of Buenos Aires representing wo oil companies of national capital that filed an arbitration proceeding against the Argentine subsidiary of a Malayan state-owned oil company in which the companies represented by this Firm claimed and obtained an award that ordered the other party the specific performance of a purchase of property agreement, executed after the acceptance of the offer submitted by the latter party, as a result of certain pre-emptive rights contained in different Stockholders’ Agreements and to pay the damages resulting from the non-performance of said pre-emptive rights by the other party. Precautionary measures were applied for and obtained supporting the arbitration proceeding filed and, in a subsequent proceeding, the enforceability of the rights acknowledged in the award with respect to a third party that attempted to acquire said shares.
• Legal advice in an arbitration of the ICC, seated in the City of Buenos Aires representing the local subsidiary of one of the most important engineering companies at a worldwide level in the conflict raised by its counterparty, related to the improper termination decided by the counterparty of an agreement for the repair and restoration of value of the propulsion system and installation of electrical systems of an icebreaker belonging to the Argentine Government, that is used in the Antarctic campaigns. In this case a counterclaim for the damages caused was filed.
• Legal advice in an arbitration of the ICC, seated in the City of Buenos Aires representing the local subsidiary of one of the most important engineering companies at a worldwide level in the conflict raised by its counterparty, related to the performance of a work.
• Legal advice in an arbitration of the ICC, seated in the City of Geneva representing the local subsidiary of an Enterprise devoted to the supply of data for the pharmaceutical industry in which the performance of non-competition obligations is discussed. In this case a counterclaim for the damages caused was filed.
• Legal advice rendered to Shell Compañía Argentina de Petróleo S.A. in connection with the possibility of filing claims before the ICC against third parties.

b) American Arbitration Association.

• Legal assistance and advice in international arbitration and local litigations including arbitration under the American Arbitration Association’s rules, regarding a complaint amounting to U$S 200 millions that set Reef International Inc. y Pet-Ja S.A. against Compañía General de Combustibles S.A., Sociedad Comercial del Plata S.A., Shell Compañía Argentina de Petróleo S.A. and Shell Oil Company. In said process a restraining order was successfully obtained for the benefit of Shell Compañía Argentina de Petróleo to avoid the local enforcement of an eventual negative judgment against Shell Compañía Argentina de Petróleo S.A.
• Legal advice in connection with the consequences of the arbitration award rendered against Compañía General de Combustibles S.A., under the American Arbitration Association’s rules, within the bankruptcy proceedings both, of Compañía General de Combustibles S.A. and Sociedad Comercial del Plata S.A. Registration in said processes of two conditional claims for more than U$S 140 M as a consequence of the indemnity obligations under a Stock Purchase Agreement with respect to an award rendered against Compañía General de Combustibles S.A. which extension to Shell Compañía Argentina de Petróleo was attempted by Reef International Inc.

c) General Arbitration Court of the Stock Exchange of the City of Buenos Aires.

• Abeledo Gottheil represented a gas and Oil Company in an arbitration conducted under the arbitration rules of the Stock Exchange of Buenos Aires. Said company was sued by two Argentine subsidiaries of leading multinational companies. In this case the extent of certain pre-emptive subscription rights was discussed by virtue of a Temporary Union of Enterprises Agreement (Contrato de Unión Transitoria de Empresas), and judicial claims are involved as regards certain precautionary measures applied for within the framework of the arbitration.
• Legal advice in an arbitration pending before the Arbitration Court of the Stock Exchange of the City of Buenos Aires on behalf of one of the largest companies of national capital in which a call option was discussed, as well as its resolution and the suitability of the payment of certain sums deposited as a guarantee of the call option by one of the involved parties.
• Legal advice for th promotion of an arbitration before the Arbitration Court of the Stock Exchange of the City of Buenos Aires on behalf of one of the largest companies of national capital in which the violation of certain representations and guarantees granted in a stock purchase agreement and the performance of the indemnity clauses therein contemplated.

d) Mediation and Arbitration Business Center.

• Legal advice in an arbitration conducted in the City of Buenos Aires, representing an American company that sued its Argentine counterparty, for failure to acquire a group of companies that was the owner and produced important cable TV signals broadcasted in Argentina and Latin America.

e) Court of Arbitration for Sport.

• Legal advice in an arbitration conducted in the City of Lausanne, Switzerland, regarding the questioning of a provision adopted by the Argentine Football Association (Asociación del Fútbol Argentino) punishing first division football clubs.

f) Appointments with Arbitrators and composition of panels.

• Appointment and performance as arbitrators in several arbitrations under the rules of the Mediation and Arbitration Business Center (Centro de Mediación y Arbitraje), Argentina, of which Julio Gottheil was its founding president.
• Appointment of Luis Alberto Erize as arbitrator in the ICC arbitration, who composes also the panel of arbitrators of different arbitration institutions, like the Mediation and Arbitration Business Center (Centro de Mediación y Arbitraje), and likewise, he is well-known in said matter for different publications as Chambers and Partners Latin América, Legal 500 and Latin Lawyer.
• Appointment of Hernán Martín Oriolo in the panel of arbitrators of the Mediation and Arbitration Business Center (Centro de Mediación y Arbitraje), who likewise, is well-known in said matter for different publications as Legal 500 and Latin Lawyer and has received the approval granted by the Latin American Corporate Counsel Association since 2016 up to this date on arbitration.
• Appointment of Marcelo E. Gallo and Rodrigo B. Hernández in the panel of arbitrators of the Mediation and Arbitration Business Center.
• Abeledo Gottheil Abogados was one of the founders of the Mediation and Arbitration Business Center (Centro de Mediación y Arbitraje – CEMA-), for the resolution of conflicts between entre top leading companies since year 1997 up to nowadays.