This matter involves an ICSID dispute between international investors and the Republic of Colombia with respect to an alleged expropriation of land in Medellín, Colombia (ICSID Case No. ARB/19/6). In 2016, Colombia seized land in Medellín where the Claimants were planning to develop a project called Meritage, a real estate complex including residential units, commercial units, and a hotel. The claimants sought damages for the loss of their interest in the Meritage project as well as losses in additional real estate and hospitality projects they were developing in Colombia which were allegedly affected by the seizure of Meritage.

The Republic of Colombia retained NERA to provide expert testimony on damages. The NERA team consisted of Senior Managing Director Richard Hern, Director Zuzana Janeckova, Senior Consultant Patricio Suarez Urtaza, and Consultants Tarek Badrakhan, Maximilian Czernin, and Ricardo Rodrigues. NERA was asked to present an independent assessment of damages and to respond to the opposing experts’ quantification of damages.

NERA’s damages assessment considered different methodologies, including the discounted cash flow approach, cost approach, and evidence from market transactions and their relative merits in the context of the claimants’ investments in Colombia, many of which were early stage. NERA also provided independent evidence on key damages drivers, e.g., profit margins and discount rates, in response to the damages estimate presented by the opposing expert and to inform NERA’s own damages calculation.

Dr. Hern presented NERA’s analysis of damages in two expert reports and provided oral testimony at a hearing in Washington, DC, in May 2022. In June 2024, the Tribunal decided in favor of Colombia, dismissing the claim on jurisdictional grounds.

For more information, please click here for an article published by Global Arbitration Review (GAR).