Hague tribunal unanimously finds Indian government liable for expropriating investments in Devas Multimedia, damages award to follow, according to Columbia Capital and Telcom Ventures

ALEXANDRIA, Va., July 27, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- A Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) tribunal this week unanimously found that the Republic of India expropriated the investments of shareholders of Devas Multimedia Private Ltd. (Devas) in February 2011, when it annulled a contract between Devas and Antrix Corporation Ltd. (a wholly-owned company of the Indian Government). The Hague-based PCA tribunal also unanimously found that the Indian government's actions violated its treaty commitment to provide fair and equitable treatment to its Mauritius-based shareholders.

India is now liable to pay damages to those shareholders, which include subsidiaries of Alexandria, Virginia-based Columbia Capital and Telcom Ventures. Columbia Capital and Telcom Ventures are led by well-known U.S. telecommunications investors, engineers and entrepreneurs who have built a portfolio of industry leaders in the communications, media and enterprise information technology industries, such as Sirius XM Radio, Zayo, and Millennial Media.

Antrix, operating as the marketing arm of India's International Space Research Organization (ISRO), entered into an agreement with Devas in 2005 for the long-term lease of two ISRO satellites operating in the S-band. By denying the commercial use of the S-band spectrum, the Indian Government committed an expropriation, making it liable to pay compensation.

"We are gratified that the tribunal agreed that Devas's shareholders suffered an expropriation as a result of India's annulment of the Devas-Antrix contract," said Arun Gupta, a Partner at Alexandria-based Columbia Capital. Columbia Capital's affiliate, CC/Devas (Mauritius) Ltd., is among the claimants in the PCA proceeding. "Together with Devas's 2015 award of $672 million plus 18 percent interest from an International Chamber of Commerce tribunal, we hope that the current government in India sees this ruling for what it is – objective recognition of the injustice suffered by the Devas investors – and works with us to resolve this matter in a fair and responsible way."

SOURCE Columbia Capital and Telcom Ventures