CMS and King & Spalding have successfully represented ACF Renewable Energy Limited – a JV between ACWA Power, Blackrock, and Crescent Capital – in an ICSID case against Bulgaria for the breach of fair and equitable treatment under the Energy Charter Treaty, concerning the 61-megawatt Karadzhalovo photovoltaic plant built in 2012.
According to CMS, it "completed the acquisition of the 61-megawatt Karadzhalovo photovoltaic plant in January 2012 and subsequently defended the investors in the Bulgarian domestic courts against most of the illegal measures taken by the Regulator and other Bulgarian authorities against the Feed-In Tariff, which was fixed for a period of 20 years."
Moreover, the firm reports that, on January 5, 2024, the ICSID tribunal issued its "final award and found that Bulgaria had broken the treaty and ordered them to pay the claimant EUR 61.04 million plus interest, legal costs and expenses of approximately EUR 265,000 and USD 5.2 million, as well as the Tribunal’s and the Secretariat’s fees and expenses of approximately USD 480,000."
Back in 2018, CMS advised ACF Renewable Energy Limited on the restructuring of its debt (as reported by CEE Legal Matters on January 3, 2018), and, in 2020, advised on the sale of the plant to Enery (as reported by CEE Legal Matters on September 15, 2020).
The CMS team included Managing Partner Kostadin Sirleshtov, Counsels Borislava Piperkova and Jenia Dimitrova, Senior Associates Elena Yotova-Yordanova and Borislava Pokrass, and Associate Diyan Georgiev.