Dana Gas consortium awarded $1.98bn against Kurdish government by London court

A London court, ruling in a dispute that dragged on for six years, has ordered the Kurdistan Regional Government in Iraq to pay US$1.98 billion to a consortium including Dana Gas.

A tribunal of the London Court of International Arbitration directed that the payment be made within 28 days. The judgement is final, binding and internationally enforceable, Dana said in a statement to the Abu Dhabi stock exchange.

If enforced, the award could have a major impact on the fortunes of Dana and other natural gas firms operating in Iraqi Kurdistan, as well as on the KRG, whose finances have been strained by its fight against Islamic State militants.

There was no immediate comment from the KRG.

In 2007, Kurdistan awarded Dana and the UAE's Crescent Petroleum a 25-year deal to develop the Khor Mor and Chemchamal gas fields. Austria's OMV and Hungary's MOL subsequently each took 10 per cent of the venture.

But the project became entangled in allegations that the consortium had been underpaid for condensate and liquefied petroleum gas products supplied from Khor Mor.

The consortium filed an international arbitration case over the dispute in London in October 2013. Legal action has also taken place in other courts; last week, Dana said the British High Court had ordered the KRG to pay the consortium $100m within 14 days.

“The clear rights of the consortium to both fields for long-term development and production, including title, and of course payment, have now been confirmed beyond any doubt,” Majid Jafar, chief executive of Crescent and managing director of Dana’s board, said on Sunday.

“After almost seven years delay caused by this unnecessary dispute, we hope that with respect for contract we will now finally be able to move forward and prevent further losses for all sides by developing these world class resources as originally envisaged for the benefit of Kurdistan and all of Iraq, as well as the wider region.”

Dana said it had further, substantial damage claims for wrongfully delayed development of the gas fields that would be heard in 2016, along with remaining counter-claims of the KRG.

It said the consortium had so far invested over $1.2bn in the project and produced the equivalent of over 150 million barrels of gas and petroleum liquids.

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Pearls on a Branch: Oral Tales
Najlaa Khoury, Archipelago Books

Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.

Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.

“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.

“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.

Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.

From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.

Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.

BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.

Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.

Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.

“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.

“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.

“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”

The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”